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OC 1A/1-2 - Handwritten letter from Schenker to Wilhelm Bopp (Akademie für Musik), dated May 30, 1911
This copy was produced by placing a sheet of carbon paper and a second sheet behind the original as it was written by hand. Eleven lines of p. 2 are illegible because of slippage between the carbon and sheets, resulting in a displaced double image.
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Seinerzeit, vor etwa 1½ Monaten, haben Sie mir bei meinem Besuch in Ihrem Bureau freundliche Mitteilung von dem relativ günstigen Stand der von Ihnen noch im Dezember 1908 gegenüber Direktor Hertzka angeregten Herausgabe des II Bandes des „W. Klv.“ gemacht. 2 Sie wissen, mit wie viel Freude ich Ihrem Vorschlag entgegenkam u. wie ich ihn auch durch die Herausgabe der 5 letzten Sonaten (die von Bülow’s Manirirtheiten endgültig befreit werden sollten) zu ergänzen dachte. 3 Sie machten mir damals auch bekannt, daß in eben dieser Sache auch der H. Präsident mich zu sprechen wünsche. Der guten Sitte
folgend, überließ ich Ihnen u. dem H. Präsidenten, mir Tag u. Stunde zu bestimmen.
4
Doch habe ich seither [?keinerlei] Nachricht darüber [?erreichen] können, nicht [übe]r
meine [?muendlichen], nicht über die schrift- {2} lichen [?Wege]. © Transcription Martin Eybl, 2016 |
Some time ago ‒ maybe a month and a half ‒ when I visited you in your office, you gave me the pleasing information that the edition of the second volume of the Well-tempered Clavier , which you proposed to Director Hertzka as long ago as December 1908, was looked upon relatively favorably. 2 You know with what joy I welcomed your proposal, and how I had in mind to complement it with the edition of the Last Five Sonatas (which would at long last be liberated from the mannerisms of Bülow). 3 On that occasion you also informed me that the President wished to speak to me about this same matter. Observing correct practice, I
left it to you and the President to specify
to me the day and time.
4
But since then, I have
been unable to [?elicit] any information
[?whatsoever] from either my [?spoken] or my written {2}
[?approaches]. © Translation Ian Bent, 2016 |
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Seinerzeit, vor etwa 1½ Monaten, haben Sie mir bei meinem Besuch in Ihrem Bureau freundliche Mitteilung von dem relativ günstigen Stand der von Ihnen noch im Dezember 1908 gegenüber Direktor Hertzka angeregten Herausgabe des II Bandes des „W. Klv.“ gemacht. 2 Sie wissen, mit wie viel Freude ich Ihrem Vorschlag entgegenkam u. wie ich ihn auch durch die Herausgabe der 5 letzten Sonaten (die von Bülow’s Manirirtheiten endgültig befreit werden sollten) zu ergänzen dachte. 3 Sie machten mir damals auch bekannt, daß in eben dieser Sache auch der H. Präsident mich zu sprechen wünsche. Der guten Sitte
folgend, überließ ich Ihnen u. dem H. Präsidenten, mir Tag u. Stunde zu bestimmen.
4
Doch habe ich seither [?keinerlei] Nachricht darüber [?erreichen] können, nicht [übe]r
meine [?muendlichen], nicht über die schrift- {2} lichen [?Wege]. © Transcription Martin Eybl, 2016 |
|
Some time ago ‒ maybe a month and a half ‒ when I visited you in your office, you gave me the pleasing information that the edition of the second volume of the Well-tempered Clavier , which you proposed to Director Hertzka as long ago as December 1908, was looked upon relatively favorably. 2 You know with what joy I welcomed your proposal, and how I had in mind to complement it with the edition of the Last Five Sonatas (which would at long last be liberated from the mannerisms of Bülow). 3 On that occasion you also informed me that the President wished to speak to me about this same matter. Observing correct practice, I
left it to you and the President to specify
to me the day and time.
4
But since then, I have
been unable to [?elicit] any information
[?whatsoever] from either my [?spoken] or my written {2}
[?approaches]. © Translation Ian Bent, 2016 |
Footnotes1 Writing of this letter is not recorded in Schenker's diary. 2 In OC 52/399-401, December 18, 1908, Emil Hertzka informed Schenker that Wilhelm Bopp had suggested to him that Schenker might edit Book II for use with the Conservatory's new syllabus "as the continuation of the Busoni Book I." Schenker welcomed this in his response of December 22, WSLB 31. 3 Ferruccio Busoni had previously made an edition of Book I. Because Bopp favored the Busoni edition over that by Czerny published by Universal Edition, and because Busoni had declared himself too heavily booked professionally to edit Book II, the Bopp-Hertzka plan was for Schenker to edit Book II and for Universal Edition to acquire the Busoni edition of Book I for its catalog. Schenker wished at the same time to prepare an edition of the last five piano sonatas of Beethoven. The Bach edition never came to fruition, but the Beethoven edition was published by Universal Edition as Die letzten fünf Sonaten von Beethoven , known also as the Erläuterungsausgabe (1913‒20). 4 Schenker recorded in his diary at OJ 1/10, pp. 131r‒131a, dated merely "June 1911": "Latent conflict with Director Bopp and Prof. Wiener. Letter to me from Bopp in April [OJ 9/18, [3], March 24, 1911] to present myself at his office. There I am informed by him that the Bach and Beethoven edition planned jointly by me, Universal Edition and the Academy is the best way to its realization; finally: 'The President would like to speak with me.' I immediately countered this indecorous form of invitation [...] with: The President may specify the day and time. The latter ought to be allowed to ask what he wants to ask! — Now open conflict! Neither the Professor nor the Director condescend to write the letter! Yet again I put the ultimatum in writing, "Failing that, I will move on to a different project." No answer. So I release the following announcement to the papers: "Dr. Heinrich Schenker will begin with a series of 6–8 lectures next Fall under the collective title 'Decline of the Art of Music,' which will demonstrate the unhealthy state of form and counterpoint, cacophony, and the like, in the works of several composers (Strauss, Reger, Debussy, etc.). This will be followed, alongside proposals for reform, by a critique of the deficiencies of present-day teaching methods." |
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Commentary
Digital version created: 2012-12-02 |