Schenker Correspondence Project

Handwritten letter from Schenker to Emil Hertzka (UE), dated Friday December 18, 1908

[ UE stamp: ] 10045

Sehr geehrter Herr Direktor !¹

Beiliegend der letzte Rest.²

Nur fällt noch ein, daß es von größtem Nutzen wäre, in wenigen Worten bei § 4 Auskunft [über] die Schlüssel: [G-clef], [F-clef], [C-clef]³ den Laien zu geben.

Sollte ich gestern nicht deutlich genug im letzten Abs. m. Briefes gewesen sein, so will ich es jetzt, nach gethaner Arbeit wiederholen: Ich möchte das Ihnen eingesandte neue Material: “Vormerkungen”⁴ wie die näheren Nachweise i. d. Liter. [5] durchaus nicht umsonst dem Publikum schenken; d. h. Sollten Sie finden, daß der Preis, trotz der Bereicherung an Text, dennoch der alte (60Kr) zu bleiben hätte, so wäre das von [alt from vom] ^Ihrem Standpunkt vielleicht zu begreifen, da die wenigen nun zu druckenden Blätter unmöglich so große Kosten verursachen können, daß sie beim Massenabsatz nicht hereingebracht, ja reichlich genug hereingebracht werden könnten. Indes habe ich selbst keinerlei Ursache, in meiner Honnetität weiter zu gehen, als {verso} als [sic] sie unser erster Vertrag⁶ ausdruckt, u. noch eine weiteres Plus daraufzugeben. Sollten Sie daher nicht in der Lage sein, diesen begreiflichen Wunsch zu entsprechen, so bleibe es einfach dabei, wie es war: Sie retournieren [corr] meine Arbeit für die ich Vewendung habe, u. die Tabelle bleibt, was sie war, u. kostet nur 60 Kr.

Mit ausgez. Hochachtung
Ir ergeb
[sign'd:] H Schenker
18. 12. 08

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

Handwritten letter from Schenker to Emil Hertzka (UE), dated Friday December 18, 1908

[ UE stamp: ] 10045

Dear Director,¹

Enclosed are the last few items.²

It occurs to me now that it would be very useful to provide a few words of information for the layman in § 4 about the G-, F-, and C-clefs.³

In case I was not clear enough yesterday in the final paragraph of my letter, let me repeat it now that the work is finished: I would definitely rather not make a present to the public, gratis, of the material just submitted to you: the “Preliminary Remarks”⁴ as well as the more detailed citations from the repertory.⁵ That is, it might perhaps be understandable from ^your point of view were you to find that, despite the enrichment of the text, the old price (60 Kr) must nevertheless remain in force, since the few pages now to be printed could not possibly generate such costs as could not be recouped, indeed amply recouped, from the mass sales. However, I myself have no cause whatsoever to push my probity any further than {verso} as our first contract⁶ expresses it by throwing in yet another bonus. Accordingly, if you are not in a position to meet this understandable desire, then let things simply stay as they are: you return my work, which I can put to good use, and let the Table stay as it was, costing only 60 Kroner.

With kind regards,
Yours truly,
[ sign'd:] H. Schenker
Dec 18, 1908

© Translation Ian D. Bent 2005.

COMMENTARY:
Format: 2-p letter, single sheet recto and verso, holograph message and signature
Sender address: —
Recipient address: —

FOOTNOTES:

¹ WSLB 30 and OC 52/399–401, both dated Dec 18, clearly cross: neither is a response to the other.

² i.e. the repertory citations: see WSLB 30.

³ Schenker uses the clef-symbols here. The section referred to is §4 “On transposing instruments”; only treble and bass clefs are used in the music examples there.

⁴ In the finished publication, these are titled "Zur Einführung" (By Way of Introduction). The opening section is dated "Vienna, October 1908," and perhaps corresponds to what Schenker called the "Vorwort" (Foreword) on November 27 (WSLB 27). The four sections that follow have no general heading, but evidently correspondent to what Schenker had submitted on December 18 in WLSB 29. On December 16 (OC 52/30), H had referred to them as "Nachtragsbemerkungen" (Supplementary Remarks).

⁵ Literatur: i.e. musical repertory.

⁶ OC 52/421, June 30, 1908, in which (I) the retail price was not to exceed 1 MK (= 1.20 Kroner), (II) S forewent his honorarium for the first 2,000 copies sold, after which he was to receive 100 Kroner per 100, but UE had the option of buying the copyright out for a lump sum of 800 Kroner. Is there perhaps a note of contempt in his reference to "mass sales"?

SUMMARY:
[Niloff: Instrumentations-Tabelle:] Follow-up to WSLB 29. Wonders about including clefs. If H does not feel he can raise the price above 60 Kroner, S would rather the Tabelle remained unchanged.

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

Bent, Ian
Schenker, Heinrich
[Niloff: Instrumentations-Tabelle:] Follow-up to WSLB 29. Wonders about including clefs. If H does not feel he can raise the price above 60 Kroner, S would rather the Tabelle remained unchanged.
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; Hertzka, Emil; UE; Niloff; Instrumentations-Tabelle; text; Preliminary Remarks; Vormerkungen; Introduction; clefs; repertory citations; retail price; remuneration; contract
Handwritten letter from Schenker to Emil Hertzka (UE), dated December 18, 1908
letter
Hertzka, Emil
WSLB 30
1908-12-18
2005-03-17
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.
letter; holograph message and signature
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.
Vienna
1908