Handwritten letter from Schenker to Cotta, dated February 5, 1906 [ in hand other than Schenker’s: ] [ Schenker’s hand: ] Sehr geehrter Herr ! Ich bestätige dankend den Empfang der Correcturen u. Ihres Briefes vom 27 d.M.1 Die gewünschten Beispiele werde ich baldigst nachsenden. Was den Setz der Notenbeispiele anbelangt,2 so verkenne ich zwar nicht Ihre Absicht, durch Trennung der vielen Beispiele den äußeren Eindruck zu steigern, dennoch habe ich nach reiflicher Überlegung mich entschlossen, sie lieber doch an der Stelle, wo sie eben citiert werden, zu bringen, um den doppelten Übelstand zu vermeiden, daß sie zu früh gebracht und[ corr ] mir störend wirken u. andererseits daß man dann nötig hätte zurückzublättern. Nun aber dennnoch dem richtigen Gedanken[?] {2} der sich in Ihrer Setzweise kundgibt, entgegenzukommen, gedenke ich —allerdings nach Notwendigkeit u. Möglichkeit — die Beispiele durch Einstreuung Selbstverständlich ist dann die Nennung des Autors des betreffenden Beispieles unmittelbar über dem Beispiele, wie ich glaube, am besten, in der Ecke rechts, angezeigt. Die Erläuterungen zu den Beispielen könnten indessen in einem veränderten, kleineren Druck gesetzt werden. In den mir bisher zugekommenen 4 Bogen Bürstenabzug habe ich die oben geschilderte Änderung mit roter Tinte selbst durchgeführt, {3} bis worauf ich den Setzer aufmerksam zu machen bitte.3 Bei der Angabe des Titels auf den Bogen4 hat mein Name zu entfallen, wegen der Anonymität. Um auf Ihren w. Brief zurückzukommen, so wird es doch praktischer sein, wenn Sie die Güte haben wollten, mir das Manuscript der betreffenden Stellen vorläufig zur Verfügung stellen, damit kein Irrtum in Bezug auf den Umfang der fehlenden Beispiele sich einschleiche. Beiliegend die ersten 2 Korrektur-Bögen5, bei denen[?corr] wegen der Änderung in der Fassung — auch wegen des großen[?] Notendrucks u. des kleinen Formates — mehr Correkturen {4} als vielleicht erwartet wurde, notwendig waren. Gerade dieser Umstand nahet mich aber zur Vorsicht, u. veranläßt mich, Sie zu bitten, ob Sie die Freundlichkeit haben möchten, mir statt der umbrochenen Bögen5 lieber vorerst Fahnencorrecturen zu schicken.6 Im übrigen beweisen die 3. u. 4. Bogen, Mit ausgez. Hochachtung © Heirs of Heinrich Schenker; reproduced here by kind permission of the Deutsches Literaturarchiv, Cotta-Archiv (Stiftung der Stuttgarter Zeitung), Marbach am Neckar. |
Handwritten letter from Schenker to Cotta, dated February 5, 1906 [ in hand other than Schenker’s: ] [ Schenker’s hand: ] Dear Sir, I confirm with thanks receipt of the proofs and of your letter of the 27th inst.1 I will send on the examples that you require as soon as I possibly can. As concerns the setting of the music examples,2 while I can well appreciate your plan to enhance the outward appearance of the many examples by placing them separately [from the text], I have nevertheless, after careful consideration, come to the conclusion that it would be preferable to locate them where they are actually discussed, in order to avoid the doubly undesirable situation of their occurring too early on (to my mind disturbingly so), and on the other hand of the reader then being obliged to leaf back to them. However, in order to come some way toward the right idea[?] {2} conveyed by your manner of setting, I am considering—for reasons of necessity and feasibility, if nothing else—separating the examples by interspersing short explanations. Then, the best place to identify the composer of any given example is obviously, in my view, directly above the example, in the right-hand corner. The explanations of the examples could then be set in different, smaller type. In the four gatherings of proofs that have so far reached me, I have myself carried out the change outlined above in red ink, {3} so as to alert the type-setter.3 Where the title is given on each gathering,4 my name must be removed, for reasons of anonymity. To get back to your est’d letter: it will clearly be more practicable if you will very kindly make the manuscript of the relevant passages available to me for a short time so as to avoid any errors from creeping in as regards the extent of the missing examples. Enclosed are the first two gatherings5 of proofs, for which more corrections were needed {4} than had perhaps been expected on account of the change in layout—and also on account of the large[?] type-size of the notation and the small format. It is precisely this situation that inclines me toward caution and prompts me to ask if you would very kindly first send me galley proofs rather than gatherings5 in page-makeup.6 For the rest, gatherings 3 and 4, which will follow shortly, show that as the volume proceeds the corrections should not be so extremely numerous as they are in the first two gatherings. With kind regards, © Translation Ian D. Bent 2005. |
COMMENTARY: FOOTNOTES: 1 i.e. OJ 9/31, [6] = CA 11. 2 “setting”: Cotta used single-impression typesetting for music (i.e. small pieces of metal type combining note heads, stems, and stavelines: a system developed by Breitkopf in the 1750s), rather than engraving (as used for S’s later publications). 3 “bis worauf ich ...”: or does he mean “up to the point at which I issue a general indication to the setter”? 4 i.e. the signature of each gathering, which appears on the bottom LH corner of each first verso, and reads in the finished book “Theorien und Phantasien.” 5 Bögen: South-German form of plural Bogen. The two forms are used interchangeably in this letter. Gatherings 1–2 = pp.1–32 in the finished book, but that is with the music examples incorporated at points of discussion. 6 S is asking for the typeset material to be sent to him first in long strips of type (= galley proofs), before decisions have been made as to where pages begin and end (= page-makeup), so that he would have greater control over layout. He is also implicitly asking for an additional proof stage, since (“vorerst”) he clearly still expects later to see the proofs made up into pages (“umbrochen”). This tells us (as do his references to “gatherings” of proofs) that he has so far been receiving page proofs, a gathering at a time, complete with gathering signatures. SUMMARY: © Commentary, Footnotes, Summary Ian D. Bent 2005.
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