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WSLB 57 : 4-11-10

Handwritten letter from Schenker to Hertzka (UE), dated April 11, 1910

Sehr geehrter Herr Direktor !

Indessen habe ich eine Bitte: Wie Sie wissen, habe ich der ”U.E.” mein eigenes Handexemplar (aus dem Heft der Bach-Gs.|1) zur Verfügung gestellt. Und das war vom Standpunkt meines Unterrichtsbetriebes nicht vorsichtig genug. Jahraus jahrein nehme ich das Werk 2–3 mal mit Schülern u. Schülerinnen durch – ist es doch ein Hauptwerk unserer Literatur–, u.so habe ich, in Ermanglung meines Handexemplars, mich[corr] provisorisch mit der Röntgen dt.[?]2 geholfen: doch war ich regelmäßig zu indigniert darüber u. hatte zu viel Mühe, die ewigen Korrekturen den Schülern aufzubürden, so daß ich das Studium dieses Werkes unterbrechen mußte. Ich habe meine Schüler immer auf das baldige Erscheinen meines[corr] Exemplares vertröstet, indem ich einfach den Anweisungen Ihrer eigenen Briefe folgte. Noch am 26. X. 09 hieß es in Ihrem Bf: “soll nun endgiltig zur Drucklegung gelangen”3 (vgl. dann Bf. vom 10.11.09, 11.2.10, 12,3.104) u. so habe ich die Fortsetzung des Studiums den {2} Schülern in Aussicht gestellt[corr]. Nun geht die Saison zu Ende u. ich will Wort halten. Wollen Sie mir mindestens das Notenexemplar sammt den dazu gehörigen Arpeggien|5 (Manuscript der “Erläuterungen” kann ja bei Ihnen verbleiben) zur Verfügung stellen, wogegen ich mich verpflichte, es Ihnen sofort zu retournierien, bis Sie wirklich so weit sind. Unter allen Umständen reise ich 1. Ju[li]6 ab u. da können Sie’s wieder haben. Ich hoffe, Sie lassen mir aus einer privaten Gefälligkeit an die “U.E.” keinen Schaden an Unterrichtsbetrieb erwachsen u. senden mir unverzüglich die Noten, die bei Ihnen müßig liegen, ein. Schon morgen um 11h. können Sie die Bestätigung des obigen Inhaltes in einer Stunde, die ich zu geben habe, wahrnehmen.

Indem ich im Vorhineins bestens danke
Zeichne hochachtungsvoll
Ir ergb
[ sign’d: ] H Schenker
11. 4. 10

© In the public domain.
© Transcription Ian D. Bent 2006.

Handwritten letter from Schenker to Hertzka (UE), dated April 11, 1910

Dear Director,

Meanwhile, I have a request: As you know, I have placed my own personal copy (from the volume of the Bach Gesellschaft edition1) at UE’s disposal. I was not thinking ahead to my teaching activities when I did that. Year in, year out, I go through the work two or three times with my pupils—it is undoubtedly one of the principal works of our repertory—and so, in the absence of my personal copy, I made do provisionally with the Röntgen edition2. However, my indignation was too frequently aroused at it, and I was forever burdening my pupils with the bother of making corrections, so I was forced to break off the study of this work. I have been regularly consoling my pupils with the promise that my copy will be back soon, while I naively followed the indications in your own letters. As recently as October 26, 1909 in your letter it was: “is finally about to go for printing”3 (cf. your letters of November 10, 1909, February 11, 1910, March 12, 19104) etc., and on that basis I promised my students continuation of their {2} studies. Now the term is nearly over, and I want to keep my word. Please at least place at my disposal the copy of the music together with the arpeggios5 that belong with it (the manuscript of the “Elucidations” can remain in your hands); I undertake to return it to you immediately when you have really got to that stage. In any case, I shall be leaving on July 1,6 and then you can have it back. I hope you will not let a private favor to UE on my part become a hindrance to my teaching activities, and [that you] will send me the music, which is lying idle at your office, without delay. You can confirm for yourself what I have said above as early as tomorrow at 11 a.m., during a lesson that I have to give.

With grateful thanks in anticipation, I remain,
With kind regards,
Yours truly,
[ sign’d: ] H. Schenker
April 11, 1910

© Translation Ian D. Bent 2006.

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

FOOTNOTES:

1 Of J.S.Bach, Chromatic Fantasy & Fugue, Schenker’s edition of which is in preparation, but has been delayed by a hold-up at the printers. See fn1 to OC 52/49 on Handexemplar. Schenker’s copy of the Bach Gesellschaft Edition, vol.36 = Clavierwerke, vol.4 (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1886) survives as OC Scores/2, from which pp.71–80, containing the Chromatic Fantasy & Fugue, have been removed and placed at OC Scores/6.

2 Chromatische Fantasie und Fuge ... von Joh. Seb. Bach... revidiert und neu herausgegeben von Julius Röntgen (Vienna: UE, [1902]), of which S owned a copy, OC Scores/7. Click on Julius Röntgen.

3 OC 52/41.

4 OC 52/43, 45, 47.

5 Arpeggien : i.e. the Schenker’s own realizations of the chords to be arpeggiated, which he had written out on separate sheets and cued into his copy of the BG edition with special symbols: see Ian Bent, “’That Bright New Light’: Schenker, Universal Edition, and the Origins of the Erläuterung Series, 1901–1910” Journal of the American Musicological Society 58/1 (Spring 2005), Fig. 2, pp.100–101.

6 i.e. for his Summer holiday in the Tyrol.

SUMMARY:
[J. S. Bach: Chromatic Fantasy & Fugue:] S requests return of the pages of his copy of the Bach Gesellschaft edition, together with his MS realizations of the chord arpeggiations, for use in teaching, and promises to return them when UE needs them for printing.

© Commentary, Footnotes, Summary Ian D. Bent 2006.

Bent, Ian
Schenker, Heinrich
[J. S. Bach: Chromatic Fantasy & Fugue:] S requests return of the pages of his copy of the Bach Gesellschaft edition, together with his MS realizations of the chord arpeggiations, for use in teaching, and promises to return them when UE needs them for printing.
DE
Cambridge University Faculty of Music-Ian Bent
IPR: in public domain; Transcription, Translation, Commentary, Footnotes, and Summary: Ian D. Bent 2006.
Schenker, Heinrich; Hertzka, Emil; UE; Bach, J. S.; Chromatic Fantasy & Fugue; CF&F; Bach Gesellschaft edition; arpeggiations; teaching; Röntgen, Julius; Erläuterungen; Elucidations;
Handwritten letter from Schenker to Hertzka (UE), dated April 11, 1910
letter
academic; musicology; music theory
WSLB57
1910-04-11
2006-05-09
UE
Hertzka
This document is deemed to be in the public domain as of January 1, 2006. Any claim to intellectual rights 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 (1910-1976)—on permanent loan to the Stadt- und Landesbibliothek Wien (1976-)
IPR: In the public domain; Image: Universal Edition, A.G.; Transcription, Translation, Commentary, Footnotes, and Summary: Ian D. Bent.
Vienna
1910

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