Footnotes

¹ While receipt of this notice is not itself recorded in Schenker's diary, there is an extensive entry at OJ 2/11, p. 913, July 3, 1918, of how the Heinrich and Jeanette learned of his death: " Zu Gärtners: erfahre auf der Straße vom Briefträger, daß Gärtner schon verschieden sei. Die Familie zuhause angetroffen, bis ¾11h geblieben; erfahre die näheren Umstände der letzten Tage, von den schweren Operationen, die der Aermste zu bestehen hatte, aber auch, daß er glücklicherweise sanft u. ohne Bewußtsein eingeschlafen. Beantrage, in der Parte seine werktätige Anteilnahme an den Mitmenschen hervorzuheben, die in der Tat zueigen war; fasse aus Eigenem den Entschluss, den ich auch der Familie mitteile, an Karpath einen Expreßbrief zu richten, um ihm Anhaltspunkte für eine halbwegs gerechte Würdigung des Dahingegangenen zu ermöglichen, wie ich mich auch bereit erkläre, Herrn Dr. Müller zur Verfügung zu stehen, der, wie der Sohn Hans mitteilt, die Aufgabe übernommen hat, eine ausführliche Würdigung in der „N. Fr. Pr.“ zu bringen. In der Tat empfinde ich es nicht erst unter dem schmerzlichen Drucke seines Todes, daß er vielfache Verdienste um das Musikleben, freilich an dem Berufe eines Sängers gemessen, sich erworben u. noch mehr sich hätte erwerben können, wenn er klüger, neidloser, freundschaftlicher den Weg auch weiterhin mit mir fortgesetzt hätte, wie er ihn jahrelang gegangen. Doch soll ihm trotz allem nicht vergessen werden, daß er vielen Liederkomponisten die erste Gelegenheit gegeben, hervorzutreten, sowohl als Komponisten als auch begleitend, daß er sich die würdigsten Kunstaufgaben (zum größten Teil wohl über meine Anregung) sich vorsetzte u. löste, daß er zur Musik in einem viel breiteren Verhältnis als andere Sänger stand usw." ("To Gärtner's: on the way, I hear from the postman that Gärtner has already died. Arriving at their home, I meet the family, staying until 10:45; I am told about the circumstances of the last few days, about the severe operations which the poor man had to endure, but also that fortunately he had died peacefully in his sleep without regaining consciousness. I propose that in the death notice his efficacious sympathy for the needs of others, which in fact was quite innate in him, should be stressed. Of my own accord I resolve to send an express letter to Karpath, a decision I also communicate to the family, in order to give him advice about how to facilitate a halfway fitting tribute to the deceased, as I also declare my preparedness to be available for Dr. Müller, who, as his son Hans informs us, is to undertake the task of providing a detailed obituary for the Neue Freie Presse. In fact, the painful experience of his death is not the first occasion that sets me thinking how copious his services to music have been, naturally measured within the context of a singer's profession, but also that they could have been even greater had he continued to accompany me on my path [through life] with more acumen, with less envy, with more affability, as he did for so many years. But it should never be forgotten of him that he gave many Lieder composers their first opportunity to come to the fore, not just as composers but also as accompanists, and that he undertook and performed the worthiest of musical tasks (to be sure most of them at my instigation), and that his attitude to music was much broader than that of other singers, and so forth"). Their decision as to the service is recorded ibid, July 4, 1918: "An Frau Gärtner (Br.): bitte in meinem wie Lie-Liechens Name um Entschuldigung wegen unseres Entschlusses, morgen an der Leichenfeier nicht teilzunehmen." ("To Mrs. Gärtner (letter): asking her in my name as well as in Lie-Liechen's for forgiveness for our decision not to participate in the burial service tomorrow."). See also correspondence with Ludwig Karpath, OJ 12/9, [22] and [23], July 18 abd 28, 1918.

Commentary

Format

black-edged, printed notice

Provenance

Schenker, Heinrich (document date-1935)--Schenker, Jeanette (1935-c.1942)--Ratz, Erwin (c.1942-c.1956)--Jonas, Oswald (c.1956-1978)--University of California, Riverside (1978--)

Rights Holder

Heirs of Eduard Gärtner, in the public domain

License

This document is in the public domain. Any claim to intellectual rights on this document should be addressed to the Schenker Correspondence Project, Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge, at schenkercorrespondence [at] mus (dot) cam (dot) ac (dot) uk.

Digital version created: 2010-03-23
Last updated: 2010-03-23