Schenker Correspondence Project

Handwritten postcard from Schenker to Cube, undated, postmarked June 9, 1930

{recto}
Postkarte

[top-left, picture, captioned: Paznauntal, Tirol]

[Absender:] Schenker,
Wien, III, Keilgasse 8

[An:] H Prof. [/] Felix v. Cube
Duisburg (Rhld)
Pulverweg [/] 41

[postmark:] || 3 WIEN 40 | -9.VI.30-8 | * 4c * ||

[for message-continuation, see below]

{verso}
Lieber Professor v. Cube!

Gleichzeitig mache ich Sie mit der jüngsten Auslassung H. Vrieslander’s (s. Drucksache) bekannt.¹ Es wird Ihnen sogleich auffallen, daß er zur “Urlinie” u. ^zu allen ihren Zusammenhangsherrlichkeiten noch immer nicht Zutritt erlangt hat. Das Eigentlichste – mit “Synthese” ist es nur sehr vag, überflüssig vag, wiedergegeben – fehlt also. Umso kräftiger hole ich es ^selbst in dem nächstens zur Ausgabe gelangenden Werk (“Eroica,” dazu als Vorwort: Rameau oder Beeth.?, “Vermischtes”) nach.² Sonst freilich ist Vr’s Aufsatz sehr glücklich.

Was hören Sie von Ihrem Aufsatz?³ Und sonst? Ist Herr {recto} Voß|⁴ bei Ihnen eingekehrt?

Besten Gruß
Ihr
[ sign’d: ] H Sch
(vom 24. ab in Galtür)

© In the public domain.
© Transcription William Drabkin, 2006.

Handwritten postcard from Schenker to Cube, undated, postmarked June 9, 1930

{recto}
Postcard

[top-left, picture, captioned: Paznauntal, Tirol]

[From:] Schenker,
Vienna III, Keilgasse 8

[To:] Prof. Felix v. Cube,
Duisburg (Rhineland),
Pulverweg 41

[postmark:] || 3 WIEN 40 | -9.VI.30-8 | * 4c * ||

[for message-continuation, see below]

{verso}
Dear Professor von Cube!

At the same time [that I am sending this card], I am acquainting you with Vrieslander’s latest utterance (see the printed paper).¹ It will strike you immediately that he has still not gained access to the “Urlinie” and all the splendors of its cohesiveness. That which is unique—the concept of “synthesis” is explained only very vaguely, superficially vaguely – is thus missing [from his account]. I myself review the topic all the more potently in the next work to be published ([my analysis of the] the Eroica [Symphony], which includes “Rameau or Beethoven?” as foreword and a “Miscellanea”).² Otherwise, of course, Vrieslander’s essay succeeds well.

What have you heard about your article?³ Anything else? Has Mr. {recto} Voss returned to you?⁴

Best greetings.
Yours,
[ sign’d: ] H. Schenker

(From the 24th [of June, we shall be] in Galtür.)

© Translation William Drabkin, 2006.

COMMENTARY:
Format: printed postcard, picture, holograph addresses, message-continuation, and signature recto, message-beginning verso
Sender address: Vienna III, Keilgasse 8
Recipient address: Duisburg (Rhineland), Pulverweg 41

FOOTNOTES:

¹ Probably Vrieslander “Heinrich Schenker,” Der Kunstwart XLIII (June 1930), pp. 181–89. Jeanette made a note of this essay in Schenker’s Scrapbook,OC/2, p.80); the article survives, part-photocopy, in OJ 58/21. Click on Otto Vrieslander.

² These are the essays that make up the third and final “yearbook,” Das Meisterwerk in der Musik III (Munich: Drei Masken-Verlag, 1930). The word Synthese appears throughout the analysis of the Eroica; but in a more extended discussion of musical cohesiveness, in the “Rameau” essay (pp. 19-21; Eng. trans., pp. 7-8), Schenker uses the German Zusammenhang rather than its Greek-derived equivalent.

³ Probably Cube’s intended pedagogical essay on the C major Prelude from Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1. See Cube’s letter, OJ 9/34, [20], January 2, 1930.

⁴ Erich Voss, a young musician who encountered Schenker’s theories through Cube’s visit to Cologne, and who went to Vienna in the hopes of studying with Schenker: see also OJ 9/34, [18], May 14, 1929; vC 23, May 15; vC 24, July 6, 1929; vC 25, July 14; OJ 9/34, [19], July 18, 1929. Voss does not appear in S’s Lesson Books.

SUMMARY:
S sends copy of Vrieslander article and comments on it, comparing it unfavorably with Meisterwerk III; inquires about C's "article," asks whether Erich Voß is with him; reports departure date for Galtür.

© Commentary, Footnotes, Summary William Drabkin 2006.

Drabkin, William
Schenker, Heinrich
DE
Cambridge University Faculty of Music-Ian Bent
Schenker, Heinrich; Cube, Felix-Eberhard von; Vrieslander, Otto; Urlinie; Synthese; synthesis; Das Meisterwerk in der Musik; Masterwork in Music; Beethoven; Eroica Symphony; Rameau; Vermischtes; Miscellanea; Voß, Erich; Voss, Erich
Handwritten postcard from Schenker to Cube, dated June 9, 1930
vC 29
1930-06-09
2006-10-20
Cube
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.
Felix-Eberhard von Cube (1930-87)—Heirs of F.-E. von Cube (1987-present day)
IPR: In the public domain; Image: Heirs of Felix-Eberhard von Cube; Transcription, Translation, Commentary, Footnotes, and Summary William Drabkin.
Vienna
1930