Footnotes

¹ Receipt of this letter is recorded in Schenker's diary at OJ 3/9, p. 3030, February 2 1927: "Guido Adler (Br.): Einladung zu einem Referat!" ("From Guido Adler (letter): "Invitation to give a lecture").

² Schenker's reply, which is not known to survive, but of which a heavily corrected draft survives as OJ 5/3, [1], is recorded in his diary at OJ 3/9, p. 3034, February 7, 1927: "An Prof. Adler (Br.): danke für die Einladung, lehne aber ab, weil ich unter dem inneren Zwange stehe, mich in der bisher geübten Weise zu Beethoven zu äußern, die aber zu einem Kongreß nicht passe." ("To Prof. Adler (letter): I thank him for the invitation, but turn it down because I feel compelled to express myself in the manner [that I have] practiced hitherto concerning Beethoven, which is, however, not suited a conference."). On February 9 (OJ 3/9, p. 3034), Schenker reported an encounter with Otto Erich Deutsch: "Nach der Jause, im Augenblick, da wir hinaustreten wollen, kommt Herr Deutsch; er bittet mich, Adler nicht abzusagen. In aller Eile führe ich die Gründe an, die mich zur Ablehnung gezwungen haben." ("After teatime, just as we were about to go out, Mr. Deutsch appears: he begs me not to turn Adler down. In great haste, I state the reasons that have compelled my non-acceptance.").

A fuller account of his reasons given to Anthony van Hoboken is recorded in Schenker's diary at OJ 3/9, pp. 3035–3036, February 11, 1927, claiming that the conference "hängt nicht organisch mit ihr zusammen, nur plüstert sich unser lieber Hofrat Adler bei dieser Gelegenheit auf, u. lasse die Horde von Bubiköpfen mit ihrer historischen Weisheit aufmarschieren." ("is not an organic part of it [the Beethoven Centennial] but just an occasion for Adler to give himself airs, and to allow the hordes of dunderheads to parade with their historical wisdom."), and describing the conference's activities as "odiousnesses" (Abscheulichkeiten).

³ These two printed items are filed with the letter in the folder OJ 9/3.

Commentary

Format

1p letter, printed letterhead, typewritten date, salutations and message, holograph signature

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 Guido Adler; deemed to be in the public domain

License

All possible efforts have been made, unsuccessfully, to identify and locate direct descendants of Guido Adler. Deemed to be in the public domain. Any claim to intellectual rights on this document should be addressed to the Schenker Documents Online, at schenkercorrespondence (at) mus (dot) cam (dot) uk

Digital version created: 2015-02-24
Last updated: 2012-09-26