The correspondence between Schenker and his pupil Anthony van Hoboken comprises 114 letters and postcards written from 1924 until shortly before Schenker’s death in January, 1935. Of these items, seventy-four are by Hoboken, fifty-six by Schenker. The letters here selected span the period beginning with Hoboken’s enthusiastic acknowledgment of Schenker’s acceptance of him as a pupil until 1932. They provide insight into the character and interests, both professional and nonprofessional, not only of the correspondents but also of other members of the wider Schenker circle.

Regarding Anthony van Hoboken himself, the letters document above all his quest for photographs of manuscripts for the Photogram Archive, which he established at the Austrian National Library—a quest that took him to most of the major cities of Europe. A “side-trip” is documented here as well: Hoboken at one point sought the services of Professor R. M. Breithaupt, a piano pedagogue in Berlin, who prescribed therapy for the hand- and arm-pain that Hoboken experienced in playing the piano. Schenker’s response to Hoboken’s report reveals much about his own view of the relation of piano technique to masterworks of the keyboard repertory.

An interesting perspective on Schenker’s view of his own teaching—which aspects he considered indispensable to it, and what else could possibly be handled with more leeway—emerges from his correspondence with Hoboken concerning the latter’s comparative study of Brahms’s Three Intermezzos, Op. 117. Hoboken concedes in one letter (September 27, 1931) that he has not studied the works extensively in terms of the Urlinie, “which requires so infinitely much more inner peace of mind and concentration” than piano playing. Schenker’s response advises his pupil not to take matters about the Urlinie all too seriously; it is only the linear progressions that cannot be neglected, for without them, there is no hearing, no performance.

Finally, Schenker’s high esteem for his pupil must be noted. His praise of Hoboken’s ear and general musicality is expressed too often in the correspondence to be regarded as merely idle flattery.

John Rothgeb

Hoboken to Schenker (letter), June 10, 1925

OJ 11/54, [3]

Paris

Dear Professor,

Your cordial lines of June 4 reached me here, and I thank you very much for their content.