Handwritten letter from Harden to Schenker, dated May 11, 1894 [printed header with handwritten date] Sehr geehrter Herr, heute habe ich eine Bitte: Könnten Sie Brahms, dem man sein Nichterscheinen bei Bülows1 Leichenfeier sehr verdacht hat, nichr veranlassen, daß er für die Zkft. ein paar Seiten schreibt und kräftig für den Bülow-Denkmal aufruft?2 Erinnerungen, ein paar Briefe oder dergleichen, was er will. Sie werden ihm rathen und evtl. helfen können. Nachdem in der Zkft. Begas,3 Lenbach4 u. a. geschrieben haben, ists doch nichts Auffallendes mehr5 und er ists wirklich dem großen Hans schuldig.6 Es würde den besten Eindruck machen und ich wäre Ihrer sehr, sehr dankbar. Bitte, sagen Sies ihm in meinem Namen. Mit verbindlichen Grüßen Ihr © In the public domain. |
Handwritten letter from Harden to Schenker, dated May 11, 1894 [printed header with handwritten date] Dear Sir, Today I have a request: Couldn't you induce Brahms, who was very much criticized for his absence from Bülow's1 funeral, to write a few pages for Die Zukunft, and to come out strongly in favor of the Bülow monument?2 Reminiscences, a few letters, or the like, whatever he wishes. You will be able to advise him and perhaps help him. Now that Begas,3 Lenbach,4 and others have written for Die Zukunft, there is nothing at all incongruous in it,5 and he really owes it to the great Hans.6 It would make the best impression, and I would be very, very grateful to you. Please, ask him this in my name. With collegial greetings, © Translation William Pastille 2006. |
COMMENTARY: FOOTNOTES: 1 Click on Hans von Bülow; Bülow had died on February 12, 1894. 2 After Bülow's death, there was some agitation for a national monument in his honor. 3 Reinhold Begas (1831-1911), a renowned sculptor, executed several of the most prominent statues in Berlin, such as the statue of Schiller in the Gendarmenmarkt, the Neptune fountain in the Schloßplatz, and the statue of Alexander von Humboldt in front of Humboldt University. 4 Franz von Lenbach (1836-1904) was a prominent portraitist whose subjects included many eminent musicians, such as Wagner, Liszt, Clara Schumann, and Johann Strauss. 5 The meaning of this clause is presumably this: despite its name, Die Zukunft was hardly a house organ for progressivism, as was proved by its inclusion of articles by such leading traditionalists in their fields as Begas and Lenbach. So Brahms, as a traditionalist, should not have any qualms about appearing in the same company with other traditionalists. 6 Brahms disagreed with Harden about the debt owed to Bülow, and about the propriety of a national monument. In later life, Schenker published his recollection of what Brahms said to him in response to Harden's request: "I've sent my contribution to Hamburg for a funerary monument, and I hope the matter will rest there; after all, in the final analysis, Bülow really was only a Kapellmeister, and even Richard Wagner doesn't have a national monument yet." ["Ich habe nach Hamburg meinen Beitrag zu einem Friedhofs-Denkmal geschickt und hoffe, daß es dabei sein Bewenden haben werde; war doch Bülow schießlich nur ein Kapellmeister, und nicht einmal Richard Wagner hat noch ein Nationaldenkmal."] Heinrich Schenker, Die letzten fünf Sonaten von Beethoven ... op. 110 (Vienna: UE, 1914), pp. 23-24; rev. O. Jonas (Vienna: UE, 1972), p. 8; the same reminiscence appears also in "Erinnerungen an Brahms," Kunstwart 46 (1933), p. 479: click on Erinnerungen an Brahms. SUMMARY: © Commentary, Footnotes, Summary William Pastille, 2006
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