Downloads temporarily removed for testing purposes



Lieber Herr Dr Salzer! 1

Vielen Dank für Ihren „Sonderabdruck.“ 2 Lassen Sie mich Ihnen gegenüber wiederholen, was ich schon Dr Weisse sagte: 3 Sie sind, wie doch auch anders nicht zu erwarten ist, den besten Weg, nämlich den der Musik als Kunst, nicht als „Wissenschaft“ gegangen. Ahnen Sie die Schwierigkeiten Ihrer Zukunft, zu wirken für Musiker u. Musikfreunde, die weder Künstler noch Wissenschaftler sind?

Und doch, sie werden Alle zu uns kommen müssen, aus Hunger nach Wahrheit.


Beste Grüße Ihnen u. Ihrer verehrten Gattin
Ihr
[signed:] H Schenker

26.5.30

© Transcription Hedi Siegel, 2008, 2010



Dear Dr. Salzer, 1

Many thanks for your "offprint." 2 Let me repeat what I said to Dr. Weisse: 3 You took the best path, namely the one that leads to music as an art and not as a "science"; indeed, I would not have expected otherwise. I wonder, do you have any idea of the difficulties that await you: a future of educating musicians and music lovers who are neither artists nor scholars?

Even so, they will all have to come to us, in their hunger for truth.


Best wishes to you and your dear wife,
Your
[signed:] H. Schenker

May 26, 1930

© Translation Hedi Siegel, 2008, 2010



Lieber Herr Dr Salzer! 1

Vielen Dank für Ihren „Sonderabdruck.“ 2 Lassen Sie mich Ihnen gegenüber wiederholen, was ich schon Dr Weisse sagte: 3 Sie sind, wie doch auch anders nicht zu erwarten ist, den besten Weg, nämlich den der Musik als Kunst, nicht als „Wissenschaft“ gegangen. Ahnen Sie die Schwierigkeiten Ihrer Zukunft, zu wirken für Musiker u. Musikfreunde, die weder Künstler noch Wissenschaftler sind?

Und doch, sie werden Alle zu uns kommen müssen, aus Hunger nach Wahrheit.


Beste Grüße Ihnen u. Ihrer verehrten Gattin
Ihr
[signed:] H Schenker

26.5.30

© Transcription Hedi Siegel, 2008, 2010



Dear Dr. Salzer, 1

Many thanks for your "offprint." 2 Let me repeat what I said to Dr. Weisse: 3 You took the best path, namely the one that leads to music as an art and not as a "science"; indeed, I would not have expected otherwise. I wonder, do you have any idea of the difficulties that await you: a future of educating musicians and music lovers who are neither artists nor scholars?

Even so, they will all have to come to us, in their hunger for truth.


Best wishes to you and your dear wife,
Your
[signed:] H. Schenker

May 26, 1930

© Translation Hedi Siegel, 2008, 2010

Footnotes

1 Writing of this letter is recorded in Schenker's diary at OJ 4/3, p. 3479, May 26, 1930: "An Dr Salzer (Br.): Dank. ("To Dr. Salzer: thanks.").

2 Salzer had sent Schenker an offprint of his article "Über die Bedeutung der Ornamente in Philipp Emanuel Bachs Klavierwerken," Zeitschrift für Musikwissenschaft 12/7 (April 1930), 398–418; Eng. transl. by Mark Stevens as "The Significance of the Ornaments in Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s Keyboard Works," Theory and Practice 11 (1986), 15–42.

3 At the time he wrote the article, Salzer was a student of Hans Weisse, with whom he had been studying theory and analysis since the 1920s. He began his studies with Schenker in the fall of 1931, after Weisse had left Vienna to teach at the David Mannes Music School in New York.

Commentary

Format
1p letter, holograph message and signature
Provenance
Salzer, Felix (document date-1986)--the Felix Salzer estate (1986-2001)--New York Public Library(2001--)
Rights Holder
Heirs of Heinrich Schenker, in the public domain; published with the kind permission.
License
Permission to publish granted by the Estate of Hedwig Salzer, December 21, 2004. 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 Documents Online, at schenkercorrespondence [at] mus (dot) cam (dot) ac (dot) uk

Digital version created: 2011-10-31
Last updated: 2011-10-31