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WSLB 69/71 : 11-1-10

Handwritten letter from Schenker to Hertzka (UE), dated November 1, 1910, with single-sheet enclosure

{WSLB 69}
[ UE date-stamp: ] 2. Nov. 1910
[ UE document-stamp: ] 0033

Eingegangen .....................
Beantwortet ... 5. XI. 10 ...

Sehr geehrter Herr Direktor!

Anbei der gewünschte Vorschlag eines “Zettels,”1 drei Sätze sind es in Summe, u. vielleicht ist mir[?], der letzte überflüssig, also ad libitam.2

Mit H. Direktor Bopp|3 sprach[corr] ich am 29. Okt. u. ich glaube sagen zu können, daß die Sache bald spruchreif wird. Ihre Anregung, alljährlich eine Sonate|4 u. eine Lieferung aus dem[alt from: des] Wohl temper. Klavier hervorzubringen, scheint mir praktischen Wert zu besitzten; müßte diese Kombination dann auch wider[?] aber den umständlichen Weg eines “Memorandums” u.s.w. gehen,5 oder könnte es einfacher sein?

Schade um die Zeit.

Mit besten Grüßen
Ir ergeb.
[ sign’d: ] H Schenker
1. November 1910.

{WSLB 71}
[handwritten in top margin:] Schenker

Die vorliegende kritische Ausgabe6 sucht zum ersten Male die rein technischen kompositionellen Momente des berühmten Werkes zu entschleiern, den Text nach Maßgabe der letzteren festzustellen u. so gegen die aus mangelhafter Kenntnis der Herausgeber entstandenen Irrtümer zu schützen. Zugleich gab insbesondere die Fuge Gelegenheit, die so einzig u. unvergleichlich dastehende Fugentechnik S. Bachs in ihren unendlich vielfaltigen u. tiefsinnigen Konstruktionen, die wie sie in den bestehenden Lehrbüchern leider noch gar nicht zur Darstellung gelangt sind, zum Nützen höher strebender Musiker [z]u erläutern. ( Gilt es gegens nun solchermaßen, bestehende Vorurteile endlich auszumerzen, wie sie leider auch durch Musiker, wie z.B. Bülow, Reinecke, Busoni, u.s.w. fortgepflanzt[corr] wurden, so mag das die musikalische Welt das vorliegende Werk mit Interesse begrüßen.)

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

Handwritten letter from Schenker to Hertzka (UE), dated November 1, 1910, with single-sheet enclosure

{WSLB 69}
[ UE date-stamp: ] 2. Nov. 1910
[ UE document-stamp: ] 0033

Received .....................
Answered ... 5. XI. 10 ...

Dear Director,

Enclosed [is] the requested proposal for a flyer1—three sentences in all, and perhaps the last is to my mind unnecessary, thus ad libitam.2

I spoke with Director Bopp3 on October 29, and think I can say that the matter will soon be ripe for decision. Your suggestion of bringing out each year one sonata4 and one installment from the Well-tempered Clavier seems to me to have practical merit. But then again[?], would not this combination have to go the circuitous route of a “memorandum” etc.,5 or could matters be [handled] more simply?

It’s a pity about the time.

With warmest greetings,
Yours truly,
[ sign’d: ] H. Schenker
November 1, 1910

{WSLB 71}
[handwritten in top margin:] Schenker

The present critical edition6 seeks to reveal for the first time the purely technical compositional elements operating in this famous work, to establish its [musical] text on the basis of these elements, and thus to guard against the errors that have arisen through defective knowledge on the part of editors. At the same time, the fugue has afforded a particular opportunity to elucidate for the benefit of musicians aspiring to higher things the fugal technique of J. S. Bach, unique and incomparable as it is in its infinitely varied and profound constructions, none of which, regrettably, have hitherto been successfully presented in existing textbooks. (It is imperative for me by these means at long last to eradicate existing preconceptions that have unfortunately been propagated even by such musicians as, e.g., Bülow, Reinecke, Busoni, etc.; hence the musical world will surely greet the present work with interest.)

© Translation Ian D. Bent 2006.

COMMENTARY:
Format: 1-p letter, holograph message and signature + 1-p holograph document
Sender address: --
Recipient address: --

FOOTNOTES

1 Reference is to the enclosure = WSLB 71, in modern terms a “publisher’s blurb,” for S’s just-published edition of J. S. Bach’s Chromatic Fantasy & Fugue, i.e. a slip advertising the publication, to be “slipped” into other books, to be sent out to retailers, libraries, perhaps inserted as an announcement in newspapers, etc., as requested by H in OC 52/426, October 29, 1910.

2 i.e. optional.

3 Wilhelm Bopp [create biogfile and link].

4 i.e. late piano sonatas of Beethoven, which led eventually to the publication of Die letzten fünf Sonaten von Beethoven (Vienna: UE, 1913–20).

5 Sense unclear: perhaps he means that (1) it would involve much “to-ing and fro-ing” to reach initial agreement; or (2) it would be complicated to advertise; or (3) it would prove intricate to operate, full of “red tape”; or (4) that retailers/subscribers/librarians would need periodically to be advised via memoranda as to which item would be issued next.

6 Chromatische Fantasie und Fuge D moll von Joh. Seb. Bach : Kritische Ausgabe mit Anhang von Heinrich Schenker (Vienna: UE, 1910), of which UE took possession from the printers on October 21, 1910, in a print-run of 500 copies (Verlagsdruckbuch 2540).

SUMMARY:
[J. S. Bach: Chromatic Fantasy & Fugue:] Wording for flyer enclosed as separate sheet. — [ Die letzten fünf Sonaten von Beethoven ; Well-tempered Clavier Book II:] Reports discussion with Wilhelm Bopp.

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

Bent, Ian
Schenker, Heinrich
[J. S. Bach: Chromatic Fantasy & Fugue:] Wording for flyer enclosed as separate sheet. — [ Die letzten fünf Sonaten von Beethoven ; Well-tempered Clavier Book II:] Reports discussion with Wilhelm Bopp.
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; Zettel; flyer; blurb; advertisement; Beethoven sonatas; Well-tempered Clavier; Book II; Bopp, Wilhelm; memorandum; Bülow, Hans von; Reinecke, Carl; Busoni, Ferruccio
Handwritten letter from Schenker to Hertzka (UE), datedNOvember 1, 1910
letter
academic; musicology; music theory
WSLB 69/71
1910-11-01
2006-05-18
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; holograph document
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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