| (Sample)-Letter
of Confession from Rudolf Augstein to the classical
composer Peter Huebner for his colleagues at the SPIEGEL
Hamburg,
June 2000
Dear Mr Huebner
In order to prevent any misunderstandings, I would like to contact
you personally, and provide you with some explanations.
First of all, I would like to confess: From the bottom of my heart,
I am an enthusiastic fan of your music, as well as your musicological
findings. Of course, I have read your publisher’s outstanding
documentation, and the comments you made about music deeply moved
me.
At my age, one gradually seeks peace within oneself and with the
world – especially, if one has grappled with problems all
one’s life, and has had critical clashes of opinions with
all sides.
As you might know, after the War, I received authorisation from
the Allies to build up our news magazine. The essential prerequisite
for this authorisation from the superpowers was, as you can surely
imagine, that I was a nobody – a nobody from nowhere.
I hope that the Allies were mistaken in me on this point, and
that in spite of this, I have managed to make something out of
this news magazine I can be proud of.
In former times, I always wanted to have a profound effect on
politics, but nowadays, I have to realise that the entire political
development would have taken more or less the same course as it
has anyway – without my contribution.
As you express in your book “ Natural Music Creation”,
space and time alone have incomparably more influence on all world
events than any news writer – as indeed I merely am.
Do not think that this realisation of powerlessness is making
me sad. At my age, this insight also has a very liberating effect,
as it frees me of any responsibility in the political arena, I
used to believe in so overpoweringly.
At the same time, I increasingly regret day by day that I devoted
this long period of my active life exclusively to the outer trivial
political conditions and news – all that is so quickly forgotten,
and with it the participating people. Who, nowadays, still remembers
the “great politicians or magazine publishers” of my
own most active time?! But likewise those, who according to the
daily political tittle-tattle, reported about them en masse as
critics, are no longer known.
The next generation will have forgotten them all, and with them
also the publisher of DER SPIEGEL. This thought causes me great
pain.
This plunge into nothingness – to be completely wiped out
from people’s awareness – as if I had never existed
– causes me immense concern.
I believe I can confess this to you, as you are active in such
a way that all these profane, existential considerations do not
affect you and your creative work. You create historical milestones
in your musical work, which future generations will still enjoy.
Where our star is gradually declining, it is your fate that your
work and name will rise to an increasingly elevated position in
history.
Well, then I thought: Rudolf, if you wish your name to survive
future generations, then write about this classical composer in
an appropriate dignified way.
I would like to formally apologise for the fact that some of it
had to have a slight polemic slant. Without this negative attachment,
nobody would have bought this story about all the positive things
concerning you and your work. I would have been dismissed as a
dreamer, and my news magazine as well.
Thus, in a direct way, the negative served the purpose of the
positive truth.
Therefore I think, that from all the people who have ever written
about a living classical composer, I take the first place, or
can you give me the name of any news writer who has ever published
anything better about a living tone creator?
I am proud of this, and I think because of this I will go down
in history. The great classical tone creators are all known world-wide.
Almost every child knows Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms,
Wagner, Schumann etc., and those who have recognised their significance
during their lifetime and stood up for them, are at least still
partly known.
Practically nobody also knows all the princes, kings or politicians
of the times of these great classical tone creators, and to report
about those public figures, obviously so unimportant for history,
has been my meagre daily bread for 50 years.
For that reason, I decided there and then to take the opportunity
of ensuring that, hopefully, my name will live on with you.
I count on the fact that you will understand me. I – who
as a great admirer of your work, bask in your shadow anyway. Why
shouldn’t the glow of your work continue to shine on me in
future history?
When the Adenauers, Kohls, Schröders, and whatever their
names may be, are long forgotten, then my name shall stand for
the fact that during my lifetime I recognised at least something
meaningful.
I think that all my praise for you does not impress you –
how else would you be capable of creating such significant work,
which moves the soul – whereby words only just touch the
surface of thinking. But it was important to me to frankly reveal
my thoughts to you, and to draw your highly regarded interest
to myself. Without you, I would have to prepare myself to fall
into oblivion quite rapidly.
In this respect, I would also like to extend my heartfelt thanks
to your publishing company Aar Edition for understanding my request,
and for their acknowledgement in publicising it – a fact
which, unfortunately, I was not able to extend to some of my colleagues
in my news magazine, who might still bother you with stupid letters.
But where natural intelligence takes its effect, where the elemental
force of nature is expressed through a tone creator, the simple
person should have respect. Following Goethe, I would just like
to add that remark.
My colleagues will have to learn to approach this thought step
by step, which Goethe indeed expressed in a similar way with
Well, I wish you continuing success with your artistic creations
– also in my own interest – and it would be an extraordinary
honour to meet you personally one day, so that I will perhaps
go down in history with us both being on the same photo, and people
will later see what this Rudolf Augstein looked like, who was
able to make the right judgement about the great tone creator
during his lifetime.
If you allow me, I would like to send this letter to the news
agencies, so that nobody can later say that it had been invented.
Yours sincerely
Rudolf
Augstein
Publisher
of the German news magazine DER SPIEGEL
Manager of the SPIEGEL-VERLAG
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