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OeNB H Autogr.856/20-3 - Handwritten letter from Schenker to Josef Marx, dated January 19, 1933
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Mit derselben Inbrunst, mit der ich zu Ihnen von der Wiedererweckung der zu Zeit erst scheintoten Musik sprach, 2 lege ich Ihrem Herzen, dessen schönen Puls ich fühle, das Schicksal unseres l. Prof. Violin nahe! Sein Junge liegt im Sterben, es ist Zeit, daß der Vater den traurigen Ort 3 verläßt, ein urprächtiger Musiker mit feinstem Ohr, feinster Klavierhand, ein köstlicher Mensch, sicher nach Ihrem Geschmack, kurz: ich verspreche Ihnen inselhaft-glückliche, {2} (trotz Krise) Kunst- u. humorheitere Unterhaltungen zu zweit, dritt u.s.w., wenn Sie den umsoviel Unglück heimgesuchten Freund und Kollegen in irgendeiner Weise [?hinaushelfen]. Die Schule hätte [illegible word], die Kollegen hätten Freude, Sie aber hätten die größte Freude, Von mir u. meiner Frau beste Grüße, auf ein baldiges Wiedersehen © Transcription Ian Bent, 2022 |
With the same fervency with which I spoke to you of the reawakening of the seemingly dead music of today, 2 I lay at your feet – you whose warm humanity I sense – the fate of our dear Prof. Violin! His son is at death’s door; it is time for his father to leave the sorrowful place, 3 a quintessentially practical musician with the finest of ears, finest pianistic touch, a precious human being, assuredly to your taste; put briefly, I promise you singularly felicitous {2} (despite the crisis) conversation about art shot through with cheerful good humor, à deux, à trois, etc., if you in any way help out a friend and colleague beset by so much misfortune. The school would have [illegible word], his colleagues would rejoice, you, however, would have the greatest joy, that of having fostered good fortune all round. Best greetings from me and my wife for a speedy next meeting, © Translation Ian Bent, 2022 |
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Mit derselben Inbrunst, mit der ich zu Ihnen von der Wiedererweckung der zu Zeit erst scheintoten Musik sprach, 2 lege ich Ihrem Herzen, dessen schönen Puls ich fühle, das Schicksal unseres l. Prof. Violin nahe! Sein Junge liegt im Sterben, es ist Zeit, daß der Vater den traurigen Ort 3 verläßt, ein urprächtiger Musiker mit feinstem Ohr, feinster Klavierhand, ein köstlicher Mensch, sicher nach Ihrem Geschmack, kurz: ich verspreche Ihnen inselhaft-glückliche, {2} (trotz Krise) Kunst- u. humorheitere Unterhaltungen zu zweit, dritt u.s.w., wenn Sie den umsoviel Unglück heimgesuchten Freund und Kollegen in irgendeiner Weise [?hinaushelfen]. Die Schule hätte [illegible word], die Kollegen hätten Freude, Sie aber hätten die größte Freude, Von mir u. meiner Frau beste Grüße, auf ein baldiges Wiedersehen © Transcription Ian Bent, 2022 |
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With the same fervency with which I spoke to you of the reawakening of the seemingly dead music of today, 2 I lay at your feet – you whose warm humanity I sense – the fate of our dear Prof. Violin! His son is at death’s door; it is time for his father to leave the sorrowful place, 3 a quintessentially practical musician with the finest of ears, finest pianistic touch, a precious human being, assuredly to your taste; put briefly, I promise you singularly felicitous {2} (despite the crisis) conversation about art shot through with cheerful good humor, à deux, à trois, etc., if you in any way help out a friend and colleague beset by so much misfortune. The school would have [illegible word], his colleagues would rejoice, you, however, would have the greatest joy, that of having fostered good fortune all round. Best greetings from me and my wife for a speedy next meeting, © Translation Ian Bent, 2022 |
Footnotes1 Schenker’s diary for January 17 records: “An Marx (Br. express): lege Violins Schicksal in seine Hand!” (“To Marx (express letter): I place Violin’s fate in his hands!”). — A draft of this letter, with minor differences, exists at OJ 5/25, [2]. 2 Marx came to tea at the Schenkers’ apartment on Wednesday January 18, 1933. The meeting is recorded in Schenker's diary for that date: "Von ¾6‒¾9h Marx: über die Harmonielehre, möchte einen „Anhang“ mit Ausblick auf die Form ‒ Ungeduld des Schulbetriebes, der der Jugend gleich ein „Rezept“ mitgeben möchte; ‒ zeige ihm Mozarts Fantasie, Chopin-Mazurka, Beethovens VI. Sinfonie, treibe ihm Motiv u. Taktstrich aus, spreche über die Dehnung in der VI., 1. Satz, in Haydn's Choral-Fantasie; Genug Geld ist da, aber für Parteizwecke“!" ("5.45 to 8.45 Marx: about my Theory of Harmony , he would like an "appendix" with a view to form ‒ impatience of school bustle, which would like immediately to give the younger generation a "recipe"; ‒ I show him Mozart's Fantasy, [a] Chopin Mazurka, Beethoven's Sixth Symphony, I disabuse him of motive and barline, speak about extension in the first movement of the Sixth, in Haydn's Choral Fantasy; enough money is there, but for 'party purposes'!" — Schenker gives a fuller account of this meeting in his letter to Moriz Violin of January 19, 1933 (OJ 6/8, [20]). 3 “trauriger Ort”: a reference, perhaps, to the current painful situation over his son, but possibly to Hamburg, where Violin had established a Schenker Institute in 1931, and from which he was to flee in c.May 1933 in face of the Nazis (in which case “woeful” or “dismal” might better translate “traurig”). |
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Digital version created: 2022-01-27 |