Handwritten letter from Josef Hellmesberger jun. to Schenker, dated September 22, [1903] Wien 22/9 [1903] Sehr geehrter Herr Doctor! Die Novitätenprobe1 müßte vorläufig für Montag den 28t d. M. angesetzt werden weil Anfangs October täglich Proben in der Oper angesetzt sind daher für die Novitätenprobe keine Zeit bliebe. Die Probe für den 28. d. M. ist auch noch nicht sicher weil der große Musikvereinssaal2 zu diesem Zwecke erst gemiethet werden muß. Wenn der Saal für diesen Tag frei ist so findet die Probe {2} am 28t d. M. statt. Ich bitte nun Sorge zu tragen daß ich das Notenmaterial bis zu jenem Tage habe damit ich das Werk3 bei der Probe durchnehmen kann. Ich selbst bringe jeder Novität das größte Interesse entgegen von wem sie immer sei also auch diesem Werke. Die Annahme zur Aufführung hängt jedoch nicht von mir sondern vom Plenum der Philharmoniker ab.4 Wenn ich das Werk zur Novitätenprobe bringe so zeigt {3} dieß schon von großer[sic] Interesse da ich nicht alle 28 eingereichten Novitäten in einer einzigen 2stündigen Probe durchspielen lassen kann. Also an mir liegt es nicht allein. Indem ich hoffe daß ihr[sic] Werk angenommen wird bitte ich nochmals Sorge zu tragen daß das Stimmenmaterial rechtzeitig eintrifft. Hochachtungsvollst [signed:] Josef Hellmesberger © Deemed to be in the public domain. |
Handwritten letter from Josef Hellmesberger jun. to Schenker, dated September 22, [1903] Vienna, September 22, [1903] Dear Doctor, The tryout of new works1 has had to be fixed provisionally for Monday the 28th of the month because at the beginning of October rehearsals have been fixed each day in the Opera House, leaving no time for the tryout of new works. The tryout for the 28th of the month is, even so, still not definite, because the Großer Musikvereinsaal2 must first be rented for this purpose. If the hall is free for this day, then the tryout {2} will take place on the 28th. Please ensure that I have the music materials by that day so that I can run through the work3 at the tryout. I myself take the keenest interest in every new work, whoever it may be by; thus [I do so] for this work, too. Acceptance for performance, however, depends not on me but on the staff of the Philharmonic.4 If I put the work forward for the tryout of new works, {3} this already shows keen interest, since I cannot play through in the one two-hour rehearsal all of the twenty-eight new works that have been received. So it is not up to me alone. In hoping that your work will be accepted, I ask you again to ensure that the parts arrive punctually. With kind regards, [signed:] Josef Hellmesberger © Translation Ian Bent, 2007. |
COMMENTARY: FOOTNOTES: 1 From 1900 to 1903, Joseph Hellmesberger jun. (1855-1907) conducted the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra as successor to Gustav Mahler. Hellmesberger is referring to a session ("Probe" is literally "rehearsal") when new works are played through by the orchestra with a view to possible adoption into the program. 2 The "große Musikvereinssal" is the Large (or Golden) Hall of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna. 3 In a diary entry of September 30, 1903 (OJ 1/4, p. 10), Schenker wrote "My female choruses are advertised in the Gesellschaft [der Musikfreunde] concerts" (Meine Frauenchöre werden in den Programmen der Gesellsch. Conz. angekündigt). The only known work corresponding to this designation is Schenker's Drei [recte: Vier] Gesänge für Frauenstimmen a cappella, Op.8, undated and unpublished, which seems an unlikely choice for the VPO (Benjamin McKay Ayotte, Heinrich Schenker: A Guide to Research (London: Routledge, 2004), pp. 16-18). There are no documents in the Wiener Philharmoniker archives relating to this. (Coincidentally, this is the time at which Schoenberg's orchestration of Schenker's Syrische Tänze was being prepared for performance in Berlin.) 4 The orchestra was famous for its democratic structures. SUMMARY: © Commentary, Footnotes, Summary Christoph Hust & Ian Bent 2006
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