Castle located in Styria.

Schloss Reigersberg (later known as Schloß Benndorf), located a short distance from the hamlet of Reigersberg (near the town of Ilz) in the Fürstenfeld district of southeast Styria (Steiermark), 140 kms (= 88 miles) south-south-west of Vienna, and close to the borders with Hungary and Slovenia, was built in the first decade of the 20th century by Karl Benndorf, an engineer.

Schloß Reigersberg and the Schenkers

The castle is mentioned in a letter of June 17, 1933 from Angi Elias to Schenker: "I hope you and your dear wife have in the meantime already overcome the strain of the move and will now be able to spend pleasant relaxing days at Castle Reigersberg" (OJ 10/18, [5]). The arrangements for the Schenkers' summer vacation with a Baron Albori are detailed in Schenker's diary (May 17, 29, 30, June 4, 7, 13, 1933). Schenker wrote to Josef Marx from the castle on July 8, 1933 (OeNB H Autogr.856/20-5). Schenker told Felix Salzer: "It did not originate in the time of the robber barons, or as a refuge from the Turks or the like, but with a man who tends a “coal deposit” very close by. But still it is beautiful and worthy and truly “aristocratic” (FS 40/1, [16]). In a letter to Felix-Eberhard von Cube, he gives a picture of their time there (OJ 5/7a, [47], July 18, 1933): This time we have taken [our vacation] in an entirely different place, partly on account of pressure, partly from conviction.
Free Composition is nearing completion! I hope that my eyesight will survive until the end of the work. With pain, I can manage without help with the writing and the checking of the numerous music examples, and that which awaits me with the proofreading! My wife is in charge of all other "business," much to my joy, and probably also to the joy of my theory.

A "Freiherr von Reigersberg, Bayreuth" is included in a list of subscribers given by Oswald Jonas (OC 44/22, November 10, 1932): whether this can be identified with Schenker's host is unknown. There are also 21 letters to the Schenkers from a Heinrich von Reigersberg (OJ 13/21: 1924‒38) and one from Jeanette Schenker to him (OJ 5/31: 1939), but these are presumed to be unrelated to Schloß Reigersberg.

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