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OJ 5/19, 12 - Handwritten letter from Schenker to Kalbeck, dated November 2, [1905]


⇧ Wien, 2. XI.

Sehr geehrter Herr! 1

Noch einmal erlaube ich mir meine neulich im Concertsaal vorgebrachte Bitte Ihnen in Erinnerung zu bringen. Gar so gerne würde ich das Buch 2 noch im Laufe des Winters erscheinen lassen.

Warum soll man denn den Ruhm der Pfitzner ’s, Reger ’s, Strauss ’, Hausegger ’s nicht ein wenig stören? Sie „erhitzen“ ihn zu bald wie die Juristen sagen, u. dann ist es zu spät.

Für Ihre Hilfe wäre Ihnen sehr, sehr dankbar. 3


Ihr stets
ergeb[ener]
[signed:] H Schenker

© Transcription William Pastille, 2022

⇧ Vienna, November 2, [1905]

Dear Sir, 1

Once again I take the liberty of reminding you about the request I made in the concert hall the other day. I would be quite pleased still to have the book 2 published during the winter.

Why wouldn’t the reputation of Pfitzner, Reger, Strauss, Hausegger be roughed up a little? They “bring it to the boil” too early as the lawyers say, and then it’s too late

I would be very, very thankful to you for your help 3 .


Your ever
devoted
[signed:] H. Schenker

© Translation William Pastille, 2022

⇧ Wien, 2. XI.

Sehr geehrter Herr! 1

Noch einmal erlaube ich mir meine neulich im Concertsaal vorgebrachte Bitte Ihnen in Erinnerung zu bringen. Gar so gerne würde ich das Buch 2 noch im Laufe des Winters erscheinen lassen.

Warum soll man denn den Ruhm der Pfitzner ’s, Reger ’s, Strauss ’, Hausegger ’s nicht ein wenig stören? Sie „erhitzen“ ihn zu bald wie die Juristen sagen, u. dann ist es zu spät.

Für Ihre Hilfe wäre Ihnen sehr, sehr dankbar. 3


Ihr stets
ergeb[ener]
[signed:] H Schenker

© Transcription William Pastille, 2022

⇧ Vienna, November 2, [1905]

Dear Sir, 1

Once again I take the liberty of reminding you about the request I made in the concert hall the other day. I would be quite pleased still to have the book 2 published during the winter.

Why wouldn’t the reputation of Pfitzner, Reger, Strauss, Hausegger be roughed up a little? They “bring it to the boil” too early as the lawyers say, and then it’s too late

I would be very, very thankful to you for your help 3 .


Your ever
devoted
[signed:] H. Schenker

© Translation William Pastille, 2022

Footnotes

1 The date of this letter must be 1905, because the Harmonielehre was published on November 10, 1906.

2 Heinrich Schenker, Harmonielehre (Stuttgart: J. G. Cotta, 1906), in which Schenker criticises the music of Max Reger on pp. 220–26 (Piano Quintet, Op. 64), and Richard Strauss in footnotes on pp. 291–93 (Eng. transl., p. 220) (Don Quixote) and 299–304 (Also sprach Zarathustra), and also in the unpublished supplement to the Harmonielehre, the unpublished Über den Niedergang der Kompositionskunst (The Decline of the Art of Composition), transcr. and transl. William Drabkin, Music Analysis xxiv/1–2 (March–July 2005), pp. 131–231 and 33–129, with Introduction, pp. 3–31. (In 1909, in a letter to Ernst Rudorff (OJ 5/35, [5]), Schenker remarked: “The Hauseggers and their lot (even Richard Strauss) write viola parts and cello parts instead of human vocal lines.”)

3 It is clear from Kalbeck’s reply, OJ 12/7, 7, two day’s later, that Schenker has asked him to recommend the book to Simrock, but there is no evidence that Schenker ever approached the latter.

Commentary

Format
1p letter, holograph salutation, message, valediction, and signature
Provenance
Kalbeck, Max (document date-1921)--Kalbeck,Julie (1921-??)--unknown--University of California, Riverside (19??-)
Rights Holder
Heirs and representatives of Heinrich Schenker. Deemed to be in the public domain.
License
All reasonable attempts have been made to identify the heirs or representatives of Heinrich Schenker. This document is deemed to be 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: 2022-07-08
Last updated: 2011-04-15