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OJ 6/3, [8] - Handwritten letter from Schenker to Moriz Violin, undated [?early July 1899]
Du brauchst dich wegen unserer gegenseitige rn, vergebliche rn Sucherei nicht zu kräuken. 1 „Kübel“! 2 Weinberger bleibt uns ja erhalten. 3 Das bischen Abhetzen thut uns beiden gut, wenigstens mir. Ich habe mich den Caféhaus aus dem Staub ge- {2} macht, weil ich meine Gründe hatte, die ich dir lieber persönlich mitthele. Ist gefällig eine Trischakpartie, 4 vielleicht am Mittwoch Abend? Neulinggasse 5 natürlich, 6½ oder 7 Uhr Anfang: © Transcription Ian Bent, 2022 |
You don’t need to feel mortified on account of our mutual, fruitless search! 1 Just chuck it into the bucket! 2 Weinberger is still on our side. 3 That little bit of rushing around does us both good, at least me. I bolted from the coffee-house, {2} because I had my reasons, which I will convey to you in person. Would you enjoy a Trischak party, 4 perhaps on Wednesday evening? On Neulinggasse, 5 naturally, starting 6.30 or 7 o’clock. © Translation Ian Bent, 2022 |
Du brauchst dich wegen unserer gegenseitige rn, vergebliche rn Sucherei nicht zu kräuken. 1 „Kübel“! 2 Weinberger bleibt uns ja erhalten. 3 Das bischen Abhetzen thut uns beiden gut, wenigstens mir. Ich habe mich den Caféhaus aus dem Staub ge- {2} macht, weil ich meine Gründe hatte, die ich dir lieber persönlich mitthele. Ist gefällig eine Trischakpartie, 4 vielleicht am Mittwoch Abend? Neulinggasse 5 natürlich, 6½ oder 7 Uhr Anfang: © Transcription Ian Bent, 2022 |
You don’t need to feel mortified on account of our mutual, fruitless search! 1 Just chuck it into the bucket! 2 Weinberger is still on our side. 3 That little bit of rushing around does us both good, at least me. I bolted from the coffee-house, {2} because I had my reasons, which I will convey to you in person. Would you enjoy a Trischak party, 4 perhaps on Wednesday evening? On Neulinggasse, 5 naturally, starting 6.30 or 7 o’clock. © Translation Ian Bent, 2022 |
Footnotes1 The word is clearly kräuken, which existed in middle high German with the meanings “to mortify” (demütigen) and “to disparage” (herabwürdigen); the modern kränken has the meanings “to mortify” and “to grieve.” The verb here is reflexive, dich kräuken. I am grateful to Lee Rothfarb, Wolf Kittler (Department of German and Slavic Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara), and Heribert Esser for their assistance with the language of this sentence. — The nature of the “search” is unclear, but could have been the scramble to find a publisher for Schenker’s Syrische Tänze after Breitkopf & Härtel had rejected it on June 28, 1899. It is on this slender basis that the letter has been editorially dated to early July (Schenker’s diary does not contain entries for June–September, 1899). The date of Weinberger’s acceptance is unknown. 2 Kübel has the general meaning of “bucket” or “pail,” but is used in the specific sense of “latrine bucket,” or “pail for excrement,” as implied in this case. The word is written large and occupies its own line, as well as being enclosed in quotation marks and followed by an exclamation mark. I am grateful to Lee Rothfarb, Wolf Kittler (Department of German and Slavic Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara), and Heribert Esser for their assistance with this word. 3 The only work by Schenker that Josef Weinberger published was the Syrische Tänze , issued in October 1899. 4 Trischak: a traditional Austrian and German three-card game for three to five players, involving gambling. (wikipedia “Trischaken (card game).” My thanks to Lee Rothfarb for identifying this. 5 Neulinggasse: street in Vienna III, running west–east from the north end of the Rennweg to the Landstraße Hauptstraße. It crosses Reisnerstraße at the latter’s halfway point. Why this street was chosen for a party is unclear. |