Schenker Correspondence Project

Handwritten draft letter from Schenker to Emil Hertza (UE) (unsent), dated December 21, 1908
 See WSLB 31, December 21, 1908, for final version of this letter

Sehr geehrter Herr Direktor !¹

Besten Dank für Ihr letztes Schreiben. Sie haben vollkommen recht. Auch mir hat es im Grunde ^ja widerstrebt, eine Preiserhöhung schon nach wenigen Wochen eintreten zu lassen. Es bleibe also dabei, was Sie veranlassen, u. die Tabelle gelte vorläufig ^{nur erst} als Talent- u. Belastungsprobe des großen Publikums, d.h. der Umsatz möge Sie belehren, ob ^gleichsam hinter dem Rücken einer in bloßen Phrasen sich bewegenden Tageskritik, das Publikum selbst ^irgend Lust haben ^finden wird, ^{aus Eigenem über sie hinauszugehende, u.} sich über Dinge zu orientieren, über die ihn der “Kritiker,” weil selbst ^völlig unwissend, bis dahin nicht orientiert hat. Ich prophezeie : in den nächsten Wochen wird in den Referaten ^{plötzlich auffallend} viel von “Bassethörnen,” Heckelphons aus Anlaß ^{der Elektra} R. Strauß,² [ S marks “_aus ... Strauß_” to be moved back to after “_wird_” ] zu lesen sein, das wird man ^{was der Leser doch nur} der “U.E.” zu danken haben wird. ^{Versäumen Sie nicht, mit mir zu lachen!}

Nun aber sind ja meine 4 §§ vorläufig ohne Belang für Sie. Ich bitte Sie daher, mir diese Arbeit wieder zukommen zu lassen, da ich Anm. 4 ehestens zu placieren Gelegenheit habe.³ Sollte in absehbarer Zeit Ihre Idee von den 2 Tabellen ^dennoch in Erfüllung gehen, so wird sich dann ^sicher wieder was finden, dasselbe oder Anderes. {2} Ich erwarte also ^ehestens die paar Blätter.

Was Ihren Plan bez. des “Wohltemp. Kl.” anbelangt, so muß ich zunächst Ihnen persönlich für Ihre Meinung herzlichst u. aufrichtig danken. Ich nehme an, daß Sie es waren, der H. Dir Bopp⁴ auf mich gelenkt hat [ corr from haben]; doch sei dem, wie es will, ich bin bereit, ohne ^jede Überhebung zu sagen(, was übrigens auch mein Freund Busoni ^Ihnen bestätigen wurde)daß unter den Musikern kaum Einer sich zu ^just[?] dieser schönen ^würdigen Aufgabe so ^gut eignen würde, wie ich selbst. [ S indicates rearrangement of clauses of previous sentence. ] Auch könnte ich es wagen, vorauszusagen, daß eine diesbezügliche Arbeit ^{von mir} der U.E. auch materiellen Vorteil durch Verbreitung in deutschen Konservatorien etc. bringen würde, der die bisherigen ungeschickt ausgegebenen Gelde ( Czerny,⁵ Röntgen⁶) heimbringen könnte. Dennoch stellen sich gewaltige Hindernisse der Ausführung des Wunsches entgegen, wie ihn H. Dir. Bopp u. Sie formulieren.

Es ist kein Zweifel, daß Busoni’s Ausgabe⁷ vor Czerny’s u. Röntgen’s u. sonstigen anderen rangiert. Das machen schon die wenigen Bemerkungen rein technischer Natur, die er ^{für Lehrer u. Schüler} hinzufügt. Ich selbst habe stets dafür Propaganda gemacht, ^allerdings in Ermanglung einer besseren Ausgabe. Doch sind die ^{rein technischen} Bemerkungen ^{zunächst quantitativ} zu wenig, oder umgekehrt, solcher {3} Bemerkungen zu viel ^{leider mehr}, die, weil blos auf Stimmung ausgehend, keinerlei Nutzen für den Spieler oder Kompositionsschüler haben. Denken Sie sich, Jemand wollte, ^{durchaus nur} von der “Stimmung“ einer Zeit ausgehend, die Luftschiffe baut, ^etwa Klavier spielen oder komponieren lernen! Vom Luftschiff wird der Musiker ^wahrhaftig nicht fatti[?]! ^Busoni’s^ “Gothische Dome” u. dgl. ^{ähnliche Anweisungen} helfen also ebensowenig, u. es mußte mehr auf die spezifische Genialität in der Konstruktion ^{der Bach’schen[?] Stücken} Gewicht gelegt werden, (woraus dem Schüler ersichtlich würde, daß solche Züge z.B. bei R. Strauß, Reger, etc. vollständig fehlen, wenn sie ^diese an ähnliche Aufgaben herantreten) was die Güte u. ^{künstlerisch gesagt und} Schönheit dieser oder jener Fuge ausmacht, die Analyse[?] u. s.w. hergelegt[?] werden. ^{2 Jahren !} wenn der Vortrag irgend wahr u. schön sein sollte, u.wenn drxxxte [ all overwritten upon fainter, illegible writing ]
[ interlined: ] Schüler, Lehrer, ..... ..... ..... [?]
Nun sind ^aber Busoni’s Anmerkungen, rein technischer Natur ^{sind sicher} allzu primitiv ^{u. vielfach [ del ]meistens falsch}. Er war ^{noch aber} jung, u. im Banne Riemanns, als er um dieses Werk erwarb. ^{Er weiß es etwas[?] bis heute nicht besser[.]} Und ^übrigens – wäre es ^ist H. Dir. Bopp blos darum zu tun, eine Fortsetzung ^gerade der Bus.’ Ausg: (in derselben Manier ^Art) zu erhalten, nichts wäre ^{ist dann} einfacher für Sie, als ^ihm diesen Wunsch zu erfüllen. Sie brauchen ja nur z.B. Prof. Heuberger,^{8 oder einen anderen Herr} einzuladen, den II Teil ^{mehr oder weinigen genau[?]} nach der Analyse Riemanns (s. ^bei Hesse, Katech.⁹ {4} 2 Bändchen über d. Wohlt. Klv ) auszuarbeiten, wozu er allenfalls etwas von Bruyck,¹⁰ Spitta,¹¹ etc. beimischen könnte. Ob ^{aber andererseits} eine solche Arbeit aber ^auch für die U.E.^ wirklich praktisch u. materiell lohnend wäre, müßte^öchte ich bezweifeln. Es war von der frühern Leitung der U.E. eben ^durchaus nicht praktisch, Czerny u. Röntgen zu drucken, ^{wie ichs[?] schon darüber sag[te?]} es ^nur wäre auch eine Fortsetzung im ^falschen Sinne Busoni’s (recte Riemann’s) ebenso-^wenig praktisch. Ich halte noch immer den, von hochnasigen “Praktikern ^{im Stile Weinberger12 etc.},” so von oben herab behandelten Standpunkt, die Sache aufs Beste zu machen, zugleich auch ^weil[?] für das ^{kürzeste ohne Umwege über Geldverluste} denkbar Lohnendste, u. wirklich “Praktischeste”!

Sie entnehmen also daraus, daß ich ganz andere Gedanken darüber habe, als H. Dir. Bopp, Sie u. Busoni. Ist also allein schon ein Grund, weshalb ich dem ehrenden Antrag nicht entsprechen kann, so tritt als ein noch wichtigerer hiezu, daß, wie ich Ihnen schon sagte, die Korrekturen des Cp. augenblicklich im Vordergrunde stehen, ^{und der III. Band, der Niedergang der Komp.kunst13 alle meine Kraft in Anspruch n[immt.]} Cotta¹⁴ drängt u. stürmt fast jeden Tag, u. wir werden ^...[?] Mühe haben, zu Ostern ^{den Bd II} die Sache herauszubringen. Jxxxxxx Übrigens ^{werde ich mich [ del ] und damit[?]} mit diesem Blatt enen ^Band II^ txxxch, davon ^{bei hoffe ich [mich]} ich überzeugt, um Lehrer u. Schüler ^{auch der K.K. Akademie in Wien15} hinreichend verdient machen, um mir ^{von H. Dir. Bopp} den Seitensprung zum “Wohltemp.Klv.” ersparen zu dürfen, der für mich selbst, ja kaum ^irgendwie so lohnend ist ^{sein kann.} —

Für Ihre herzliche Einladung sage ich besten Dank. Bei erster Gelegenheit werde ich ihr mit Vergnügen entsprechen !

Mit ausgez. Hochachtung Ir ergeb. [ sign'd: ] H Schenker

© Universal Edition A.G., Wien.
© Transcription Ian D. Bent and William Drabkin 2005.

Handwritten draft letter from Schenker to Emil Hertza (UE) (unsent), dated December 21, 1908
 See WSLB 31, December 21, 1908, for final version of this letter

Dear Director,¹
Many thanks for your latest letter. You are perfectly right. It does ^indeed go against the grain with me, too, to introduce a price rise after only a few weeks. So let us stay with what you have arranged, and for the time being, let the Tabelle serve ^{provisionally} as a test of the public-at-large’s talent and capacity, i.e. let the sales tell you whether^{, so to speak,} behind the back of a daily criticism that deals in mere hot air, the public itself will have ^{summon any} desire ^{to go beyond this on their own} and instruct itself on matters over which the “critics,” because they themselves are ^utterly unknowledgeable about it, have not until now been able to instruct it. I prophesy: in the coming weeks, on the occasion ^{of the Elektra} of R. Strauß,² there will ^suddenly be ^{conspicuously} much to read about “basset horns,” heckelphones in the reviews, ^{for which the reader surely} will have UE to thank. ^{Be sure to join me in having a good laugh.}

For the time being, however, my four sections are of no importance to you. Please let me have this work back, since I have an opportunity to make use of Commentary 4 in the very near future.³ Then if in the foreseeable future your idea of two Tables ^nevertheless seems likely to come to fruition, something will ^surely turn up, the same {2} or something different. So I look forward to [having] my few sheets ^{as soon as possible}.

As regards your plan concerning the Well-tempered Clavier, let me first thank you personally from the bottom of my heart for your opinion of me. I assume it was you who pointed Director Bopp⁴ in my direction. Be that as it may, however, I can say without ^any presumption that (as incidentally even my friend Busoni would corroborate ^{for you}) virtually nobody among musicians would be ^{as well[?]} equipped for this beautiful ^worthy task as am I myself. [ S indicates rearrangement of clauses of previous sentence. ] I would also venture to predict that a work of this sort ^{by me} would also bring material advantage to UE through dissemination to German conservatories, etc., which could recoup the money hitherto unwisely spent ([on] Czerny,⁵ Röntgen⁶). Nonetheless, formidable obstacles stand in the way of realizing your wishes as Director Bopp and you formulate them.

Without a doubt, Busoni’s edition⁷ ranks before those of Czerny, Röntgen, and others. The few commentaries of a technical nature that he includes ^{for teachers and students} establish that. I myself have always advocated it, ^{at any rate} in the absence of a better edition. The ^{purely technical} comments are ^{for a start quantitatively} definitely too few; or conversely, of such {3} comments too many ^{unfortunately more}, which, because emanating purely from mood, have nothing to offer to the player or composition student. Just imagine someone wanted to learn how to play the piano, or compose ^purely on the basis of the “spirit” of an age that builds airships. Musicians are ^truly not made[?] out of airships! ^Busoni’s “gothic cathedrals” and the like ^{similar indications} are thus of just as little help, and greater weight needs to be placed on the specific quality of genius in the construction ^{of the Bach[?] pieces} (from which it would become apparent to the student that such features are completely lacking in R. Strauß, Reger, etc. when the latter are confronted by them such tasks), which constitutes the goodness and ^{artistically speaking} beauty of this or that fugue, which is derived[?] [by] analysis etc. ^{2 years!} If performance is to be in any sense true and beautiful, and if [ remainder obscure by overwriting ].
[ interlined: ] pupils, teachers, ....., ..... ..... [?]
^But those of Busoni’s comments, ^{insofar as they are} purely technical in nature, are ^surely all too primitive ^{and frequently [ del ] for the most part wrong}. He was ^{still however} a young man, and under the spell of Riemann, when he acquired this work. ^{He perhaps[?] unfortunately does not know much better today. If} all Director Bopp were ^is asking for is merely a ^straight continuation of the Busoni edition (in the same manner style) ^then nothing would be ^is easier in the world ^{for him} than to satisfy his wishes. All you need do is, e.g., to invite Prof. Heuberger^{8 or some other gentleman} to formulate Part II ^{more or less exactly} according to the analysis of Prof. Riemann (see Catechism,⁹ {4} two small volumes on the Well-tempered Clavier, published by Hesse,³), to which he could if necessary mix in something from Bruyck,¹⁰ Spitta,¹¹ etc. ^But whether^{, on the other hand,} such an assignment ^{even for UE} would be genuinely practical and materially profitable, I must might doubt. It was just as ^completely impractical for the previous management of UE to print the Czerny and Röntgen editions, ^{as I myself said}, so even ^just a continuation in the ^false spirit of Busoni (correctly Riemann) would be every bit as ^impractical. I still consider the approach of autocratic “practitioners ^{in the style of Weinberger,12 etc.}” of managing from the top downward the best possible way of getting the job done, and at the same time also [...] the ^{shortest (avoiding the perils of[?] financial losses)}, most profitable imaginable [and] genuinely the “most practical.”

So you can tell from the above that I have entirely different ideas from Director Bopp, you, and Busoni on this. If that in itself is one reason why I cannot accommodate your honorable proposal, then there is an even more important one, namely that, as I have already told you, the proofs of my Counterpoint are currently in the forefront of my mind, ^{and vol.3, the "Decline of the Art of Composition"13 consumes all my energies}. Cotta¹⁴ harries and pressurizes [me] almost every day, and we will ^...[?] have trouble getting ^{vol. 2} out at Easter [1909]. Xxxx Moreover, ^{I will [ del ] with this} with this sheet be of sufficient service to teachers and students ^{even those of the Royal-Imperial Academy in Vienna15}, and to spare myself from being side-tracked ^{by Director Bopp} into the Well-tempered Clavier, which is ^can hardly ^{be remotely} as profitable for me.

Many thanks for your kind invitation. I gladly comply with it at the first available opportunity.

With kind regards,
Yours truly,
[ sign'd: ] H. Schenker

© Translation Ian D. Bent and William Drabkin 2005.

COMMENTARY:
Format: 4-p draft letter, oblong format(?), holograph message and signature, with heavy alterations, interlinear insertions, deletions, and block-moves.
Sender address: —
Recipient address: —

FOOTNOTES:

¹ Several illegible passages have been reconstructed from the final version, WSLB 31.

² Richard Strauß's Elektra was first performed at the Dresden Court Opera on January 25, 1909, and came to Vienna later the same year.

³ Perhaps S was planning to use it in the instrumentation section of his unpublished Niedergang der Kompositionskunst.

⁴ Wilhelm Bopp, who took over the directorship of the Vienna Conservatory on Janury 1, 1909, when it became the Kaiserlich-königliche Akademie für Musik und darstellende Kunst, and resigned in March 1919.

⁵ Czerny's edition of WTC was published by UE in 1901 (UE 5-6) by arrangement with ...

⁶ Röntgen's edition of WTC was commissioned by UE and published in in 1907 (UE 1547-1548). Click on Julius Röntgen.

⁷ Ferruccio Busoni's edition of WTC Book I, published by Peters[?] and Schirmer, 1894.

⁸ Richard Heuberger (1850–1914), teacher at the Vienna Conservatory from 1902 and Director of the Wiener Männergesang-Verein, 1902–9, prominent music critic, founder of the yearbook Musikbuch aus Österreich (1904–13), and also composer of opera, operetta, and ballet; early in his career a member of Brahms’s Vienna music circle. Both Busoni and Heuberger (along with Reznicek, Kienzl, and Weingartner) were pupils of the music theorist W.A. Rémy (1831–98). Heuberger had already served as editor for UE in the days before Hertzka. (_NGDM_)

⁹ Hugo Riemann: Katechismus der Fugenkomposition, 3 vols (Leipzig: Max Hesse, 1890-94), of which vols 1-2 are on the WTC. "Hesse" double underlined.

¹⁰ Karl Debrois van Bruyck (1828–1902), Austrian writer on music: Technische und ästhetische Analyse des Wohtemperierten Klaviers (Leipzig, 1867, 3/1925), and Die Entwicklung der Klavierwerke von J.S.Bach bis R. Schumann (1880). (_BBDM_ 7/1984)

¹¹ Julius August Philipp Spitta (1841-94), German music historian, Bach scholar and author of biography Johann Sebastian Bach (Leipzig: , 1873-80).

¹² Josef Weinberger (1855-1928), Viennese music publisher who established his own firm in 1885, and with three other publishers founded UE in 1901, managing it until around 1906.

¹³ "Niedergang der Kompositionskunst"; unpublished work originally intended as an Afterword to his Harmonielehre (1906), drafted in the period 1906-1909, and at this stage envisioned as the third volume to his Neue musikalische Theorien und Phantasien. The emended typescript is preserved as OC 31/28-153, and an edition and translation by William Drabkin is currently in progress. S omits all reference to this in the final version, WSLB 13.

¹⁴ J.G. Cotta Nachfolger, the publisher of NMTP, vols 1 ( Harmonielehre ) and 2/1 ( Kontrapunkt I). Kontrapunkt was published in 1910. In the final version, WSLB 13, S identifies it as "Bd.II".

¹⁵ i.e. the Vienna Conservatory.

SUMMARY:
[Niloff: Instrumentations-Tabelle:] Acks OC 52/31. S is against a price rise, so agrees to let the Tabelle [largely unchanged] serve as a test of public interest. He prophesies an increase in interest in basset horns with [the first performance of] Strauß’s Elektra. Requests return of his text, which can be reviewed in the future. —[J. S. Bach: Well-tempered Clavier:] Thanks H for considering him. Busoni’s edition is preferable to those of Czerny, Röntgen and others, but it is deficient on technical matters, and relies too much on imagery at the cost of formal construction and analysis. S suggests Richard Heuberger to continue Busoni’s work following Riemann’s analyses. Also, S is too busy with NMTF vols. 2 (Kontrapunkt [I]) and 3 (Niedergang der Kompositionskunst).

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

Bent, Ian
Schenker, Heinrich
[Niloff: Instrumentations-Tabelle:] Acks OC 52/31. S is against a price rise, so agrees to let the Tabelle [largely unchanged] serve as a test of public interest. He prophesies an increase in interest in basset horns with [the first performance of] Strauß’s Elektra. Requests return of his text, which can be reviewed in the future. —[J. S. Bach: Well-tempered Clavier:] Thanks H for considering him. Busoni’s edition is preferable to those of Czerny, Röntgen and others, but it is deficient on technical matters, and relies too much on imagery at the cost of formal construction and analysis. S suggests Richard Heuberger to continue Busoni’s work following Riemann’s analyses. Also, S is too busy with NMTF vols. 2 (Kontrapunkt [I]) and 3 (Niedergang der Kompositionskunst).
DE
Cambridge University Faculty of Music-Ian Bent
IPR: Heirs of Heinrich Schenker; Transcription, Translation, Commentary, Footnotes, and Summary: Ian D. Bent and William Drabkin 2005.
Schenker, Heinrich; Hertzka, Emil; UE; Niloff; Instrumentations-Tabelle; larger edition; retail price; Strauss, Richard; Elektra; heckelphones; basset horns; Bach, J. S.; Well-tempered Clavier; vol.2; Bopp, Wilhelm; Vienna Conservatory; Akademie der Musik und darstellende Kunst; Czerny, Carl; Röntgen, Julius; Busoni, Ferruccio; Riemann, Hugo; Katechismus der Fuge; Heuberger, Richard; Reger, Max; airships; Bruyck, Karl Debrois van; Spitta, Julius August Philipp; Weinberger, Josef; Kontrapunkt; Niedergang der Kompositionskunst
Handwritten draft letter from Schenker to Emil Hertzka (UE) (unsent), dated December 21, 1908
draft letter
Hertzka, Emil
OJ 5/16, [5]
1908-12-21
2005-03-20
UE
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.
draft letter (unsent); holograph message and signature, with heavy alterations, interlinear insertions, deletions, and block-moves.
Universal Edition Archive (1908-1976)—on permanent loan to the Stadt- und Landesbibliothek Wien (1976-)
IPR: Heirs of Heinrich Schenker; Image: Universal Edition, A.G.; Transcription, Translation, Commentary, Footnotes, and Summary: Ian D. Bent and William Drabkin.
Vienna
1908