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Ser. A,
{118}
⇧ 1910. Juni. Dir. Bopp hält nicht Wort. Die geplante Aufführung der beiden Ph. Em. Bach Konz. u. der 2 Kantaten von S. Bach unterbleibt. 1 So war denn alle meine Plage vergebens, die ich auf die Stücke des Konzertes verwandte, u. (nebst Korrekturen an II1 u. der so schwierigen Abfassung der „Einleitung“ 2 [)] so tapfer trug. Flegelei u. besondere Talentlosigkeit des Direktors Ursache davon. Statt des „historischen Konzertes“ bietet er die IX Symph . von Beeth . 3 Das Resultat nach sage u. schreibe 40 Proben der allertraurigste[:] der Ventil-Trompetenklang u. Paukenschall im Vordergrunde, sonst (streng metronomisches) Abhudeln des kostbaren Inhalts ohne jeglichen Sinn für deren Bedeutung. Geistige Unzucht wider die Jugend! Die „ Presse “ lobt die „That“ u. den Mut des Direktors. © Transcription Ian Bent. |
Ser. A,
{118}
⇧ 1910. June Director Bopp doesn’t keep his word. The planned performance of the two C. P. E. Bach concertos and the two cantatas by J. S. Bach was dropped. 1 So all the tribulation that I underwent on the pieces for the concert and bore so nobly (during the proof correcting of Counterpoint I and the difficult task of formulating the Introduction 2 ) ‒ was in vain. The cause of this was the Director's rude behavior and singular lack of talent. In place of the "historical concert" he offers the Ninth Symphony of Beethoven. 3 In light of the result, all of forty rehearsals of the most deplorable kind: the din of valve trumpets and timpani in the foreground, not to mention the (strictly metronomical) bungling of the priceless content without the remotest sense of its meaning. Intellectual abuse of youth. The Neue freie Presse praises the "actions" and the spirit of the Director. © Translation Ian Bent. |
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Ser. A,
{118}
⇧ 1910. Juni. Dir. Bopp hält nicht Wort. Die geplante Aufführung der beiden Ph. Em. Bach Konz. u. der 2 Kantaten von S. Bach unterbleibt. 1 So war denn alle meine Plage vergebens, die ich auf die Stücke des Konzertes verwandte, u. (nebst Korrekturen an II1 u. der so schwierigen Abfassung der „Einleitung“ 2 [)] so tapfer trug. Flegelei u. besondere Talentlosigkeit des Direktors Ursache davon. Statt des „historischen Konzertes“ bietet er die IX Symph . von Beeth . 3 Das Resultat nach sage u. schreibe 40 Proben der allertraurigste[:] der Ventil-Trompetenklang u. Paukenschall im Vordergrunde, sonst (streng metronomisches) Abhudeln des kostbaren Inhalts ohne jeglichen Sinn für deren Bedeutung. Geistige Unzucht wider die Jugend! Die „ Presse “ lobt die „That“ u. den Mut des Direktors. © Transcription Ian Bent. |
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Ser. A,
{118}
⇧ 1910. June Director Bopp doesn’t keep his word. The planned performance of the two C. P. E. Bach concertos and the two cantatas by J. S. Bach was dropped. 1 So all the tribulation that I underwent on the pieces for the concert and bore so nobly (during the proof correcting of Counterpoint I and the difficult task of formulating the Introduction 2 ) ‒ was in vain. The cause of this was the Director's rude behavior and singular lack of talent. In place of the "historical concert" he offers the Ninth Symphony of Beethoven. 3 In light of the result, all of forty rehearsals of the most deplorable kind: the din of valve trumpets and timpani in the foreground, not to mention the (strictly metronomical) bungling of the priceless content without the remotest sense of its meaning. Intellectual abuse of youth. The Neue freie Presse praises the "actions" and the spirit of the Director. © Translation Ian Bent. |
Footnotes1 The historical concert is first announced by Schenker in a letter to Emil Hertzka at Universal Edition: "Director Bopp has long wanted to arrange an evening so-to-speak "historical" in character at the Academy for January or at latest February of this season [i.e. 1909/10]. The programme consists of pieces in arrangements by me: 1) keyboard concerto with small orchestra by C. P. E. Bach; 2) concerto for two keyboards with string orchestra by C. P. E. Bach; 3) cantata by J. S. Bach. [items 1 and 2 are sidelined as "unpublished"] And there might in addition, at my suggestion, be as a fourth work, a concerto by Handel for harp and orchestra." (WSLB 44, October 18, 1909). Moriz Violin had prepared an extended program booklet on which Schenker had spent two weeks (diary, January 2, 1910), and this was handed over to Hertzka on February 15, 1910 for printing. This diary entry conveys the sense of betrayal that Schenker felt at Bopp, whom he had seen as something of an ally, and the event contributes to Schenker's sense of alienation from Viennese musical authority. 2 The Introduction to the first half-volume of his Kontrapunkt , with its denunciation of dilettantism in 20th-century society and pessimistic predictions as to the future of musical culture. 3 In a letter to Cotta of August 19, 1910 (CA 118) Schenker, still on vacation, proposed a series of pocket handbooks on individual pieces of music, the Ninth Symphony being among these, emphasized by double-underlining. Cotta responded in doubt. A letter dated September 30 came from the Association of Viennese Music Critics inviting Schenker, at the suggestion of Robert Hirschfeld, to give a lecture on "the construction of the Ninth Symphony" (OJ 14/44, [1]). Fourteen days later Universal Edition issued Schenker with a pre-contract agreement for publication of "your lectures [plural!] on the Ninth Symphony of Beethoven". The result was Schenker's Beethovens Neuente Sinfonie (Vienna: Universal Edition, 1912). Whether there was any causal link between Bopp's change of heart, the performance, and this subsequent cascade of occurrences is hard to say. |