Footnotes

¹ Receipt of this postcard and Schenker's reply are recorded in his diary at OJ 4/4, p. 3613, Saturday May 2, 1931: "Von Weisse (K. expreß): ob er Mittwoch kommen dürfe? — An Weisse (K.): bitte um 7^h." ("From Weisse (express postcard): may he come on Wednesday? — To Weisse (postcard): I ask him to come at 7 o'clock.").

² The meeting is recorded in Schenker's diary at OJ 4/4, pp. 3614‒3615, Wednesday May 6, 1931: "Abends Weisse (von ¼8–¼11^h): ich gehe meine Vormerkungen durch u. stoße immer auf den wichtigsten Punkt vor: Es geht nicht an, daß (sozusagen) die neue Musik-Kirche sich ohne Geldmittel erhalten, geschweige emporblühen könnte. Das Haupt der Kirche muß die Möglichkeit haben, das Nötige sofort zu veranlassen, – handelt es sich doch um so kleine Beträge, deren Beschaffung gar nicht schwer fallen dürfte. W. vertrat die Ansicht, daß an der Ware gemessen, die höchstens 100 Menschen angehe, auch schon solche Beträge sehr hoch seien, auch gebe sie wenig Gelegenheit zur Befriedigung snobistischer Eitelkeit. Zuletzt entschloß sich W., mir vollständige Sorglosigkeit zu empfehlen u. koste das Werk auch 10–12000 M., ihm sei nicht bange, daß sie zu beschaffen sein werden. W. sei sich klar darüber, daß meine Lehre nicht unmittelbar dazu dienen könne, jeden halbwegs musikalischen Menschen zur Komposition zu befähigen, sie gebe nur Aufklärung über die Meisterwerke, denen nachzuahmen aber vergebliches Bemühen der Menschen bleiben werde; die Enttäuschung sei unausbleiblich, wenn jemand nach meiner Lehre komponieren wollte."
("In the evening, Weisse (from 7:15 until 10:15): I go through the things I have noted in advance, always stressing the most important point: It is not sufficient for the new musical church (so to speak) to be sustained without financial support, to say nothing about flourishing. The head of the church must have the possibility of immediately arranging to undertake what is necessary – even if it is just a question of such small sums, the payment of which ought not to prove at all difficult. Weisse took the view that, measured in terms of the goods, which would affect at most 100 persons, even such sums would already be very great, and they would give little opportunity for the gratification of snobbish vanity. In the end, Weisse decided to recommend that I should not worry at all; and even if the work were to cost between 10,000 and 12,000 marks, he would not be concerned about obtaining this sum. Weisse is clear in his own mind that my theory cannot directly serve the purpose of making every halfway musical person capable of composing; it provides only enlightenment about the masterworks, the emulation of which will, however, remain a vain occupation of such a person. The disappointment is inevitable for anyone who would wish to compose according to my theory.").

Commentary

Format

printed picture postcard: picture, holograph sender and recipients addresses, recto; holograph salutation, message, valediction, and signature, 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: 2018-10-05
Last updated: 2013-09-12