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OJ 12/38, [2] - Handwritten picture postcard from Hans Liebstoeckl to Schenker, dated January 11, 1928
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[content of reverse side unknown] {recto} [picture top-left, with caption: Traunkirchen, Oberösterr.] [An:] ⇧ Dr. Heinrich Maria⇧ (?) 1 Schenker ⇧ Wien, III. Keilgasse, 8. Wien, 11./I 28. [postmark:] || [ illeg. ] || Verehrtester Freund! 2 Ich drücke Ihnen die Hand. Was sagen Sie zu Graf? Zu Kralik? Zu Bienenfeld? Zu Decsey? 3 Wie die Arbeit, so die Universaledition! 4 Der Kompomist 5 unserer Tage! Dieser Satz, diese Bässe, diese Deklamation, diese Altersschwäche in der Jugend! Coëo, ergo sum! 6 © Transcription Martin Eybl, 2006 |
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[content of reverse side unknown] {recto} [picture top-left, with caption: Traunkirchen, Upper Austria] [To:] ⇧ Dr. Heinrich Maria⇧ (?) 1 Schenker ⇧ Vienna, III, Keilgasse, 8 Vienna, January 11, 1928 [postmark:] || [ illeg. ] || Most highly revered Friend! 2 I press your hand. What do you say to Graf? To Kralik? To Bienenfeld? To Decsey? 3 As with the work, so with Universal Edition! 4 The composer 5 of our time! This counterpoint, these bass lines, this declamation, this decrepitude of youth! Coëo, ergo sum! 6 © Translation Ian Bent, 2007 |
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{verso}
[content of reverse side unknown] {recto} [picture top-left, with caption: Traunkirchen, Oberösterr.] [An:] ⇧ Dr. Heinrich Maria⇧ (?) 1 Schenker ⇧ Wien, III. Keilgasse, 8. Wien, 11./I 28. [postmark:] || [ illeg. ] || Verehrtester Freund! 2 Ich drücke Ihnen die Hand. Was sagen Sie zu Graf? Zu Kralik? Zu Bienenfeld? Zu Decsey? 3 Wie die Arbeit, so die Universaledition! 4 Der Kompomist 5 unserer Tage! Dieser Satz, diese Bässe, diese Deklamation, diese Altersschwäche in der Jugend! Coëo, ergo sum! 6 © Transcription Martin Eybl, 2006 |
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{verso}
[content of reverse side unknown] {recto} [picture top-left, with caption: Traunkirchen, Upper Austria] [To:] ⇧ Dr. Heinrich Maria⇧ (?) 1 Schenker ⇧ Vienna, III, Keilgasse, 8 Vienna, January 11, 1928 [postmark:] || [ illeg. ] || Most highly revered Friend! 2 I press your hand. What do you say to Graf? To Kralik? To Bienenfeld? To Decsey? 3 As with the work, so with Universal Edition! 4 The composer 5 of our time! This counterpoint, these bass lines, this declamation, this decrepitude of youth! Coëo, ergo sum! 6 © Translation Ian Bent, 2007 |
Footnotes1 "(?)" overwritten on "Maria", presumably by Schenker. Perhaps Liebstöckl intended it to be a joke. 2 Receipt of this letter is recorded in Schenker's diary at OJ 4/1, p. 3165, January 12, 1928: "Von Liebstöckl (K.): drückt mir die Hand für meine Zuschrift u. ruft aus: „... dieser Satz, diese Bässe“! (bei Křenek)." ("From Liebstöckl (postcard): shakes my hand for my response, and cries: "… this counterpoint, these bass lines"! (in Křenek's music)."). The communication to which this is a response is not known to survive. 3 The allusion is to the first performance of Ernst Krenek's Jonny spielt auf at the Vienna State Opera on December 31, 1927. Graf declared himself very fond of the opera (Der Tag, January 1, 1928, pp. 11–12). Heinrich Kralik expressed himself in postive terms, albeit not uncritically (Neues Wiener Tagblatt, January 1, 1928, pp. 2–3). Elsa Bienenfeld published an ambivalent short review (Neues Wiener Journal, January 6, 1928, p. 18). A corresponding review by Ernst Decsey could not be traced. 4 Krenek's opera Jonny spielt auf was published by Universal Edition, Schenker's principal publisher. "Wie die Arbeit, so der Lohn" is a German proverb meaning "When the work is not good, the pay is small." The implication here is: "This (wretched) composition says much about the deplorable condition of Universal Edition." 5 "Kompomist": a play on words between Mist = "shit" and Komponist = "composer." 6 "Coëo, ergo sum": the original dictum of Descartes reads "Cogito ergo sum" – "I think, therefore I am." Liebstoeckl adapts this as "I copulate, therefore I am." |
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Commentary
Digital version created: 2014-11-24 |