Note by Schenker re: Cotta, dated July 5, 1909 {sheet 1} Welch unüberbrückbarer, ewiger Gegensatz zwischen Geben u. Nehmen, zwischen Gebender u. Nehmender! Alles Geben sammelt, konzentriert, – Alles Nehmen zerstreut, zersplittert! Beim Gebender zwar die Qual des Ringens, dafür aber die beglückende Lust, insgeheim den Gesetzten einer Idee zu folgen, Geist u. Seele in das Geleise derselben gebannt zu wissen. Dem Nehmenden hingegen sind zwar alle Zeugungsqualen erspart, desto schmerzlicher leidet entbehrt er eben unter [ asterisks ] Namentlich in der Kunst steht einer Minderzahl Gebender eine übergroße Mehrzahl Nehmender gegenüber. Während jene das Centrum stets in sich haben, u. selbst noch im Irrtum unverrückbar {sheet 2} einen bestimmten – eben den durch das Ziel bestimmten – Weg gehen, bleibt den Letzteren, in Ermanglung eines solchen Centrums in sich, nichts übrig, als gleichsam centrifugal zu werden u. mit tausende[n] verlegenen Fragen die Außenwelt zu bestürmen: bald die Kunst überhaupt, bald das Kunstwerk u. den Künstler. Nu[ r ] finden sie Antwort den eigenen Fragen u. wieder sind es nur den Gebenden, den auch jene Es gehet eben ein ewige Kluft zwischen Gebender u. Nehmender. Wien, an S....r 1909 © Heirs of Heinrich Schenker. |
Note by Schenker re: Cotta, dated July 5, 1909 {sheet 2} What an irreconcilable, everlasting contrast between giving and taking, between giver and taker! All giving draws together, concentrates, – all taking disperses, splits asunder! On the part of the giver [there is] admittedly the agony of struggling, but in return the happy desire secretly to follow the laws of an idea, to experience heart and mind spellbound on the track of that [idea]. The taker, conversely, while admittedly spared all the agonies of creation, suffers is bereft all the more painfully through [ asterisks ] Particularly in art, there is a minority of givers, in contrast to a vast majority of takers. Whilst the former always have the center within themselves and even when in error unwaveringly pursue {sheet 2} a specified path—even a path specified by the goal—, for the latter, for want of such a center within themselves, nothing remains but as it were to become centrifugal and to pester the outer world with thousands of confused questions: sometimes [about] art in general, sometimes the work of art and the artist. They find the answer only to individual questions, and again it is only the givers who are capable of answering those. So, sadly, what use are all these answers? – The takers merely meet even these answers with yet further confused questions! Between givers and takers there exists an everlasting chasm. Vienna, in ...[?], 1909 © Translation Ian D. Bent 2005. |
COMMENTARY: FOOTNOTES: 1 p.101 of the diary, OJ 1/5, is missing; p.99 is similarly made up of two small sheets, one above the other, p.100 is a half-size sheet, then there are two sheets numbered “p.100” in ink with “a” and “b” added respectively in pencil, followed by p.102. In view of this annotation, it appears likely that OJ 5/6, [3] at one time formed part of the diary, but was transferred by Schenker to this file of draft letters to Cotta. SUMMARY: © Commentary, Footnotes, Summary Ian D. Bent 2005.
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