Schenker Documents Online: Franz Schreker

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Profiles Person Place Organization Work by Schenker Journal Musical Composition Downloads temporarily removed for testing purposes	Franz Schreker born Monaco, March 23, 1878; died Berlin, March 21, 1934 Documents associated with this person: Correspondence Diaries Austrian composer, conductor, composition teacher, and music educator. Career Summary Schreker studied violin (Bachrich and Rosé) and composition (Fuchs) at the Vienna Conservatory (1892-1900). Having established himself as a conductor and achieved success as a composer, especially with the sensational premiere of his opera Der ferne Klang in 1910, he taught music theory and composition at the Vienna Conservatory 1912-20, and was then appointed Director of the Berlin Hochschule für Musik in 1920, holding that post until, as a Jew, he was removed by the Nazi regime in 1932. He was a distinguished and highly influential composition teacher, his pupils including Berthold Goldschmidt, Alois Hába, and Ernst Krenek. His musical style was characterized by "aesthetic plurality (a mixture of Romanticism, naturalism, symbolism, Impressionism, Expressionism and Neue Sachlichkeit)" (C. Hailey, NGDM2), as well as by sensitive use of tone-color. He composed orchestral works (notably his Kammersymphonie (1916)), choral works, and Lieder, but his principal achievement lay in composing operas, principal among which were: Der Ferne Klang (1910) Die Gezeichneten (1915) Der Schatzgräber (1918) Irrelohe (1922) Der singende Teufel (1924) Having signed a contract with Universal Edition in 1909, Schreker became one of that publisher's most important and highly promoted composers, achieving great international success, which, however, waned after 1923. Schreker and Schenker Schenker, whose principal publisher was UE also, probably resented the high level of publicity given to Schreker (as also to Korngold and others) by UE's Director, Emil Hertzka, comparing it with what he saw as excessively modest publicity for his own works. As a composer of "modern" music, Schreker was no doubt in Schenker's eyes a contributor to what he considered the downfall of music. There is no known correspondence between Schreker and Schenker. Source: NGDM2 Hailey, Christopher, Franz Schreker, 1878-1934: A Cultural Biography (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993) Downloads temporarily removed for testing purposes Correspondence WSLB 119 Handwritten letter from Schenker to Hertzka (UE), dated June 5, 1912 Schenker inquires about the print-run and retail cost of his Instrumentations-Tabelle, and points out an inconsistency in the edition number. He asks for clarity on a payment he has just received, stressing his probity. OC 52/95-96 Typewritten letter from Hertzka (UE) to Schenker, dated August 22, 1912 Die letzten fünf Sonaten: Hertzka backs down on the contested contract clause; Beethovens neunte Sinfonie: Hertzka refuses to budge on his proposal for the supplementary honorarium, but assures Schenker of his good will toward him. OJ 12/9, [6] Handwritten letter from Karpath to Schenker, dated April 3, 1913 Karpath exchanges newspaper clippings with Schenker. — Announces a forthcoming review of Schenker's monograph on Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (1912). — Tells of a potential new pupil for Schenker who is currently studying with Schreker. — Complains at being persecuted by supporters of Schoenberg. OJ 10/1, [51] Handwritten letter from Dahms to Schenker, dated May 7, 1920 OJ 10/1, [68] Handwritten letter from Dahms to Schenker, dated November 22, 1921 Rome has been overtaken by commerce. — [material missing] — Berlin regards Dahms as stuck in the past. OJ 6/7, [2] Handwritten letter from Schenker to Moriz Violin, dated January 29, 1922 Schenker offers to lend Violin his performing materials for two keyboard concertos by C. P. E. Bach. He inquires about musical life in Hamburg, reports on his most recent work, continues to despair of his financial situation. OJ 6/7, [3] Handwritten letter from Schenker to Moriz Violin, dated May 6, 1922 This wide-ranging letter describes the difficulties encountered with Emil Hertzka at Universal Edition, concerning an attack on the music critic Paul Bekker planned for the "Miscellanea" of Tonwille 2. — He expresses his displeasure with Weisse for putting his success as a composer in the way of aiding his teacher's cause, and for exploiting his teacher's generosity. — Ends with generous praise for Violin's musicianship. OJ 10/1, [72] Handwritten letter from Dahms to Schenker, dated October 28, 1922 Dahms chooses to remain in Italy in view of the "moral and physical devastation" that he hears reported from Germany. — He is committed to Schust & Loeffler for a Haydn biography. He reports on a review of his book "Offenbarung." OJ 10/1, [73] Typewritten letter from Walter and Margarete Dahms to Schenker, dated December 27, 1922 Dahms has been trying to improve his publishers' financial terms. — He is in low-grade accommodation; housing in the "German colonies" is available only to officials. — Reports on the concert season in Rome. — Die Musik would not accept an article from him on Schenker's teachings. — Comments on a recent article by Paul Bekker, on Emil Hertzka's "sabotaging" of Schenker, and Furtwängler's lack of whole-hearted support. — Is still working on his latest book, for which he is arranging a de luxe edition by subscription. — Reports unfavorably on an incident in which Otto Klemperer played the Italian fascist hymn. OJ 14/45, [21] Handwritten letter from Moriz Violin to Heinrich Schenker, dated April 28, 1923 Violin reports on a brief trip to Berlin for respite from the strain of teaching and his son’s illness. He is reading the second volume of Schenker’s Counterpoint, but asks him for clarification of a matter concerning second-species counterpoint in two voices, discussed in volume 1. OJ 6/7, [6] Handwritten letter from Heinrich Schenker to Moriz Violin, dated July 20, 1923 Schenker describes his efforts to make Der Tonwille more widely read, through its distribution by his pupils and its display in music shop windows. He needs more help from pupils and friends with the dissemination of his work, but complains that Hans Weisse has let him down on more than one occasion by not writing about his work. Finally, he asks Violin’s advice about whether he should accept an invitation to speak at a conference in Leipzig, or whether he should simply stay at home and continue to write. OJ 6/7, [9] Handwritten letter from Schenker to Moriz Violin, dated October 16, 1924 After thanking Violin for his touching fiftieth-birthday tribute of 1918, Schenker outlines plans for sending out copies of Der Tonwille: he has drawn up a list, which Violin is free to edit. Like Violin, he has lost pupils recently, and so wants to concentrate more on the dissemination of Der Tonwille, with a new publisher. OJ 9/34, [21] Handwritten letter from Cube to Schenker, dated June 25, 1930 Acknowledges OJ 5/7a, [29] and offers mitigation for Vrieslander's non-acquaintance with the Urlinie (to which Cube has just introduced new violin teachers). Reports on Erich Voß, and on concert plans at Conservatory. Reports on his teaching. Threat of financial difficulties; he has offered his services to the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin. OJ 6/8, [1] Handwritten letter from Schenker to Violin, dated January 9, 1931 In this long and wide-ranging two-part letter, which includes a graphic analysis of J. S. Bach’s Two-part Invention in E-flat major, Schenker praises the work of Hans Weisse, who has recently returned from lecturing in Berlin and may be offered a post there (on Furtwängler’s recommendation), emigrate to America (with the help of Gerald Warburg), or even found an institute that would give employment to Felix Salzer and other Schenkerian disciples under one roof. — A letter from Violin, which has just arrived in the morning post, speaks of Violin’s own intention to establish a Schenker Institute in Hamburg. For this, Schenker recommends Felix-Eberhard von Cube (in preference to Reinhard Oppel) and Otto Vrieslander as possible theory teachers, if not Weisse himself. — The letter concludes with a tirade against those who have caused him financial misery (including his brother Mozio), culminating in a cynical passage in which Schenker advises his friend to look after himself and engage some dull pedagog to teach conventional theory. In the end, he wishes Violin luck with the enterprise, and thanks him for having helped rescue him from Hertzka’s clutches. OJ 5/11, [1a] First draft of a handwritten letter from Schenker to Furtwängler, in Jeanette Schenker’s hand, dated November 11‒16, 1931 OJ 6/8, [13] Handwritten letter, with envelope, from Schenker to Violin, dated June 12, 1932 Schenker refers to his “betrayal” by Herman Roth and shares with Vrieslander’s letter on the subject. He updates Violin on the forthcoming publication of the Fünf Urlinie-Tafeln, accusing the Mannes School of getting more publicity and profits from the sale of the work than it deserves. Diaries Diary entry by Schenker for 22 September 1912 Diary entry by Schenker for 26 March 1913 Diary entry by Schenker for 20 April 1915 Diary entry by Schenker for 7 January 1918 Diary entry by Schenker for 19 September 1918 Diary entry by Schenker for 27 March 1919 Diary entry by Schenker for 14 May 1920 Diary entry by Schenker for 8 February 1921 Diary entry by Schenker for 8 December 1927 Diary entry by Schenker for 21 November 1932