Downloads temporarily removed for testing purposes

{recto}
[printed:] Postkarte
[top-left, picture captioned: Maria Wörth, Kärntnen]

[An:] Herrn Dr. Heinrich Schenker
Keilgasse 8
Wien III.

[postmark:] || 13/1 WIEN 89 | 5.III.31‒6 | * 3a * ||

[for continuation of message from verso, see below]

{verso}
5. III. 31.

Lieber verehter Meister, 1

besten Dank für die Quellenangabe. 2 Zu der grossen Briefausgabe 3 ist dieser Brief nicht enthalten. 4

Es gereicht mir zur besondern Freude, Ihnen mitzuteilen, dass ich mit meinem gestrigen Vortrag Ihrer Lehre zum Triumpf verholfen habe. Die Leute waren sprachlos. Ich stellte das 5. Kl. Pr. in Ihrer Darstellung dar: 5 liess aber zuvor zwei aus dem Zuhörerkreis spielen, 6 um dann zeigen zu können, welche Bedeutung Ihre Hörweise für den Vortrag hat und dass sie als praktische Hörer Kenntnis mit Theorie und Wissenschaft nichts zu tun hat. Die Leute waren fasziniert und so muss {recto} ich dann nochmals über den Vortrag dieses Stückes reden. Für mich hat dies alles noch dazu den Wert der Übung. Ich rede ganz frei und wirke jetzt erst, ohne an Text gebunden zu sein, ganz improvisatorisch und mitreissend.


Alles Liebe und Herzliche von uns beiden!
Ihr
[signed:] H .

[along the margin: first part cut off, then:]

versuche und deren Abwehr noch mündlich!

© Transcription William Drabkin, 2008

{recto}
[printed:] Postcard
[top-left, picture captioned: Maria Wörth, Carinthia]

[To:] Dr. Heinrich Schenker
Keilgasse 8
Vienna III

[postmark:] || 13/1 VIENNA 89 | 5.III.31‒6 | * 3a * ||

[for continuation of message from verso, see below]

{verso}
March 5, 1931

Dear, revered Master, 1

Many thanks for the source reference. 2 As for the big edition of the [Mozart family] correspondence, 3 this letter is not included. 4

It gives me great pleasure in telling you that my lecture yesterday about your theory was a triumph. The people were speechless. I gave an account of the fifth short prelude in your presentation, 5 but first asked two members of the audience to play it, 6 so that I could then show what significance your method of hearing has for performance, and that as practical listener knowledge it has nothing to do with the usual theory, or with musicology. The people were fascinated, and so {recto} I had then to speak again about the performance of this piece. For me, all of this had, in addition, the value of practice. I speak entirely freely, and am only now effective without being bound to a text, entirely extempore and spirited.


All good wishes and cordial greetings from the two of us!
Ihr
[signed:] H .

[along the margin: first part cut off, then:]

attempt, and the defense against it in person!

© Translation William Drabkin, 2008

{recto}
[printed:] Postkarte
[top-left, picture captioned: Maria Wörth, Kärntnen]

[An:] Herrn Dr. Heinrich Schenker
Keilgasse 8
Wien III.

[postmark:] || 13/1 WIEN 89 | 5.III.31‒6 | * 3a * ||

[for continuation of message from verso, see below]

{verso}
5. III. 31.

Lieber verehter Meister, 1

besten Dank für die Quellenangabe. 2 Zu der grossen Briefausgabe 3 ist dieser Brief nicht enthalten. 4

Es gereicht mir zur besondern Freude, Ihnen mitzuteilen, dass ich mit meinem gestrigen Vortrag Ihrer Lehre zum Triumpf verholfen habe. Die Leute waren sprachlos. Ich stellte das 5. Kl. Pr. in Ihrer Darstellung dar: 5 liess aber zuvor zwei aus dem Zuhörerkreis spielen, 6 um dann zeigen zu können, welche Bedeutung Ihre Hörweise für den Vortrag hat und dass sie als praktische Hörer Kenntnis mit Theorie und Wissenschaft nichts zu tun hat. Die Leute waren fasziniert und so muss {recto} ich dann nochmals über den Vortrag dieses Stückes reden. Für mich hat dies alles noch dazu den Wert der Übung. Ich rede ganz frei und wirke jetzt erst, ohne an Text gebunden zu sein, ganz improvisatorisch und mitreissend.


Alles Liebe und Herzliche von uns beiden!
Ihr
[signed:] H .

[along the margin: first part cut off, then:]

versuche und deren Abwehr noch mündlich!

© Transcription William Drabkin, 2008

{recto}
[printed:] Postcard
[top-left, picture captioned: Maria Wörth, Carinthia]

[To:] Dr. Heinrich Schenker
Keilgasse 8
Vienna III

[postmark:] || 13/1 VIENNA 89 | 5.III.31‒6 | * 3a * ||

[for continuation of message from verso, see below]

{verso}
March 5, 1931

Dear, revered Master, 1

Many thanks for the source reference. 2 As for the big edition of the [Mozart family] correspondence, 3 this letter is not included. 4

It gives me great pleasure in telling you that my lecture yesterday about your theory was a triumph. The people were speechless. I gave an account of the fifth short prelude in your presentation, 5 but first asked two members of the audience to play it, 6 so that I could then show what significance your method of hearing has for performance, and that as practical listener knowledge it has nothing to do with the usual theory, or with musicology. The people were fascinated, and so {recto} I had then to speak again about the performance of this piece. For me, all of this had, in addition, the value of practice. I speak entirely freely, and am only now effective without being bound to a text, entirely extempore and spirited.


All good wishes and cordial greetings from the two of us!
Ihr
[signed:] H .

[along the margin: first part cut off, then:]

attempt, and the defense against it in person!

© Translation William Drabkin, 2008

Footnotes

1 Receipt of this postcard is recorded in Schenker's diary at OJ 4/4, p. 3592: March 5, 1931: "Von Weisse (K.): hatte großen Erfolg mit dem Kleinen Präludium; spricht noch ein viertes Mal." ("From Weisse (postcard): he had great success with the Short Prelude; will speak a fourth time").

2 Weisse had asked Schenker for the source of a Mozart quotation in a postcard dated February 13 (OJ 15/15, [55]). Schenker's source was Richard Benz, "Das Spiel des Dämons," Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, January 25, 1931 (preserved as OC 50/20).

3 Die Briefe W. A. Mozarts und seiner Familie, edited by Ludwig Schiedermair, 5 vols. (Munich, 1914).

4 No paragraph-break in original.

5 Schenker’s analysis of J. S. Bach's Short Prelude No. 5, BWV 926, in D minor, was published in Tonwille 5 (1923).

6 The comparison of a voice-leading analysis with performances of the work is a teaching technique that Weisse was to develop further in New York, at the Mannes Music School and Columbia University.

Commentary

Format
printed picture postcard: picture, holograph recipient address, message-continuation, valediction, signature, and postscript, recto; holograph salutation, and message-beginning, verso
Provenance
Schenker, Heinrich (document date-1935)--Schenker, Jeanette (1935-c.1942)--Ratz, Erwin (c.1942-c.1945)--Jonas, Oswald (c.1945-1978)--University of California, Riverside (1978--)
Rights Holder
Heirs of Hans Weisse, reproduced with kind permission
License
Permission to publish granted on March 10, 2008 by the heirs of Hans Weisse. Any claim to intellectual rights on this document should be addressed to the Schenker Documents Online, Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge, at schenkercorrespondence[at]mus(dot)cam(dot)ac(dot)uk

Digital version created: 2018-09-29
Last updated: 2013-09-12