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Georg Schünemann

born Berlin, March 13, 1884; died Berlin Jan 2, 1945

Documents associated with this person:

German musicologist, music educator and administrator.

Career Summary

Schünemann taught at Berlin University from 1919 onwards, was appointed Deputy Director of the Berlin Hochschule für Musik in 1920, and succeeded Franz Schreker as its Director in 1932, only to be dismissed by the Nazi regime in 1933. Reinstated in 1934, he was appointed Director of the music division of the Prussian State Library, and was consulted during World War II on the seizure of music collections in France.

He was one of the founders of modern German music education, and author of books and articles on music education as well as on folk music and other subjects. In the 1930s, he and Leo Kestenberg were involved in reforming every aspect of music education in Prussia.

Schünemann and Schenker

He is referred to once in a letter from Schenker to Furtwängler, regretting that the fate of music was in the hands of: " the Kestenbergs, Schünemanns, Schrekers, and similar riffraff who make the decisions on this, for they know nothing about music, at least nothing about great music, and merely make business deals in 'organization'." (OJ 5/11, [1], vsn 1 November 13, 1931 - draft, the remark did not survive into the final version).

There is no known correspondence between Schünemann and Schenker.

Sources:

  • NGDM2 (2001 and online)
  • Hailey, Christopher, Franz Schreker, 1878-1934: A Cultural Biography (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), passim

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Correspondence

  • OJ 10/1, [78] Handwritten letter from Dahms to Schenker, dated August 23, 1923

    Dahms has received Tonwille 4 but not yet examined it. — Has deferred work on his Haydn book because of financial problems over Musik des Südens and poor take-up of subscriptions. — Debates whether to attend the Leipzig musicology conference. — Comments on German politics as the occupation of the Ruhr unfolds, and compares German attitudes with Italian.

  • OJ 6/8, [1] Handwritten letter from Schenker to Violin, dated January 9, 1931

    In this long and wide-ranging two-part letter, which includes a graphic analysis of J. S. Bach’s Two-part Invention in E-flat major, Schenker praises the work of Hans Weisse, who has recently returned from lecturing in Berlin and may be offered a post there (on Furtwängler’s recommendation), emigrate to America (with the help of Gerald Warburg), or even found an institute that would give employment to Felix Salzer and other Schenkerian disciples under one roof. — A letter from Violin, which has just arrived in the morning post, speaks of Violin’s own intention to establish a Schenker Institute in Hamburg. For this, Schenker recommends Felix-Eberhard von Cube (in preference to Reinhard Oppel) and Otto Vrieslander as possible theory teachers, if not Weisse himself. — The letter concludes with a tirade against those who have caused him financial misery (including his brother Mozio), culminating in a cynical passage in which Schenker advises his friend to look after himself and engage some dull pedagog to teach conventional theory. In the end, he wishes Violin luck with the enterprise, and thanks him for having helped rescue him from Hertzka’s clutches.

  • OJ 5/11, [1a] First draft of a handwritten letter from Schenker to Furtwängler, in Jeanette Schenker’s hand, dated November 11‒16, 1931

Diaries