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OJ 5/15, [6] - Fragmentary handwritten draft letter from Schenker to Grunsky, undated [? mid‒late September 1908?]
{recto}
[all written in pencil] [in top margin, in pencil in Schenker’s hand:] An Grunsky ‒ über Bruckner 1 [?trägt] aber als die traurigste Folge. Wurde [?nun] ein[e] solche Art, den Inhalt zu beschaffen, schon allein genügen, den Inhalt als blos pappenartig zusammens.[etzen?] denn als noch organisch zu empf.[inden?], so steigert sich sp[e]z[ifisch] bei Br., die Calam.[ität] noch weiter auch dadurch, daß er modulat.[orisch] den Weg zu der jeweilig den nächsten ESch.[Einschnitt?] eröffnend[en] Tonica nicht fand. 2 Ein Cadenz zu dieser Tonica hin, schien ihm u. mit Recht nicht passend, die Modul[ations]partie aber mit enger anderen, einzig mögliche[n] Wege [?eine] rechtschaffen [?schöne] Mod.[ulation] [?nach] eingewob.[ener] Tonica der nächsten Tonart u. mit schon eigenen Gedanke[n?] [?Meint] er nicht ‒ folglich setzt er einfach wie eine Generalpause [?hin] So sind denn die fabelhaft[en?] G[eneral]p[ausen] nicht Zeichen etwa einer neu[en] Form, nein, nothw.[endige] Folge einer [?Verstiegenheit] zur Tonica der nächst. [?Gut] zu von Die Generalp.[ausen] sind das, was [illeg] + [?den] Analphabeten. In der V. Symph. sehen Sie ihn [?sogar] nach Es dur rund[illeg] 3 {verso} Sie werden einwenden, [?wenn] [?...cht]. [?hie/hin] [?arbeite] [?da] doch auch der Inhalt als [?zweimal] 8 oder 12 Takte. [?Wie] kam der der w. [illeg] [?Z...] zu stande?
Hier [illeg]
[inverted, in ink, in Schenker’s
hand:]
[lacks ending or valediction and
signature]
© Transcription Lee Rothfarb and Ian Bent, 2007, 2017 |
{recto}
[all written in pencil] [in top margin, in pencil in Schenker’s hand:] To Grunsky ‒ about Bruckner 1 [?bears] but as the saddest consequence. Were such a manner [of composing] alone sufficient to provide the content, piecing the content together as on a pasteboard [in a collage?] rather than perceiving it organically, then in the case of Bruckner specifically the calamity escalates still further in that he did not through modulation find the path to the tonic initiating the next section in each instance. 2 A cadence leading to this tonic appeared to him and rightly so not fitting, the but the modulation section with narrow other solely possible paths [to a] frightfully beautiful modulation to an interwoven tonic of the subsequent tonality and even with its own ideas. If he does not really intend [?it] ‒ consequently he simply inserts as a general pause. The [marvelous?] general pauses are thus not perchance a sign of a new form: No, [they are a] necessary consequence of eccentricity leading to the tonic of the next tonality. Good to [?from] The general pauses are that which [illeg] the illiterate person. In the Fifth Symphony, you see him [?even] after Eę major [illeg] 3 {verso} You will object if [illeg] [?rightly] [illeg] though also the content as twice 8 or 12 measures. How did the [illeg] come to be?
Here
[inverted, in ink, in Schenker’s
hand:]
[lacks ending or valediction and
signature]
© Translation Lee Rothfarb, 2007, 2017 |
{recto}
[all written in pencil] [in top margin, in pencil in Schenker’s hand:] An Grunsky ‒ über Bruckner 1 [?trägt] aber als die traurigste Folge. Wurde [?nun] ein[e] solche Art, den Inhalt zu beschaffen, schon allein genügen, den Inhalt als blos pappenartig zusammens.[etzen?] denn als noch organisch zu empf.[inden?], so steigert sich sp[e]z[ifisch] bei Br., die Calam.[ität] noch weiter auch dadurch, daß er modulat.[orisch] den Weg zu der jeweilig den nächsten ESch.[Einschnitt?] eröffnend[en] Tonica nicht fand. 2 Ein Cadenz zu dieser Tonica hin, schien ihm u. mit Recht nicht passend, die Modul[ations]partie aber mit enger anderen, einzig mögliche[n] Wege [?eine] rechtschaffen [?schöne] Mod.[ulation] [?nach] eingewob.[ener] Tonica der nächsten Tonart u. mit schon eigenen Gedanke[n?] [?Meint] er nicht ‒ folglich setzt er einfach wie eine Generalpause [?hin] So sind denn die fabelhaft[en?] G[eneral]p[ausen] nicht Zeichen etwa einer neu[en] Form, nein, nothw.[endige] Folge einer [?Verstiegenheit] zur Tonica der nächst. [?Gut] zu von Die Generalp.[ausen] sind das, was [illeg] + [?den] Analphabeten. In der V. Symph. sehen Sie ihn [?sogar] nach Es dur rund[illeg] 3 {verso} Sie werden einwenden, [?wenn] [?...cht]. [?hie/hin] [?arbeite] [?da] doch auch der Inhalt als [?zweimal] 8 oder 12 Takte. [?Wie] kam der der w. [illeg] [?Z...] zu stande?
Hier [illeg]
[inverted, in ink, in Schenker’s
hand:]
[lacks ending or valediction and
signature]
© Transcription Lee Rothfarb and Ian Bent, 2007, 2017 |
{recto}
[all written in pencil] [in top margin, in pencil in Schenker’s hand:] To Grunsky ‒ about Bruckner 1 [?bears] but as the saddest consequence. Were such a manner [of composing] alone sufficient to provide the content, piecing the content together as on a pasteboard [in a collage?] rather than perceiving it organically, then in the case of Bruckner specifically the calamity escalates still further in that he did not through modulation find the path to the tonic initiating the next section in each instance. 2 A cadence leading to this tonic appeared to him and rightly so not fitting, the but the modulation section with narrow other solely possible paths [to a] frightfully beautiful modulation to an interwoven tonic of the subsequent tonality and even with its own ideas. If he does not really intend [?it] ‒ consequently he simply inserts as a general pause. The [marvelous?] general pauses are thus not perchance a sign of a new form: No, [they are a] necessary consequence of eccentricity leading to the tonic of the next tonality. Good to [?from] The general pauses are that which [illeg] the illiterate person. In the Fifth Symphony, you see him [?even] after Eę major [illeg] 3 {verso} You will object if [illeg] [?rightly] [illeg] though also the content as twice 8 or 12 measures. How did the [illeg] come to be?
Here
[inverted, in ink, in Schenker’s
hand:]
[lacks ending or valediction and
signature]
© Translation Lee Rothfarb, 2007, 2017 |
Footnotes1 The record in Schenker's diary at OJ 1/7, p. 92, September ?, 1908: "Brief an Dr. Grunsky (über Bruckner)." ("Letter to Dr. Grunsky (about Bruckner).") may refer either to this document or the OJ 5/15, [2]-[3], both of which bear this heading. — The document, which is not only fragmentary but also written in pencil and somewhat smudged, presents great problems of legibility and comprehension. It is a horizontally folded sheet of paper ruled vertically on what is here called the verso as for an accountancy ledger; indeed, the inverted writing at the "end" of the document appears to have been the first thing entered on the sheet, Schenker subsequently using the sheet as scrap paper, turning it upside-down and over to begin on the true verso, then continuing on the true recto. The transcription given here is in places speculative. 2 This statement mirrors remarks made in the section of Schenker's Niedergang dealing with Bruckner's music. That work, composed in the period 1905‒08, originally intended as an "Afterword" to his Harmonielehre , and for a time (1906‒09) destined in Schenker's mind as vol. III of his Neue musikalische Theorien und Phantasien , remained unpublished. 3 Bruckner's Fifth Symphony is discussed in detail in the Niedergang. |
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Commentary
Digital version created: 2017-09-09 |