Handwritten letter from Schenker to Hertzka (UE), dated September 24, 1912 Sehr geehrter Herr Direktor! Dr. Harpner|1 (auch Dr. Tausky|2) haben bereits ihre Mitarbeit zugesagt. Ich hoffe, daß Sie heute davon wissen u. nun wünsche ich besten Fortgang den gemeinsamen Arbeiten! Hohe Zeit, denn schon arbeitet H. Korngold|3 darauf los, seinen[corr] Sohn4 für „Kanonisierung“ vorzuschlagen. So lange sind die Herrschaften „fortgeschritten“, bis ein Ästet wie H. Kretzschmar|5 gefunden hat, daß „die Qualität der Production zurückgegangen ist“! Seit „wann ist ein allseitszugestandener Rückgang“ ein „Fortschritt“ zu heißen? Und noch eine Notiz. Es ist zum Weinen. H. Lafite|6 hat sich hinter einen subalternen[corr] Beamten der Ges.,7 H. Karl Krause,8 gesteckt, u. mir auf diesem Wege eine Grobheit zugedacht[corr]. Ich refusierte aber uneröffnet auch diesen Brief in Gegenwart Prof. Gärtners,9 Violins10 etc. Solche Kinder kreieren „freie[corr] Hochschulen“! {2} Es wird danach sein. Besten Gruß © In the public domain. |
Handwritten letter from Schenker to Hertzka (UE), dated September 24, 1912 Dear Director, Dr. Harpner1 (and Dr. Tausky,2 too) have already promised their cooperation. I hope that you have heard this today, and I now wish best progress to the common endeavors! High time, for Mr. Korngold3 is already working away at proposing his son4 for “canonization.” The powers that be have “advanced” so far, only for an aesthete such as Mr. Kretzschmar5 to have found that “the quality of production has slipped back”! Since “when is a retreat on all sides” to be called “progress.” And yet another missive. It makes one weep. Mr. Lafite6 has taken refuge behind an underling official of the Society,7 Mr. Karl Krause,8 and has in this way behaved boorishly toward me. But I refused this letter, too, unopened, in the presence of Professor Gärtner,9 Violin10, etc. Such children are creating ”free highschools”! {2} That will be the day![?] With best greeings, © Translation Ian Bent 2007. |
COMMENTARY: FOOTNOTES 1 Click on Dr. Harpner. The subject under discussion is the (click on) Organisation producirender und reproducirender Künstler, proposed by S, for which Harpner was to do the legal framework. 2 Dr. Tausky: [identify]. 3 Julius Korngold (1860–1945), eminent Austrian music critic, Hanslick’s successor at the Neue Freie Presse, conservative in outlook. 4 Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897–1957), son of critic Julius Korngold, Austro-Hungarian composer, hailed as genius, recognized early by Mahler, Schnabel, Richard Strauss, and Puccini, reached early peak of fame with his third opera, Die tote Stadt in 1920, emigrated to the USA in 1934. 5 Hermann Kretzschmar (1848–1924), Director of the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin from 1909 to 1920, and author of the Führer durch den Konzertsaal, 3 vols (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1887–90). S was highly critical of Kretzschmar’s work in the “Literatur” sections of his Ninth Symphony monograph and elsewhere. S's plans during the 1910s for a Kleine Bibliothek were to some extent modeled on Kretzschmar’s Führer and intended vastly to surpass them in quality. For S, the epithet “aesthete” is highly uncomplimentary, as his more usual epithet for K, “hermeneuticist.” [identify the source of the quotation] 6 Carl Lafite (1872–1945), Viennese organist and piano accompanist, founding member of the Neues Wiener Konservatorium in 1910, General Secretary of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde of Vienna 1912-22, and also music critic of the Vienna Allgemeine Zeitung 1908–18, later of the Neue Freie Presse and the Neues Wiener Tagblatt. (MGG) 7 The Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde of Vienna, whose dealings with S over its invitation to him to give popular lectures (OJ 11/22, [2], June 21, 1912) has aroused his indignation. 8 Karl Krause: [identify]. Not to be confused with the Viennese journalist and satirist Karl Kraus. 9 Click on Eduard Gärtner. 10 Click on Moriz Violin. SUMMARY © Commentary, Footnotes, Summary Ian Bent 2007.
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