WSLB-Hds 95662 Handwritten postcard from Schenker to Seligmann, dated August 29, 1906
In this amusing message congratulating Seligmann on his latest feuilleton,
Schenker comments on the proper speed for the “little duet” between Giovanni and Zerlina and
notes the gulf separating the performance of Don Giovanni at the Salzburg Festival (the
conductor is not named) and the Mozart performances conducted by Mahler (at the Vienna State
Opera).
OJ 14/23, [9] Handwritten postcard from Seligmann to Schenker, postmarked September 2,
1906
Seligmann thanks Schenker for his words of approval on his feuilleton about
the Salzburg Festival in the Neue Freie Presse.
CA 56 Handwritten letter from Schenker to Cotta, dated November 22, 1906
Cotta should by now have received the sum covering the publishing and
marketing costs of Harmonielehre. Schenker lists five recipients of review
copies.
CA 58 Handwritten letter from Schenker to Cotta, dated November 24, 1906
Schenker lists the journals for which the five music critics (as listed in CA
56) to receive review copies write.
CA 60 Handwritten letter from Schenker to Cotta, dated December 3, 1906
Schenker asks for a further review copy to be sent to Richard
Robert.
OJ 12/27, [2] Stenographically handwritten letter from Cotta to Schenker, dated December 4,
1906
Cotta has carried out wishes expressed in CA 60.
WSLB-Hds 94476 Handwritten letter from Schenker to Seligmann, dated July 17, 1909
Schenker thanks Seligmann for helping him to get a friend’s essay on Byron’s
Manfred published in a Viennese newspaper. He then asks whether it would be possible to make
a judgment about painters, and paintings, on purely objective grounds, as he (Schenker) has
been aiming to do with composers and musical works.
WSLB-Hds 94478 Handwritten letter from Schenker to Seligmann, undated [shortly before May 31,
1911]
Schenker reports the completion of work on Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and
enlists Seligmann’s help in placing notices in Viennese newspapers advertising a planned
series of lectures on modern music (cacophony).
WSLB 133 Handwritten letter from Schenker to Hertzka (UE), undated [August 26,
1912]
Recounting the backstory of the move to found an [Austrian] organization of
musicians, and painting it as a rearguard action by performers against the dominance of Neue
freie Presse chief critic Julius Korngold and certain concert agents, Schenker reports an
approach from Hugo Heller in Germany, and presses Hertzka to reveal how committed he is to
the cause. — Remarking on the lack of coverage of music in [Austrian] newspapers, he
complains at the timid tone of Universal Edition's advertising of his own
works.
WSLB 137 Handwritten letter from Schenker to Hertzka (UE), dated September 24,
1912
Schenker reports developments on the Organization front and also the
Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde's "Hochschule" front.
OJ 10/1, [26] Handwritten letter from Dahms to Schenker, dated March 2, 1917
Dahms's nerves are bad and he has difficulty doing any serious reading. —
Moellendorf has sent a review of the quarter-tone harmonium, and Dahms
comments.
OJ 15/34, [3] Handwritten letter from Viktor Zuckerkandl to Schenker, dated January 14,
[1918]
Acknowledges one postcard; the other reaches him while writing the letter.
Reports and comments on article by Hans Friedrich in Der Merker. Remarks on the nature of
hatred, national and personal, in wartime.
OC 1 B/34r Handwritten draft letter from Schenker to Türkel, dated February 24, 1918
Schenker addresses legal obstructions regarding Sofie Deutsch's will, and
threatens to go back on an earlier disclaimer if he continues to be deprived of the inheritance
due to him; notifies Türkel that he has already paid out the first stipend, to Otto Vrieslander,
and has promised the second and third to two composers (unnamed).
OJ 11/10, [17] Handwritten postcard from Frimmel to Schenker, dated July 6, 1923
Frimmel makes a word-play on a feuilleton of the same date by Korngold
relating to Sigenfeld.
OJ 6/7, [5] Handwritten letter from Heinrich Schenker to Moriz Violin, dated July 9,
1923
Having settled into country life in the Tyrol, Schenker returns to his work, in
particular to the ongoing battles with Hertzka over the publication of Der Tonwille. He asks
Violin’s opinion about a subscription plan for a periodical that would appear four times a year
(instead of the current two), and hopes that his friend might spare a few days to visit him in
Galtür.
OJ 10/1, [79] Handwritten letter from Dahms to Schenker, dated November 1, 1923
Dahms has devoted a chapter of his Musik des Südens to "genius" in which he
asserts its absoluteness and the gulf between genius and mediocrity. — He concurs with
Hertzka's judgement of Furtwängler as a "coward"; In his quest for success, the latter has
compromised his belief in genius by pandering to Schoenberg. The Korngolds are coming to
Rome in August.
OJ 6/7, [11] Handwritten letter from Schenker to Moriz Violin, dated November 6, 1924
Schenker has received a photographic reproduction of the opening chorus of Bach's
St Matthew Passion. — Gives account of delays to the publication of Tonwille 8/9 and 10, blaming
Hertzka for being slow to send work to the engraver, and has written to him with a request to
dissolve the Tonwille contract with UE. — Refers to a recent review by (Julius) Korngold, and
recounts a long story about his piano dealer, Bernhard Kohn.
OJ 6/7, [27] Handwritten letter from Schenker to Moriz Violin, dated January 15, 1926
Schenker agrees to to teach Violin's pupil Agnes Becker twice a week, as soon
as she is ready to come to Vienna. He reports Furtwängler's disillusionment with modern
music, and notes that Weingartner and Julius Korngold have expressed similar sentiments. He
is not optimistic that humanity in general will truly understand the classics, which
underscores the important of his (and Violin's) mission.
OJ 5/9, [2] Handwritten letter from Schenker to Deutsch, dated April 3, 1930
Schenker confirms that a Beethoven sketch for "Neue Liebe, neues Leben" is
related to the earlier of his two settings of the song. Although he is grateful for
Nottebohm’s work on the Beethoven sketches, he transcribed only from the surface, not from
the depths of the composition. -- In a postscript, Schenker complains that, in a recent
feuilleton, the music critic Julius Korngold has quoted his terminology (e.g.
Auskomponierung) but failed to mention his name.
WSLB-Hds 94479 Handwritten letter from Schenker to Seligmann, dated February 26, 1931
Schenker asks Seligmann to read the opening essay in the third volume of Das
Meisterwerk in der Musik. He quotes from a letter to his pupil Hans Weisse which
demonstrates the attention his theories have been gaining in Germany, especially Berlin, and
expresses his regret that no one in Vienna shows similar respect for him.
OJ 10/3, [144] Handwritten picture postcard from Deutsch to Schenker, dated March 13,
1931
In this cryptic message, Deutsch creates a relationship among Beethoven,
Schenker, the music critic Julius Korngold, and the writer on music Richard
Specht.
OJ 5/18, 7 Handwritten picture postcard from Schenker to Jonas, undated [c.April 2,
1931(?)]
Schenker asks for reprint of essay.
OJ 6/8, [3] Handwritten letter from Schenker to Violin, dated May 24, 1931
Schenker sends Violin clippings of a positive anonymous review of Das
Meisterwerk 3, and an article by Bruno Walter from the Neue freie Presse mentioning
him.
OJ 10/3, [149] Typewritten letter from Deutsch to Schenker, dated June 11, 1931
Deutsch will not be spending the summer holiday in Ischgl, but with a family
in Nauders. He hopes to see Schenker before the Schenkers go on holiday.
OJ 10/3, [154] Typewritten letter from Deutsch to Schenker, dated October 8, 1931
Deutsch has been in touch with Robert Haas about a civic honor being conferred
upon Hoboken in the hopes of keeping him, the Photogram Archive, and his personal library in
Vienna. He asks if Schenker might request a letter from Furtwängler recommending this
action, and be able to get Julius Korngold to write something about the importance of
Hoboken’s collections.
OJ 10/3, [159] Typewritten letter from Deutsch to Schenker, dated October 23, 1931
Deutsch enumerates three points arising from his meeting the previous day
(October 22, 1931) with Robert Haas and Wilhelm Weckbecker: that the minister (for
education) should be approached regarding the conferral of a civic honor upon Anthony
Hoboken by the Austrian state; that Hoboken’s character and reputation should in the
meantime be “cleaned up,” by appealing to the Vienna police authorities; that Hoboken should
invite – separately – Weckbecker and Ludwig Karpath to his home to examine his personal
library. He asks Schenker to get in touch with Karpath about this, but to do so tactfully
and with reference to these three points.
OJ 10/3, [160] Typewritten letter from Deutsch to Schenker, dated October 24, 1931
Deutsch is pleased that his “plotting” to obtain for Hoboken a civic honor
from the Austrian state is working so far. He has spoken on the telephone with Ludwig
Karpath and will see him next week. Hoboken’s character seems not to have been blotted by an
incident in Munich some time ago: whatever misdeed he may have for which he had been
accused, and which led to his (brief) incarceration, can never be proved.
OeNB H Autogr.856/20-4 Handwritten letter from Schenker to Josef Marx, dated March 4, 1933
Schenker speaks of his work having been proscribed in Vienna for 25 years, and
also allusively about a certain father and son. He compares the situation in Vienna
adversely with the size of Hans Weisse's lecture audience and his remuneration in New York.
Schenker asks for another meeting.
OJ 5/34, [2] Handwritten revised draft letter from Schenker to Alphons Rothschild, in Jeanette
Schenker's hand, undated [August 3‒6, 1934]
Draft accompanying letter for a copy of Oswald Jonas's Das Wesen ... —
Schenker reiterates his gratitude for previous financial support, and reports that he now
has 11 published works, many articles, and entries on him in several general encyclopedias.
— Only in Vienna is he unrecognized. — He describes Wilhelm Furtwängler's faith in his
theories and the support he has given him. — He mentions his earlier proposal for a
Rothschild orchestra.