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CA 87 : 10-13-08

Handwritten letter from Schenker to Cotta, dated October 13, 1908
For draft, see OJ 5/6, [2]

Sehr geehrter Herr !

Ich beeile mich, Ihnen herzlichst für den liebenswürdigen Rat zu danken, dem ich mich ohneweiters auch folge.

Zur völligen Klarstellung sei aber folgendes erwähnt: das Textliche des Werkes ist auch in den weiteren Abschnitten, selbst den kleinen Anfang eingeschlossen, bereits fertiggestellt. Nur aber die Aufgaben fehlen ab III. Abschnitt. Nach der Erfahrung indessen, die ich mit dem Eintragen der Aufgaben in den Abschnitten I u. II (die bei Ihnen erliegen[?]) gemacht habe, sah ich bald ein, daß ich die übrigen Aufgaben kaum vor einem Monat würde fertiggestellt haben können – so viel Zeit nimmt einfach das rein Mechanische des Notenschreibens in Anspruch, worin ich leider weder vetreten werden kann, noch will. (Werden doch die Aufgaben, ja tiefer in das Werk hinein, desto notenreicher!) So lange ich an den Weihnachtstermin dachte, mußte ich daher erkennen, daß das ganze Werk unmöglich vor Ende October zu beenden gewesen wäre, u. so entstand die Idee des Halbbandes.

{2} Da nun aber, einer besseren Erwägung zu folge, die Rücksicht auf den Weinachtstermin entfällt, so wird es mir nun ein Leichtes sein, nunmehr in Ruhe im Verlaufe der nächsten Wochen die Aufgaben einzutragen, die ja zumTheil auch citierte sind.

Gleichwohl muß ich bitten, daß sich Ihre Druckerei mit Fleiß das Mscrp. bald annehmen möchte. Denn ehe ich zum Bd. III, der eigentlichen Pointe des Werkes, „dem Niedergang der Kompositionskunst“ aushole, will ich eine kleine Pause der Ruhe u. Sammlung (Frühling u. Sommer) einschalten, da ich seit etwa 7–8 Jahren vor lauter Aufgaben: Bach, Händel-Ausgaben für unsere1Universal Edition,“ „Ornamentik,“ Harmonielehre, Kontrapunkt, Konzerten u. Unterricht u. sonstiger Production fast gar nicht dazu gekommen bin, ein klein wenig auszurasten.2 In diesem Sinne würden Sie mich also sehr verpflichten, wenn Sie es möglich machen konnten, daß der Band II|3 spätestens in März oder April herauskommen.

Mit ausgezeichtneter Hochachtung
[ sign’d: ] H Schenker
13. 10. 08.

© Heirs of Heinrich Schenker.
© Transcription Ian D. Bent 2005.

Handwritten letter from Schenker to Cotta, dated October 13, 1908
For draft, see OJ 5/6, [2]

Dear Sir,

I hasten to thank you wholeheartedly for your kind advice, which I shall follow without more ado.

But to make things completely clear, I should mention the following. The textual matter of the book is already finished, even that of the later sections, and even including the short beginning. The only things lacking from Section III are the exercises. However, in the light of the experience that I have had with entering the exercises into Sections I and II (which are in your hands[?]), I soon realized that I would barely have been able to complete the remaining exercises in under a month—just the purely mechanical process alone of writing out the music takes up so much time, work which unfortunately I neither can nor want to assign to someone else. (The exercises get more notey the further one gets into the book!) As long as I was thinking in terms of the Christmas deadline, I was compelled to recognize that it would be impossible to finish the work in its entirety before the end of October, and that is how the idea of the half-volume came about.

{2} But now, if as a result of this better idea the prospect of the Christmas deadline is dropped, then it will be a simple matter for me to enter the exercises henceforth in peace and quiet over the course of the next few weeks, which are in fact in part taken from existing sources.

Nevertheless, I must ask that your printers attend to my manuscript diligently and promptly. For, before I resume work on vol. III, the capstone of the whole work, The Decline of the Art of Composition, I shall take a short break to rest and recuperate (Spring and Summer), since for something like seven or eight years now of one project after another—Bach and Handel editions for our1 Universal Edition, Ornamentation, Harmony, Counterpoint, concerts and teaching, and other such output—I have scarcely been able to take so much as the shortest of breaks.2 In view of all this, I should be greatly indebted to you if you would make it possible for vol. II3 to be released in March or April at the latest.

With kind regards,
[ sign’d: ] H. Schenker
October 13, 1908

© Translation Ian D. Bent 2005.

COMMENTARY:
Format: holograph letter and signature, 2pp
Sender address: --
Recipient address: --

FOOTNOTES:

1 “our”: i.e. presumably Austrian as apart from German.

2 ausrasten : Southern German and Austrian term.

3 Volume II of the Neue Musikalische Theorien und Phantasien, that is.

SUMMARY:
[ NMTP II = Kontrapunkt:] Acks OJ 12/27, [9] = CA 86 and accepts advice against splitting volume; writing out exercises for Section III is proving more laborious than expected; dropping Christmas deadline will allow more time, after which he will take a break. —[ Niedergang:] If Kontrapunkt [Part I] can be released in March or April [1909], then will take a break before resuming Niedergang.

© Commentary, Footnotes, Summary Ian D. Bent 2005.

Bent, Ian
Schenker, Heinrich
[ NMTP II = Kontrapunkt:] Acks OJ 12/27, [9] = CA 86 and accepts advice against splitting volume; writing out exercises for Section III is proving more laborious than expected; dropping Christmas deadline will allow more time, after which he will take a break. —[ Niedergang:] If Kontrapunkt [Part I] can be released in March or April [1909], then will take a break before resuming Niedergang.
DE
Cambridge University Faculty of Music-Ian Bent
IPR: Heirs of Heinrich Schenker; Transcription, Translation, Commentary, Footnotes, and Summary: Ian D. Bent 2005.
Schenker, Heinrich; Cotta, J. G.; NMTP; vol.2; Kontrapunkt; Counterpoint; exercises; deadline; Christmas; Niedergang; Decline; holiday; Ornamentik; Ornamentation; Harmonielehre; Harmony; Bach, C. P. E.; Handel
Handwritten letter from Schenker to Cotta, dated October 13, 1908
letter
academic; musicology; music theory
CA 87
1908-10-13
2005-06-24
Cotta
All reasonable steps have been taken to locate the heirs of Heinrich Schenker. Any claim to intellectual rights on this document should be addressed to the Schenker Correspondence Project, Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge, at schenkercorrespondence@mus.cam.ac.uk.
letter; holograph message and signature
J.G. Cotta’sche Nachfolger/Stuttgarter Zeitung (1908-c.1954); Cotta-Archiv, Schiller-Nationalmuseum, Marbach a. N., Germany (c.1954-)
IPR: Heirs of Heinrich Schenker; Transcription, Translation, Commentary, Footnotes, and Summary: Ian D. Bent.
Vienna
Stuttgart
1908

© Commentary, Footnotes, Summary Ian D. Bent 2005.

Bent, Ian
Schenker, Heinrich
[ NMTP = Harmonielehre :] Proposes publication in Cotta's commission-publishing house.
DE
Cambridge University Faculty of Music-Ian Bent
IPR: Heirs of Heinrich Schenker; Transcription, Translation, Commentary, Footnotes, and Summary: Ian D. Bent 2005.
Schenker, Heinrich; Cotta, J. G.; NMTP; vol.1; Harmonielehre; Harmony
Handwritten letter from Schenker to Cotta, dated Octoberr 8, 1907
letter
academic; musicology; music theory
CA 46
1907-10-06
2005-06-24
Cotta
All reasonable steps have been taken to locate the heirs of Heinrich Schenker. Any claim to intellectual rights on this document should be addressed to the Schenker Correspondence Project, Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge, at schenkercorrespondence@mus.cam.ac.uk.
letter; holograph message and signature
J.G. Cotta’sche Nachfolger/Stuttgarter Zeitung (1907-c.1954); Cotta-Archiv, Schiller-Nationalmuseum, Marbach a. N., Germany (c.1954-)
IPR: Heirs of Heinrich Schenker; Transcription, Translation, Commentary, Footnotes, and Summary: Ian D. Bent.
Vienna
Stuttgart
1907

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