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OJ 9/34, [29] - Handwritten letter from Cube to Schenker, dated October 20, 1931
Anbei der angekündigte Leseversuch.
2
Es liegt mir daran, den Abstand meiner seinerzeitigen und heutigen Hörfähigkeit
und auch des Aufzeichnenkönnens festzustellen. In der ersten Skizze
3
waren der Terzraum, die
Bassbrechung und die Tieferlegung – wenn auch schief ausgedrückt –
enthalten. Vom übrigen war nicht viel vorhanden. Sie wiesen mich seinerzeit besonders auf die
Parallelismen
Nun die Fragen:
4
Ist bei a.) die ă schon über der II
des Basses einzusetzen?
5
Bei b.) wird die Aufhaltung deutlich, die über dem f des Basses einen
Vierklang der IV erzeugt. Die Auswechslung nahm ich an wegen
Die chromatischen Durchgänge rühren wohl von den Ur-Durchgängen bei e.) her. Ist dies alles einigermaassen vernünftig gelesen, oder habe ich ganz danebengehauen? Wie ist die Schreib-Art gewählt? Für eine neuerliche [illeg] [most of penultimate line illegible] verpflichtet![?] Mit herzlichsten [end of valediction cutoff] © Transcription William Drabkin, 2006 |
Enclosed is the attempted reading, as announced [in my previous
letter].
2
What is of interest to me is determining the
distance between my previous and my present capability of hearing, and also my ability in writing things up. The
first sketch
3
included the space of a
third, the bass arpeggiation and the descending register
transfer, even though this had still been clumsily expressed. Of the rest, there was not much present.
You referred me at the time in particular to the parallelism
[between a2–d2–g2 and a–d–g]:
Now for the questions:
4
In a.), should I place the
ă already above the II in the bass?
5
In b.) the
holding-over, which creates a seventh chord above F in the bass, is shown clearly. I assumed
the exchange
[of d1 for e1] on account of consecutive fifths:
The chromatic passing notes surely originate in the original passing notes shown in a.) Does all this seem a more or less sensible reading? Or have I gone entirely wide of the mark? What do you think of my choice of notation? I would be indebted [to you] for a new [assessment of what I have done.] [?] With most cordial [end of valediction cutoff] © Translation William Drabkin, 2006 |
Anbei der angekündigte Leseversuch.
2
Es liegt mir daran, den Abstand meiner seinerzeitigen und heutigen Hörfähigkeit
und auch des Aufzeichnenkönnens festzustellen. In der ersten Skizze
3
waren der Terzraum, die
Bassbrechung und die Tieferlegung – wenn auch schief ausgedrückt –
enthalten. Vom übrigen war nicht viel vorhanden. Sie wiesen mich seinerzeit besonders auf die
Parallelismen
Nun die Fragen:
4
Ist bei a.) die ă schon über der II
des Basses einzusetzen?
5
Bei b.) wird die Aufhaltung deutlich, die über dem f des Basses einen
Vierklang der IV erzeugt. Die Auswechslung nahm ich an wegen
Die chromatischen Durchgänge rühren wohl von den Ur-Durchgängen bei e.) her. Ist dies alles einigermaassen vernünftig gelesen, oder habe ich ganz danebengehauen? Wie ist die Schreib-Art gewählt? Für eine neuerliche [illeg] [most of penultimate line illegible] verpflichtet![?] Mit herzlichsten [end of valediction cutoff] © Transcription William Drabkin, 2006 |
Enclosed is the attempted reading, as announced [in my previous
letter].
2
What is of interest to me is determining the
distance between my previous and my present capability of hearing, and also my ability in writing things up. The
first sketch
3
included the space of a
third, the bass arpeggiation and the descending register
transfer, even though this had still been clumsily expressed. Of the rest, there was not much present.
You referred me at the time in particular to the parallelism
[between a2–d2–g2 and a–d–g]:
Now for the questions:
4
In a.), should I place the
ă already above the II in the bass?
5
In b.) the
holding-over, which creates a seventh chord above F in the bass, is shown clearly. I assumed
the exchange
[of d1 for e1] on account of consecutive fifths:
The chromatic passing notes surely originate in the original passing notes shown in a.) Does all this seem a more or less sensible reading? Or have I gone entirely wide of the mark? What do you think of my choice of notation? I would be indebted [to you] for a new [assessment of what I have done.] [?] With most cordial [end of valediction cutoff] © Translation William Drabkin, 2006 |
Footnotes1 Receipt of this letter is recorded in Schenker's diary at OJ 4/5, p. 3672, October 22, 1931: "Von v. Cube (Br.): Präludium I: das Bild u. Fragen dazu." ("From von Cube (letter): Prelude No. 1: the graph and questions about it."). 2 In a letter written four days before (OJ 9/34, [28], October 16, 1931), Cube explained that a new graph of the Prelude in C major from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1, would soon be ready. The graph is not known to survive. 3 This is a graph dating from nearly two years before, and included in Cube's letter, OJ 9/34, [20], January 2, 1930. The graph is not known to survive. 4 In fact, there is more in the way of explanation than "questions" in what follows: each layer of the graph is explained in some detail. There are, in fact, many more layers than the three that are used for the graph of the Prelude in the Fünf Urlinie-Tafeln (and for the graphs in Cube's unpublished Lehrbuch der musikalischen Kunstgesetzte). 5 In the piece itself, the definitive ă of the Urlinie, d2, arrives after the final C major has appeared in the bass; Cube is asking whether this should be shown at the "highest" level in the analysis. 6 That is, the 3–4–4–3 in mm. 1–4 and 32–35. 7 "Stimmenzedierung": literally the "yielding of the voices," i.e. their gradual progression to the lower register in the course of the octave-progression in the bass. |
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Digital version created: 2007-07-12 |