Skip to main content

Arthur Waldeck papers related to Heinrich Schenker

 Collection
Identifier: MP-0008-01

Summary

Arthur Waldeck (1899-1965) was a New York-based voice teacher. The collection consists of Waldeck's letters to and from renowned music theorist Heinrich Schenker (1868-1935), as well as Waldeck's translations into English and heavily annotated copies of Schenker's works, written and published in German.

Dates

  • 1906-circa 1965

Creator

Extent

3.9 Cubic Feet (1 box, 6 folders, 2 portfolios)

Scope and Content of Collection

The Arthur Waldeck papers related to Heinrich Schenker predominantly document Waldeck's scholarship on and English translations of Heinrich Schenker's works, originally published in German. Included are Waldeck's heavily annotated copies of Schenker's books (much of the marginalia is in Pitman Shorthand), summaries, translations, and notes. Except where noted in the inventory, all references to books are those authored by Heinrich Schenker. Especially prevalent in the collection is Waldeck's work on Kontrapunkt and Harmonielehre, the latter represented by two drafts of a manuscript, heavily annotated by Waldeck and collaborator Oswald Jonas, with whom Waldeck disagreed. Also of note is a manuscript for an English language work on Enrico Caruso, inspired by George Armin's original 1929 work on Caruso in German. Waldeck did not date the bulk of his manuscripts and the processing archivists have consequently dated these materials as "before 1965," the year of his death.

Scholars interested in the early dissemination of Heinrich Schenker’s theories in the United States would benefit from the notes and translations included in this collection, as well as original correspondence between Waldeck and Schenker. Also, researchers and translators interested in an alternative English translation from the German can reference Waldeck’s original translations and notes on Schenker’s major works: Harmonielehrer (Harmony), Kontrapunkt (Counterpoint), and Der Freie Satz (Free Composition). Music theorists may be interested in Waldeck’s interpretation of and comments on Schenkerian Analysis, as well.

Language of Materials

Materials in English and in German.

Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research use. Please contact archivist@newschool.edu for appointment.

Use Restrictions

To publish images of material from this collection, permission must be obtained in writing from the New School Archives and Special Collections. Please contact: archivist@newschool.edu.

Biographical Note

Arthur Waldeck (1899-1965) was an American teacher of vocal technique and music theory in New York City who initiated correspondence with Heinrich Schenker, the Austrian music theorist who created Schenkerian Analysis, in 1929. Waldeck was a proponent of Schenker’s theories in the United States (another, Hans Weisse, a student of Schenker’s, taught at the David Mannes School of Music), and Waldeck co-authored a journal article with Nathan Broder entitled “Musical Synthesis as Expounded by Heinrich Schenker” published in Musical Mercury in 1935. In 1932, Waldeck proposed publishing his own English translation of Harmonielehre, one of Schenker’s first works on music analysis, but it was never published.

Bibliography

Berry, David Carson. “Hans Weisse and the Dawn of American Schenkerism.” Journal of Musicology, 20(1) (2003): 104-157.

Berry, David Carson. “Schenkerian Theory in the United States. A Review of Its Establishment and a Survey of Current Research Topics.” Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie [Journal of the German-Speaking Society of Music Theory] 1–2(2/2–3) (2005): 101-137.

Berry, David Carson. “Schenker’s First ‘Americanization’: George Wedge, the Institute of Musical Art, and the ‘Appreciation Racket’.” A Music-Theoretical Matrix: Essays in Honor of Allen Forte (Part III), ed. David Carson Berry, Gamut 4/1 (2011): 143–230.

Wason, Robert. “Arthur Waldeck.” Schenker Documents Online. http://www.schenkerdocumentsonline.org/profiles/person/entity-000927.html (accessed March 4, 2020).

Organization and Arrangement

Arranged alphabetically by original, untranslated titles of works.

Custodial History

Donated to the Harry Scherman Library of the Mannes School of Music by Lewis Waldeck, Arthur Waldeck's son, in 1994 and 1995.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Transferred from Harry Scherman Library of the Mannes School of Music to the New School Archives and Special Collections, 2015.

Related Materials

The Oswald Jonas Memorial Collection (MS 067) at University of California, Riverside contains multiples files pertaining to Waldeck, Jonas, and Schenker.

Processing Information

Processed with the assistance of New School librarian Gregory Sigman and researcher Professor Robert Wason, who both provided subject expertise. Initially cataloged in a local Integrated Library System (ILS) as the "Arthur Waldeck Collection." Collection-level MARC record deleted from local ILS in 2019. Two copies of Waldeck's typescript for a translation of a book on Enrico Caruso were also separately cataloged in a MARC record and deleted from the ILS in 2020. All folder titles assigned by New School Archives staff, based on previous titles devised by Harry Scherman Library staff.

Title
Guide to the Arthur Waldeck papers related to Heinrich Schenker
Status
Completed
Author
Jason Adamo and New School Archives and Special Collections Staff
Date
October 8, 2020
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin