Rudorff, Ernst (born Berlin, Jan 18, 1840; died Berlin, Dec 31, 1916), German pianist, teacher and composer, member of the Brahms circle. Rudorff was professor at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik 1867-1910. He was involved in the collected edition of Mozart's and Chopin's works, and a member of the editorial committee of the Denkmäler Deutscher Tonkunst. Rudorff and Schenker Schenker sent him copies of his Harmonielehre, J. S. Bach, Chromatic Fantasy & Fugue, Kontrapunkt1, and Beethovens Neunte Sinfonie, and the two men corresponded vigorously between January 1908 and August 1912. In thanking Schenker for the first of these works, Rudorff remarks: "When I put together what you have told me of your plans as a whole with what I have now read in your Harmonielehre, I believe and hope that you are the long-awaited one destined to hurl the burning torch into the Tower of Babel [i.e. Wagner's world]." (OJ 3/37, 3). The two men disagreed strongly on the merits of Gluck, whom Rudorff rated highly, but agreed in their critiques of Wagner and Bruckner; they were in agreement that a "disintegration" was taking place "socially and morally," and that an artistic regeneration was unlikely to occur (Federhofer, pp.205-06). Correspondence Correspondence between Schenker and Rudorff survives as OJ 5/35 (1908-09: Schenker to Rudorff : 7 items), OJ 13/37 (1908-10: Rudorff to Schenker : 13 items), and OJ 59/15 (inventory in Oswald Jonas's hand). and from Elisabeth Rudorff to Schenker as OJ 13/36 (1909-17: 3 items). Sources: |
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