First husband of Jeanette Schenker.

Son of Ignatz Kornfeld (1831‒92) and Charlotte Weissenstein (1836‒1919), Emil lived first in Luže (district Vysoké Myto), and from 1892 in Aussig (Ústí nad Labem). He had two siblings, Clara and Friedrich.

Emil married Jenny Schiff on July 30, 1893, and the couple had two sons, Erich and Felix.

Emil was a business man, his firm being a chemical company trading in petroleum, oil, and grease for industrial purposes; both sons were involved in it, and possibly Jenny, too, in a secretarial capacity up to 1910. A page survives in Schenker's diary (OJ 1/10, p. 133 verso, June 1911), with the printed letterhead: Klaber & Kornfeld | Aussig A. E. | - | Telegramm-Addresse | Klaber Kornfeld Aussig | Telefon No. 103 | Clearing-Verkehr: Ceck-Conto No. 27.999. | - |

Emil died in Aussig on February 2, 1937.

Emil Kornfeld, Jenny Kornfeld, and Heinrich Schenker

Emil and Heinrich were apparently close friends from some time in the early 1890s to 1910 (the origin of this friendship is still unknown), and between 1903 and 1908 they spent several summer holidays together, probably (certainly in 1908) including Jenny.

Jenny and Heinrich spent part of the summer of 1910 together on vacation in the Karerpass, Tyrol, and evidence of their relationship during those weeks can be found in his correspondence with Moriz Violin. Jenny then returned to Aussig, but left her husband and sons for Schenker in late September 1910, arriving Vienna on September 30. From that time all mention of her in the Kornfeld family was forbidden by Emil, although Jenny is known to have made attempts to contact her sons (OJ 71/21a, [2]). Emil resisted petitions for separation on the part of Jenny for nearly seven years (the attorneys being Dr. Steinitz, Dr. Hübsch, and Dr. Glässner), insisting that Jenny return to him, and the approval of their divorce was not granted until July 31, 1919. Only after further obstacles had been overcome, and after changes in the law on remarriage in Austria, were Jenny and Heinrich married in Vienna on November 10, 1919. Emil never remarried.

Correspondence

No correspondence between Emil Kornfeld and Schenker is known to survive. However, one postcard exists among Schenker's papers: a picture postcard from Jenny Kornfeld to Moriz Violin, dated September 23, 1909 (OJ 7/4, [54]), which includes a postscript apparently in the hand of Emil. In Schenker's post-1910 diaries Emil's name is coded as "Kfld." (Kornfeld) or "der Krämer" (the grocer) or "der Gegner" (the adversary).

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