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OJ 9/6, [19] - Handwritten letter from Eugen d'Albert to Schenker, dated June 11, 1897
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Vielleicht würde wirklich der „Rubin“ in seiner Naivität dem Wiener Publikum beßer gefallen wie „Gernot.“ Wenn es Ihnen geläge, ein oder das andere Werk anzubringen, so wäre ich Ihnen sehr dankbar. Neulich hat die „Rubin“ in Cassel sehr gefallen. Ich fürchte, die sehr mangelhafter Aufführung von „Gernot“ in Mannheim hat Ihnen den Eindruck verdorben, denn ich halte diese Oper für einen Fortschritt gegenüber dem „Rubin“. 1 Es wäre mir lieb, Ihre Bedenken zu erfahren u. Ihre offene Meinung zu hören. Soll ich später Mahler einen Clavierauszug von „Rubin“ einsenden? 2 © Transcription Ian Bent, 2021 |
Perhaps Rubin, with its naiveté, might actually please the Viennese public better than Gernot. If it were convenient for you to [?advocate] either the one or the other work, I would be very grateful. Recently Rubin has been very well received in Cassel. I fear that the very poor quality performance of Gernot in Mannheim has spoiled your impression of the work, for I consider this opera to be an advance on Rubin. 1 I would be glad to know what reservations you have, and to hear your candid opinion. Should I send Mahler a piano reduction of Rubin later on? 2 © Translation Ian Bent, 2021 |
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Vielleicht würde wirklich der „Rubin“ in seiner Naivität dem Wiener Publikum beßer gefallen wie „Gernot.“ Wenn es Ihnen geläge, ein oder das andere Werk anzubringen, so wäre ich Ihnen sehr dankbar. Neulich hat die „Rubin“ in Cassel sehr gefallen. Ich fürchte, die sehr mangelhafter Aufführung von „Gernot“ in Mannheim hat Ihnen den Eindruck verdorben, denn ich halte diese Oper für einen Fortschritt gegenüber dem „Rubin“. 1 Es wäre mir lieb, Ihre Bedenken zu erfahren u. Ihre offene Meinung zu hören. Soll ich später Mahler einen Clavierauszug von „Rubin“ einsenden? 2 © Transcription Ian Bent, 2021 |
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Perhaps Rubin, with its naiveté, might actually please the Viennese public better than Gernot. If it were convenient for you to [?advocate] either the one or the other work, I would be very grateful. Recently Rubin has been very well received in Cassel. I fear that the very poor quality performance of Gernot in Mannheim has spoiled your impression of the work, for I consider this opera to be an advance on Rubin. 1 I would be glad to know what reservations you have, and to hear your candid opinion. Should I send Mahler a piano reduction of Rubin later on? 2 © Translation Ian Bent, 2021 |
Footnotes1 Gernot was first performed in Mannheim on April 11, 1897 (see OJ 9/6, [17] of April 1, 1897), conducted by d’Albert. The composer will have known that Schenker attended a rehearsal of the work in Mannheim, but will not yet have read his unfavorable review in Neue Revue vol. 8, issue 26 (June 25, 1897), 788–93 (see Hellmut Federhofer, Heinrich Schenker als Essayist und Kritiker (Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag, 1990), pp. 240–48). Here, however, he has his suspicions. 2 Gustav Mahler was music director of the Vienna Court Opera from 1897 to 1907. 3 There was an extended correspondence between Busoni and Schenker concerning Schenker’s Fantasie, Op. 2, spanning May 1897 to May 1898; translations of this correspondence can be found in Ian Bent, David Bretherton and William Drabkin, eds., Heinrich Schenker: Selected Correspondence (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2016), pp. 9–20; during this period, Busoni’s influence brought about a complete reshaping of the work, which in turn earned him the dedication. 4 Reference is presumably to Schenker’s Zwei Clavierstücke of 1892; see OJ 9/6, [12], April 5, 1896 and [14], January 2, 1897. 5 No items of correspondence from Schenker to d’Albert, and none from Teresa Correña to Schenker, are known to have survived. |