Austrian monthly periodical devoted to issues in Schenkerian theory, edited by Oswald Jonas and Felix Salzer, consisting of nine issues, four of them bound as two double issues, thus seven publications in all, spanning April 1937 to February 1938. Those are significant dates. The first volume appeared two years and three months after Schenker's death:
The periodical will ... pay a debt of gratitude to Heinrich Schenker, who died two years ago. Through his theory of organic relations he laid the music-spiritual foundations upon which the editors aim to amass the contents of these volumes. (Heft 1, p. 1) It ended as Hitler's troops marched through the streets of Vienna: We inform our subscribers and readers that this periodical will cease publication with the current volume. — The editorial staff, Vienna, March 1938! (Heft 8/9, p. 189)

The periodical's title-page reads: DER / DREIKLANG / MONATSSCHRIFT FÜR MUSIK / HERAUSGEBER / OSWALD JONAS / FELIX SALZER / [list of contents] / KRYSTALL-VERLAG IN WIEN THE / TRIAD / MONTHLY PERIODICAL FOR MUSIC / EDITORS / OSWALD JONAS / FELIX SALZER / [list of contents] / KRYSTALL VERLAG IN VIENNA

Rather than by Saturn Verlag, as originally planned, the periodical was published by the recently founded Krystall Verlag. It was reprinted in a single volume by Georg Olms Verlag of Hildesheim in 1989.

Genesis

This was not the first attempt to launch a Schenkerian periodical. In September 1926 Otto Vrieslander and Anthony van Hoboken mooted the idea of a periodical to be edited by Otto Erich Deutsch (diary OJ 3/9, pp. 2988‒2989); and in fall 1927 Hans Weisse proposed a periodical entitled Die Tonkunst , to be edited by Jonas and Salzer and published by Saturn Verlag with support from Hoboken. Neither venture got off the ground.

First mention of the plan for Der Dreiklang comes in a letter from Oswald Jonas to Jeanette Schenker dated March 9, 1935 (OJ 12/6, [43]), in which is stated that the plan is a joint venture between the Saturn Verlag, Jonas, and Salzer. The "loftiest and most important task" of the journal was "to venerate Schenker's memory and interpret his work, also to make it accessible to those who need guidance in approaching it." Mention of the plan is made also in a joint letter of Jonas and Salzer to Jeanette Schenker dated June 27, 1935 (OJ 12/6, [45]), and by Jeanette Schenker herself in reply to this on July 2, 1935 (OJ 5/36, [1]), requesting a prospectus of the periodical.

Contents: General

The periodical includes six items under Schenker's own name, these drawn in part from his early published critical work, in part from more recently published works, and in part from his unpublished papers, to which Jeanette gave Jonas privileged access. The most frequent contributor was Oswald Jonas. Others were pupils of Schenker: Carl Bamberger, Angi Elias, Felix Salzer, Otto Vrieslander, Hans Wolf, Viktor Zuckerkandl, writing as Victor Zauner); others were pupils of Schenker's pupils (Paul Berl, Hans Heimler, Ernst Oster).

The structure of the periodical bears more than a passing resemblance to that of Der Tonwille and Das Meisterwerk in der Musik . Like them, it contains a mixture of analytical, theoretical, source-study and bibliographical articles. Several volumes conclude with aphorisms and miscellaneous materials directly comparable to Schenker's "Miscellanea" (Vermischtes). Most specifically, Salzer's lead article in volume 1, "Schenker's Historic Mission," acts as a strategic counterpart to Schenker's in issue 1 of Tonwille, "The Mission of German Genius"; and in the same volume Jonas extends Schenker's series of analyses of J. S. Bach Short Preludes by examining the F major Short Prelude, its title, "A Bach Prelude," mirroring that of a section in the "Miscellanea" of Tonwille 5, "A J. S. Bach Prelude."

Notable departures from the Tonwille/Meisterwerk model are the inclusion of book reviews, Jonas's attempt to relate Schenkerian theory to "new music," and Zuckerkandl's applications to opera ‒ bolstered by inclusion of extracts from Schenker's own critical observations about operas by Mozart, Verdi and Smetana from 1893‒96.

List of Contents

Contributors:

Download all selected files as or or (check files to select/deselect)
Where appropriate save: English and German versions German version only English version only

Correspondence

• OJ 10/3, [108] Typewritten letter from Deutsch to Schenker, dated October 7, 1929

  Deutsch gives a comprehensive analysis of the prospect of a publication devoted to the Photogram Archive: its content, its editorship, the frequency of its appearance, and the publishing houses who might be interested in taking it on.

• OJ 6/8, [7] Handwritten letter from Schenker to Violin, dated October 17, 1931

  Schenker offers Violin words of comfort in the light of a misappropriation of the title “Professor.” He also describes progress on Chopin’s Op. 10, No. 12, and the Bach Prelude in C major for the Five Analyses in Sketchform, and his work on a document of Anton Schindler purporting to convey Beethoven’s instructions on the performance of the Op. 14 sonatas.

• OJ 12/6, [43] Handwritten letter from Jonas to Jeanette Schenker, dated March 9, 1935

  Jonas thanks Jeanette for the opportunity to look at work of Schenker's [unspecified]; Jonas, Salzer, and Saturn Verlag wish to bring out a music journal in Schenker's memory: Jonas requests access to unpublished materials; he inquires whether Jeanette has reached an understanding with Saturn Verlag over aphorisms.