Heinrich Schenker’s Diaries 1915–1919: An Annotated Edition

Heinrich Schenker (18681935) is regarded as one of the most influential music theoreticians of the 20th century. Many of his Jewish students emigrated to the United States, where they successfully planted Schenkers ideas on the structure of tonal music into the academic world. This contrasts with Schenkers own position in Vienna where, as a freelance author and private teacher, he never attained an academic post. His diaries, written between 1896 and his death, afford us insight not only into his private circumstances but also into the development of his theories, the network of his ramified professional contacts, and Viennese cultural life in which he participated vigorously. Based on three previous projects, which edited the diaries from the periods 19121914 and 19181935 and have made them accessible on the website Schenker Documents Online, the applicant of the present project will compile an annotated edition of the diaries from 19151917 along with Schenkers political post-war diary 1918/19. Together with their English translation, the texts will be continuously published online. The years during the First World War and the first post-war year are significant in various respects. In 1916 Schenker published the Erläuterungsausgabe (Elucidatory Edition) of Beethovens piano sonata in C minor, Op. 111 (Universal Edition). The diaries promise to offer insight in the genesis of this edition. Further, they contain Schenkers comments on cultural and political events of those years and thus offer the chance to describe the development of Schenkers view of the world. After the War, Schenker was pre-disposed to air his political thoughts in print. With this he was obviously reacting to the political re-orientation of Austria after the collapse of the Habsburg monarchy, to the controversial effects of the peace treaties of Versailles and St. Germain, and to an increase in anti-Semitism resulting from the mass immigration of Jewish refugees from the East. The project has relevance not only for musicology but also for other historical disciplines. Schenkers diaries provide material for, and points of intersection with, the social and modern history of World War I and the first post-war year, and facilitate a cultural and social analysis of the Viennese artistic network of which Schenker was an integral part. They illuminate interesting facets of Jewish identity during the First World War and provide a wealth of information for Jewish studies, cultural studies, as well as histories of thought and identity. The overarching project Schenker Documents Online, encompassing the diaries, correspondence, lesson books and unpulished works, promises to be exemplary in its relevance and impact. Through their dense interconnectivity, the sources complement one another, illustrating the same issues from different perspectives.

Heinrich Schenker's diaries, written between 1896 and his death in 1935 not only afford us insight into his private circumstances, but also into the chronology of his writings, the network of his ramified professional contacts and of cultural life of Vienna, in which Schenker participated vigorously. The project is part of an ongoing large-scale Schenker online documentation (SDO - Schenker Documents Online, www.schenkerdocumentsonline.org), encompassing the diaries, correspondence and lessonbooks. The central aim of the project was to compile an annotated edition of the diaries from 1915-1917 along with Schenker's political post-war diary 1918/19, together with their English translation. With the completion of this work, all of Schenker's diaries are now available on SDO. The handwritten text of over 1.200 pages has been transcribed and contextualized. The creation of another more than 1.150 profiles of persons, places, institutions, works by Schenker as well as journals and newspapers named in the diaries made up a main portion of the work. These data constitute a kind of Schenker encyclopaedia, which is accessible to the public on SDO. The years 1915-1919 are of particular relevance for several reasons. In 1916, Schenker's Erläuterungsausgabe of Beethoven's op. 111 was published. The diaries provide insight in the genesis of this edition and prove to be an informative parallel source to the correspondence with Schenker's publisher, Universal Edition. Moreover they shed light on Schenker's works in progress, such as the second half-volume of Kontrapunkt (1922) and the "Little Library", a project which emerged after the war in modified form as a series of pamphlets under the title Der Tonwille (1921-1924). Further the diaries comprise Schenker's comments on artistic and political events from those years and thus enable us to see the development of Schenker's aesthetic and political views. Historical events such as World War I, the collapse of the Austrian-Hungarian empire and the Paris Peace Conference influenced his political thinking and left large traces in his diaries. In the face of these events and their social and economic consequences, his German nationalism became increasingly entrenched. With their many biographical details, the diaries offer new and exhaustive information about Schenker's students and family members. Schenker's correspondence plays a major role in his diaries. He carefully noted all letters and postcards he sent and received, often with short summaries and some comments. As the correspondence is not fully extant, these reports are of special interest. Finally, the diaries offer an overview of the cultural network of which Schenker was an integral part and may clarify the Jewish contributions to that network. Like many in his circle, Schenker was an assimilated Jew. Although he hid his Jewish identity from many people, he never considered converting to Christianity.