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Ser. A, {102}
[1. 7.]

[These paragraphs, in Jeanette's hand, are undated, and have been editorially dated so as to preserved their place in the source:]

Genie.
Daß das Genie von den Wohltaten auch nur der rein wirtschaftlichen Ordnung ausgeschlossen ist, trifft es ganz besonders hart. Arbeitet der Fabrikant z.B. für einen größeren Kreis von Konsumenten, so bezieht er ungekehrt von diesen nun auch die Mittel seines Lebensunterhalts; leistet der Arbeiter eine Arbeit für den Herrn, so erhält auch er unmittelbar von diesem den Entgelt seiner Leistung: nur das Genie allein, das zunächst für die Zeitgenossen schafft, entbehrt einer so ausgleichend gerechten Beziehung: von denjenigen denen es seine Leistungen unmittelbar darbot, erhält es leider nicht ebenso unmittelbar seinen Lohn u. andererseits erlebt es meistens diejenigen nicht von denen es umgekehrt allenfalls leben könnte. Wohl dem Genie, das schon von seinen eigenen Zeitgenossen leben kann! 1

*

Genie.
„Mich kostet es selbst so viel“ ‒ eine ständige Redensart des Durchschnittsmenschen, der aber nie wissen will, wie viel es dem Genie, dem großen Menschen kostet, das zu bieten, was er bietet.

Der ewig unabänderliche Egoismus des Durchschnittsmenschen!

*

© Transcription Ian Bent.

Ser. A, {102}
[July 1]

[These paragraphs, in Jeanette's hand, are undated, and have been editorially dated so as to preserved their place in the source:]

Genius
That the genius is excluded from receiving acts of munificence, even in the purely economic realm, seems particularly harsh. For instance, if a manufacturer works for a larger clientele, then in return he derives the means of his livelihood also from that clientele. If a laborer does a job for his master, then he, too, receives the remuneration for what he has done directly from the latter. Only the genius, who creates first and foremost for his contemporaries, is without such a just and equitable relationship. Regrettably, he does not attain his reward equally directly from those to whom he has directly offered the products of his workmanship; and on the other hand he encounters mainly those from whom, conversely, he could at best earn a living. Happy the genius who can live solely off his own contemporaries! 1

*

Genius
"It costs me such a lot" ‒ words one hears constantly from average people, who however will never understand how much it costs the genius ‒ the great human being ‒ to offer what he offers.

The eternally unchanging egoism of the mediocre man!

*

© Translation Ian Bent.

Ser. A, {102}
[1. 7.]

[These paragraphs, in Jeanette's hand, are undated, and have been editorially dated so as to preserved their place in the source:]

Genie.
Daß das Genie von den Wohltaten auch nur der rein wirtschaftlichen Ordnung ausgeschlossen ist, trifft es ganz besonders hart. Arbeitet der Fabrikant z.B. für einen größeren Kreis von Konsumenten, so bezieht er ungekehrt von diesen nun auch die Mittel seines Lebensunterhalts; leistet der Arbeiter eine Arbeit für den Herrn, so erhält auch er unmittelbar von diesem den Entgelt seiner Leistung: nur das Genie allein, das zunächst für die Zeitgenossen schafft, entbehrt einer so ausgleichend gerechten Beziehung: von denjenigen denen es seine Leistungen unmittelbar darbot, erhält es leider nicht ebenso unmittelbar seinen Lohn u. andererseits erlebt es meistens diejenigen nicht von denen es umgekehrt allenfalls leben könnte. Wohl dem Genie, das schon von seinen eigenen Zeitgenossen leben kann! 1

*

Genie.
„Mich kostet es selbst so viel“ ‒ eine ständige Redensart des Durchschnittsmenschen, der aber nie wissen will, wie viel es dem Genie, dem großen Menschen kostet, das zu bieten, was er bietet.

Der ewig unabänderliche Egoismus des Durchschnittsmenschen!

*

© Transcription Ian Bent.

Ser. A, {102}
[July 1]

[These paragraphs, in Jeanette's hand, are undated, and have been editorially dated so as to preserved their place in the source:]

Genius
That the genius is excluded from receiving acts of munificence, even in the purely economic realm, seems particularly harsh. For instance, if a manufacturer works for a larger clientele, then in return he derives the means of his livelihood also from that clientele. If a laborer does a job for his master, then he, too, receives the remuneration for what he has done directly from the latter. Only the genius, who creates first and foremost for his contemporaries, is without such a just and equitable relationship. Regrettably, he does not attain his reward equally directly from those to whom he has directly offered the products of his workmanship; and on the other hand he encounters mainly those from whom, conversely, he could at best earn a living. Happy the genius who can live solely off his own contemporaries! 1

*

Genius
"It costs me such a lot" ‒ words one hears constantly from average people, who however will never understand how much it costs the genius ‒ the great human being ‒ to offer what he offers.

The eternally unchanging egoism of the mediocre man!

*

© Translation Ian Bent.

Footnotes

1 This sentiment, that a genius is rewarded only by the recognition of later generations, not by those who could usefully have sustained him during his lifetime, appears elsewhere in Schenker’s writings. In "State and Genius" (1923) from the Miscellanea of Tonwille 6 (pp. 41–42; Eng. transl. vol. 2, p. 36), he observes that the work of an impoverished composer like Schubert becomes the source of wealth creation for posterity. Mozart and Wagner are cited as other cases in the Niedergang essay from 1906–07: "Just reckon the monetary value of, for instance, the works of Mozart, how his shares on the world market have risen since his death … Consider what capital force Richard Wagner represents! He, who in his own times was constantly in financial straits, could negotiate royalty payments for his works with the largest banking houses." (Eng. transl., pp. 42–43).