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{recto}
[All in a decorative rule-frame]

[Absender:] H Schenker
III., Reisnerstr. 38

[An:] H Director Em. Hertzka
I., Reichsrathstr. 9
Universal-Edition

[postmark:] || 1/1 WIEN 1 | 25.XI.11-4 | * 4 L * ||

{verso}

Sehr geehrter Herr Direktor!

Mir tut es sehr leid, daß Ihre liebenswürdigen Recherchen 1 einen unrichtigen Weg geganommen haben; ich meinte durchaus nicht ein Arrangement für 2 Kl. zu 4 Händen, 2 sondern eine Ausgabe, wie sie Thern 3 für die „ U.E. “ gemacht hat, z.B. die Ausgabe der Beethoven -Konzerte, bei der das II Klavier einfach nur das Orchester darstellt, also eine Ausgabe, wie sie zu Studium- u. Probezwecken von Schülern gebraucht wird, bevor sie mit Orchester spielen. Das blos zu Richtigstellung meiner Anregung, da ich nicht gerne als Einer erscheinen möchte, der so dummes Zeug wie Arrangements für 2 Kl. zu 4 Händen nach Klavierkonzerten (!) plant.


Mit ausgez Hochachtung
I[h]r ergeb[ener]
[signed:] H Schenker

Ihr N. B. „ Br.& H. “ kündigt calendas graecas 4 ein, nicht wahr?

© Transcription Ian Bent, 2006, 2020

{recto}
[All in a decorative rule-frame]


[From:] H. Schenker
[Vienna] III, Reisnerstraße 38

[To:] Director Emil Hertzka
[Vienna] I, Reichsrathstraße 9
Universal Edition

[postmark:] || 1/1 VIENNA 1 | 25.XI.11-4 | * 4 L * ||

{verso}

Dear Director!

I much regret that your kind researches 1 got off on the wrong track: I certainly did not mean an arrangement for two pianos four hands, 2 but an edition, such as Thern 3 has done, e.g., for UE of the Beethoven concertos, in which the second piano simply presents just the orchestra, hence an edition such as is used by students for purposes of study and rehearsal, before they play with orchestra. I say this just to correct my suggestion, since I would much rather not appear as someone who plans such stupid stuff as arrangements for two pianos four hands based on piano concertos (!)


With kind regards,
Your devoted
[signed:] H. Schenker

Re your N.B., Breitkopf & Härtel are stringing you along, 4 are they not?

© Translation Ian Bent, 2006, 2020

{recto}
[All in a decorative rule-frame]

[Absender:] H Schenker
III., Reisnerstr. 38

[An:] H Director Em. Hertzka
I., Reichsrathstr. 9
Universal-Edition

[postmark:] || 1/1 WIEN 1 | 25.XI.11-4 | * 4 L * ||

{verso}

Sehr geehrter Herr Direktor!

Mir tut es sehr leid, daß Ihre liebenswürdigen Recherchen 1 einen unrichtigen Weg geganommen haben; ich meinte durchaus nicht ein Arrangement für 2 Kl. zu 4 Händen, 2 sondern eine Ausgabe, wie sie Thern 3 für die „ U.E. “ gemacht hat, z.B. die Ausgabe der Beethoven -Konzerte, bei der das II Klavier einfach nur das Orchester darstellt, also eine Ausgabe, wie sie zu Studium- u. Probezwecken von Schülern gebraucht wird, bevor sie mit Orchester spielen. Das blos zu Richtigstellung meiner Anregung, da ich nicht gerne als Einer erscheinen möchte, der so dummes Zeug wie Arrangements für 2 Kl. zu 4 Händen nach Klavierkonzerten (!) plant.


Mit ausgez Hochachtung
I[h]r ergeb[ener]
[signed:] H Schenker

Ihr N. B. „ Br.& H. “ kündigt calendas graecas 4 ein, nicht wahr?

© Transcription Ian Bent, 2006, 2020

{recto}
[All in a decorative rule-frame]


[From:] H. Schenker
[Vienna] III, Reisnerstraße 38

[To:] Director Emil Hertzka
[Vienna] I, Reichsrathstraße 9
Universal Edition

[postmark:] || 1/1 VIENNA 1 | 25.XI.11-4 | * 4 L * ||

{verso}

Dear Director!

I much regret that your kind researches 1 got off on the wrong track: I certainly did not mean an arrangement for two pianos four hands, 2 but an edition, such as Thern 3 has done, e.g., for UE of the Beethoven concertos, in which the second piano simply presents just the orchestra, hence an edition such as is used by students for purposes of study and rehearsal, before they play with orchestra. I say this just to correct my suggestion, since I would much rather not appear as someone who plans such stupid stuff as arrangements for two pianos four hands based on piano concertos (!)


With kind regards,
Your devoted
[signed:] H. Schenker

Re your N.B., Breitkopf & Härtel are stringing you along, 4 are they not?

© Translation Ian Bent, 2006, 2020

Footnotes

1 Conducted by UE staff in the UE archives, as conveyed in OC 52/67, November 24, 1911. Schenker uses Hertzka's own word.

2 Schenker's description, in WSLB 84, November 19, 1911, was "... in einem Arrangement für 2 Klaviere, deren 1tes eben das konzertierende Solo, 2tes das Orchester widergibt."

3 The five Beethoven piano concertos ed. Thern, UE 301–305, described in the UE Nummerverzeichnis as "2Kl. 4h." Other two-piano-four-hand editions by Thern include fifteen Haydn quartets (UE 826–829), Schumann Andante and Variations, Op. 46 (UE 832), and Chopin Rondo, Op. 73 (UE 841).

4 . "To the Greek Kalends": said by Emperor Augustus, in Suetonius, with the sense of "never". Kalends were part of the Roman calendar, not of the Greek, so the "Greek kalends" are "a date that will never happen." Schenker uses the phrase also in DLA 69.930/11, November 2, 1922, to August Halm.

Commentary

Format
Printed postcard, holograph sender and recipient addresses, recto; holograph salutation, message, valediction, and signature, verso
Rights Holder
Heirs of Heinrich Schenker, in the public domain
License
This document is deemed to have been in the public domain as of January 1, 2006. All reasonable steps have been taken to locate the heirs of Heinrich Schenker. Any claim to intellectual rights should be addressed to the Schenker Correspondence Project, Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge, at schenkercorrespondence[at]mus(dot)cam(dot)ac(dot)uk.
Provenance
Universal Edition Archive (document date-1976)—on permanent loan to the Wienbibliothek im Rathhaus (1976-)

Digital version created: 2022-03-16
Last updated: 2010-03-04