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Sbb B II 3550 - Handwritten letter from Schenker to Busoni, dated August 30, 1903


⇧ Gmunden, 30 Aug.

Lieber u. sehr verehrter Freund! 1

Ich habe mir die Sache doch anders überlegt. Am liebsten mache ich die Partitur selbst, ob nun Schönberg sie schon gemacht oder nicht (was ich erst in paar Tagen erfahren kann). 2 Ich bin dann in der Lage, sollte Erfolg nur beschieden sein, die Partitur zu verkaufen, u. einiges Geld, das ich so nötig brauche, damit zu verdienen.

Sind Sie damit einverstanden?

Um baldige Antwort bittet Sie sehr


Ihr treu ergebener
[signed:] H Schenker

Die „N. freie Presse“ brachte neulich sehr Schönes über meine Ausgabe: ich hoffe, es freut auch Sie, das zu erfahren.

© Transcription Ian Bent, 2013, 2022

⇧ Gmunden, August 30

Dear and greatly revered friend, 1

My thoughts on the matter are quite different. I should prefer to make the score myself, regardless of whether or not Schoenberg has already done it (which I may know in a few days' time). 2 I shall then be in a position, if only success is granted me, to sell the score and with it to earn some money, which I need so badly.

Are you in agreement with this?

A speedy answer is requested by


your faithfully devoted
[signed:] H. Schenker

The Neue freie Presse published something very nice about my edition. I hope you will be pleased, too, to hear this.

© Translation Ian Bent, 2013, 2022

⇧ Gmunden, 30 Aug.

Lieber u. sehr verehrter Freund! 1

Ich habe mir die Sache doch anders überlegt. Am liebsten mache ich die Partitur selbst, ob nun Schönberg sie schon gemacht oder nicht (was ich erst in paar Tagen erfahren kann). 2 Ich bin dann in der Lage, sollte Erfolg nur beschieden sein, die Partitur zu verkaufen, u. einiges Geld, das ich so nötig brauche, damit zu verdienen.

Sind Sie damit einverstanden?

Um baldige Antwort bittet Sie sehr


Ihr treu ergebener
[signed:] H Schenker

Die „N. freie Presse“ brachte neulich sehr Schönes über meine Ausgabe: ich hoffe, es freut auch Sie, das zu erfahren.

© Transcription Ian Bent, 2013, 2022

⇧ Gmunden, August 30

Dear and greatly revered friend, 1

My thoughts on the matter are quite different. I should prefer to make the score myself, regardless of whether or not Schoenberg has already done it (which I may know in a few days' time). 2 I shall then be in a position, if only success is granted me, to sell the score and with it to earn some money, which I need so badly.

Are you in agreement with this?

A speedy answer is requested by


your faithfully devoted
[signed:] H. Schenker

The Neue freie Presse published something very nice about my edition. I hope you will be pleased, too, to hear this.

© Translation Ian Bent, 2013, 2022

Footnotes

1 This letter is published in full in translation in Ian Bent, David Bretherton, and William Drabkin, eds., Heinrich Schenker: Selected Correspondence (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2014), p. 36.

2 Arnold Schoenberg had apparently, at the time of the first piano duet performance on January 26, 1900 (Sbb B II 3549), asked whether he might orchestrate Schenker’s Syrische Tänze, and the offer had been accepted. In response to a letter from Schenker (itself in reaction to the current letter), Schoenberg confirmed on September 12, 1903 (OJ 14/15, [1]) that he had made a start on the work.

Commentary

Format
1p letter, holograph salutation, message, valediction, signature, and postscript
Provenance
Ferruccio Busoni (document date-1924) -- unknown (1924-19??) -- Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (19??-)
Rights Holder
Heirs of Heinrich Schenker, deemed to be in the public domain
License
All reasonable steps have been taken to locate the heirs of Heinrich Schenker. Any claim to intellectual rights on this document should be addressed to the Schenker Correspondence Project, Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge, at schenkercorrespondence[at]mus[dot]cam[dot]ac[dot]uk.

Digital version created: 2022-10-08
Last updated: 2011-09-23