Franz Schmidt
Encyclopedia
Franz Schmidt was an Austria
n composer
, cellist and pianist of Hungarian descent and origin.
(known in German as Pressburg), in the Hungarian
part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire
(the city is now Bratislava, capital of Slovakia
). His father was half Hungarian and his mother entirely Hungarian. He was a Roman Catholic.
His earliest teacher was his mother, Mária Ravasz, an accomplished pianist, who gave him a systematic instruction in the keyboard works of J. S. Bach
. He received a thorough foundation in theory from Brother Felizian Moczik, the outstanding organist at the Franciscan church in Pressburg. He studied piano
briefly with Theodor Leschetizky, with whom he clashed. He moved to Vienna
with his family in 1888, and studied at the Vienna Conservatory (composition with Robert Fuchs
, cello
with Ferdinand Hellmesberger
and theory (the counterpoint class) with Anton Bruckner
), graduating "with excellence" in 1896.
He beat 13 other applicants and obtained a post as cellist with the Vienna Court Opera Orchestra, where he played until 1914, often under Gustav Mahler
. Mahler habitually had Schmidt play all the cello solos, even though Friedrich Buxbaum was the principal cellist. Schmidt was also in demand as a chamber musician. Schmidt and Arnold Schoenberg maintained cordial relations despite their vast differences in style. Also a brilliant pianist, in 1914 Schmidt took up a professorship in piano at the Vienna Conservatory, which had been recently renamed Imperial Academy of Music and the Performing Arts. (Apparently, when asked who the greatest living pianist was, Leopold Godowsky
replied, "The other one is Franz Schmidt.") In 1925 he became Director of the Academy, and from 1927 to 1931 its Rector.
As teacher of piano, cello and counterpoint and composition at the Academy, Schmidt trained numerous musicians, conductors and composers who later achieved fame. Among his best-known students were the pianist Friedrich Wührer
and Alfred Rosé
(son of Arnold Rosé
, the legendary founder of the Rosé Quartet, Konzertmeister of the Vienna Philharmonic and brother-in-law of Gustav Mahler
). Among the composers were Theodor Berger
, Marcel Rubin
and Alfred Uhl
. He received many tokens of the high esteem in which he was held, notably the Franz-Josef Order, and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Vienna.
Schmidt's private life was in stark contrast to the success of his distinguished professional career, and was overshadowed by tragedy. His first wife was, from 1919, confined in the Vienna mental hospital Am Steinhof
, and three years after his death was murdered under the Nazi euthanasia
laws. His daughter Emma died unexpectedly after the birth of her first child. Schmidt experienced a spiritual and physical breakdown after this, but achieved an artistic revival and resolution in his Fourth Symphony of 1933 (which he inscribed as "Requiem for my Daughter") and, especially, in his oratorio. His second marriage, to a successful young piano student, for the first time brought some desperately needed stability into the private life of the artist, who was plagued by many serious health problems.
Schmidt's worsening health forced his retirement from the Academy in early 1937. In the last year of his life Austria was brought into the German Reich by the Anschluss
, and Schmidt was fêted by the Nazi authorities as the greatest living composer of the so-called Ostmark. He was given a commission to write a cantata entitled "The German Resurrection", which, after 1945, was taken by many as a reason to brand him as having been tainted by Nazi sympathy. However, Schmidt left this composition unfinished, and in the summer and autumn of 1938, a few months before his death, set it aside to devote himself to two other commissioned works for the one-armed pianist Paul Wittgenstein
, for whom he had often composed: the Clarinet Quintet in A major and the solo Toccata in D minor. Schmidt died on 11 February 1939.
, Brahms
and his own master, Bruckner. He also takes forward the exotic ‘gypsy’ style of Liszt
and Brahms. His works are monumental in form and firmly tonal in language, though quite often innovative in their designs and clearly open to some of the new developments in musical syntax initiated by Mahler and Schoenberg. Although Schmidt did not write a lot of chamber music, what he did write, in the opinion of such critics as Wilhelm Altmann, was important and of high quality. Although Schmidt's organ works may resemble others of the era in terms of length, complexity, and difficulty, they are forward-looking in being conceived for the smaller, clearer, classical-style instruments of the Orgelbewegung, which he advocated. Schmidt worked mainly in large forms, including four symphonies
(1899, 1913, 1928 and 1933) and two opera
s: Notre Dame (1904-6) and Fredigundis (1916–21). A CD recording of Notre Dame has been available for many years, starring Dame Gwyneth Jones and James King
.
. Aside from numerous "royal fanfares" (Fredigundis held the French throne in the sixth century) the score contains some fine examples of Schmidt's later style. New Grove encyclopaedia states that Fredigundis was a critical and popular failure, which may be partly attributable to the fact that Fredigundis (Fredegund
), the widow of Chilperic I
), is presented as a murderous and sadistic feminine monster. Add to this some structural problems with the libretto, and the opera's failure to make headway - despite an admirable and impressive score - becomes comprehensible.
Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln (1935–37), a setting of passages from the Book of Revelation
. His choice of subject was prophetic: with hindsight the work appears to foretell, in the most powerful terms, the disasters that were shortly to be visited upon Europe in the Second World War. Here his invention rises to a sustained pitch of genius. A narrative upon the text of the oratorio was provided by the composer.
Schmidt's oratorio stands in the Austro-German tradition stretching back to the time of J. S. Bach and Handel
. He was the first to write an oratorio fully on the subject of the Book of Revelation
(as opposed to a Last Judgement in a Requiem
like that of Verdi). Far from glorifying its subject, it is a mystical contemplation, a horrified warning, and a prayer for salvation. The premiere was held in Vienna on 15 June 1938, with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra
under Oswald Kabasta
: the soloists were Rudolf Gerlach (John), Erika Rokyta, Enid Szantho, Anton Dermota
, Josef von Manowarda and with Franz Schütz at the organ.
complexity of much of his music belie this. His music is modern without being modernist, combining a reverence for the great Austro-German lineage of composers with very personal innovations in harmony and orchestration
(showing an awareness of the output of composers such as Debussy
and Ravel
, whose piano music he was known greatly to admire, along with a knowledge of more recent composers in his own German-speaking realm, such as Schoenberg, Berg
, Hindemith
, etc.). The considerable technical accomplishment of his music ought to compel respect, but he seems to have fallen between two stools: his works are too complex for the conservatively minded, yet too obviously traditional for the avant-garde (they are also notoriously difficult to perform). Since the 1970s his music has enjoyed a modest revival which looks set to continue as it is rediscovered and re-evaluated.
), and Schmidt was seen (according to a report by Georg Tintner
) to give the Nazi salute. His conductor Oswald Kabasta was apparently an enthusiastic Nazi who, being prohibited from conducting in 1946 during de-nazification, committed suicide. These facts long placed Schmidt's posthumous reputation under a cloud. His lifelong friend and colleague Oskar Adler
, who fled the Nazis in 1938, wrote afterwards that Schmidt was never a Nazi and never anti-semitic but was extremely naïve about politics. Hans Keller
gave similar endorsement. Regarding Schmidt's political naivety, Michael Steinberg
, in his magisterial book, The Symphony, tells of Schmidt's recommending Variations on a Hebrew Theme by his student Israel Brandmann to a musical group associated with the proto-Nazi German National Party. Most of Schmidt's principal musical friends were Jews, and they benefited from his generosity.
Schmidt's last work, the cantata "German Resurrection," was composed to a Nazi text. As one of the most famous living Austrian composers, Schmidt was well-known to Hitler and received this commission after the Anschluss. He left it partially completed, to be completed later by Robert Wagner. Already seriously ill, Schmidt worked instead on other compositions such as a piano quintet. His failure to complete the cantata may be a further indication that he was not committed to the Nazi cause.
Oratorio
Cantata
Symphonies
Piano Concerti
Various Orchestral Works
Chamber music
Music for Trumpets
Music for Organ and Trumpet
Piano music
Organ works
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, cellist and pianist of Hungarian descent and origin.
Life
Schmidt was born in PozsonyBratislava
Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 431,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.Bratislava...
(known in German as Pressburg), in the Hungarian
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
(the city is now Bratislava, capital of Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
). His father was half Hungarian and his mother entirely Hungarian. He was a Roman Catholic.
His earliest teacher was his mother, Mária Ravasz, an accomplished pianist, who gave him a systematic instruction in the keyboard works of J. S. Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
. He received a thorough foundation in theory from Brother Felizian Moczik, the outstanding organist at the Franciscan church in Pressburg. He studied piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
briefly with Theodor Leschetizky, with whom he clashed. He moved to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
with his family in 1888, and studied at the Vienna Conservatory (composition with Robert Fuchs
Robert Fuchs
Robert Fuchs was an Austrian composer and music teacher.As Professor of music theory at the Vienna Conservatory, Fuchs taught many notable composers, while he was himself a highly regarded composer in his lifetime....
, cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
with Ferdinand Hellmesberger
Ferdinand Hellmesberger
Ferdinand Hellmesberger was an Austrian cellist and conductor.-Biography:He was born in Vienna to Joseph Hellmesberger, Sr.. Joseph Hellmesberger, Jr. was his brother....
and theory (the counterpoint class) with Anton Bruckner
Anton Bruckner
Anton Bruckner was an Austrian composer known for his symphonies, masses, and motets. The first are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-German Romanticism because of their rich harmonic language, complex polyphony, and considerable length...
), graduating "with excellence" in 1896.
He beat 13 other applicants and obtained a post as cellist with the Vienna Court Opera Orchestra, where he played until 1914, often under Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
. Mahler habitually had Schmidt play all the cello solos, even though Friedrich Buxbaum was the principal cellist. Schmidt was also in demand as a chamber musician. Schmidt and Arnold Schoenberg maintained cordial relations despite their vast differences in style. Also a brilliant pianist, in 1914 Schmidt took up a professorship in piano at the Vienna Conservatory, which had been recently renamed Imperial Academy of Music and the Performing Arts. (Apparently, when asked who the greatest living pianist was, Leopold Godowsky
Leopold Godowsky
Leopold Godowsky was a famed Polish American pianist, composer, and teacher. One of the most highly regarded performers of his time, he became known for his theories concerning the application of relaxed weight and economy of motion in piano playing, principles later propagated by Godowsky's...
replied, "The other one is Franz Schmidt.") In 1925 he became Director of the Academy, and from 1927 to 1931 its Rector.
As teacher of piano, cello and counterpoint and composition at the Academy, Schmidt trained numerous musicians, conductors and composers who later achieved fame. Among his best-known students were the pianist Friedrich Wührer
Friedrich Wührer
Friedrich Wührer was an Austrian-German pianist and piano pedagogue. He was a close associate and advocate of composer Franz Schmidt, whose music he edited and, in the case of the works for left hand alone, revised for performance with two hands; he was also a champion of the Second Viennese...
and Alfred Rosé
Alfred Rosé
Alfred Edward Rosé was an Austrian composer and conductor.He was the elder brother of Alma Rosé, son of Arnold Rosé, and the nephew of Gustav Mahler.-See also:*Arnold Rosé*Eduard Rosé...
(son of Arnold Rosé
Arnold Rosé
Arnold Josef Rosé was a Romanian-born Austrian Jewish violinist. He was leader of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra for over half a century. He worked closely with Brahms. Gustav Mahler was his brother-in-law...
, the legendary founder of the Rosé Quartet, Konzertmeister of the Vienna Philharmonic and brother-in-law of Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
). Among the composers were Theodor Berger
Theodor Berger
Theodor Berger was an Austrian composer.Berger studied with Franz Schmidt at the Wiener Musikakademie from 1926 to 1932. From 1932 to 1939 he was in Berlin, where Wilhelm Furtwangler became an active proponent of his work...
, Marcel Rubin
Marcel Rubin
Marcel Rubin was an Austrian composer.Born in Vienna where he eventually studied with Franz Schmidt, he later emigrated to Paris where he pursued further studies with Darius Milhaud. After living in Mexico City for a while, he returned to Vienna after the end of World War II.Among other works he...
and Alfred Uhl
Alfred Uhl
Alfred Uhl was an Austrian composer, violist, music teacher and conductor.-Biography:Uhl studied with Franz Schmidt at the Vienna Music Academy, receiving a diploma in composition with honours in 1932. He subsequently worked as Kapellmeister of the Swiss Festspielmusik in Zürich...
. He received many tokens of the high esteem in which he was held, notably the Franz-Josef Order, and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Vienna.
Schmidt's private life was in stark contrast to the success of his distinguished professional career, and was overshadowed by tragedy. His first wife was, from 1919, confined in the Vienna mental hospital Am Steinhof
Steinhof (Vienna)
Steinhof is a hospital in Vienna, Austria. It was originally a psychiatric hospital and center for pulmonology.The hospital lies in the 14th district of Vienna, Penzing, and was built according to the plans of architect Otto Wagner and opened in 1907. The building is made up of 60 pavilions that...
, and three years after his death was murdered under the Nazi euthanasia
Euthanasia
Euthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering....
laws. His daughter Emma died unexpectedly after the birth of her first child. Schmidt experienced a spiritual and physical breakdown after this, but achieved an artistic revival and resolution in his Fourth Symphony of 1933 (which he inscribed as "Requiem for my Daughter") and, especially, in his oratorio. His second marriage, to a successful young piano student, for the first time brought some desperately needed stability into the private life of the artist, who was plagued by many serious health problems.
Schmidt's worsening health forced his retirement from the Academy in early 1937. In the last year of his life Austria was brought into the German Reich by the Anschluss
Anschluss
The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....
, and Schmidt was fêted by the Nazi authorities as the greatest living composer of the so-called Ostmark. He was given a commission to write a cantata entitled "The German Resurrection", which, after 1945, was taken by many as a reason to brand him as having been tainted by Nazi sympathy. However, Schmidt left this composition unfinished, and in the summer and autumn of 1938, a few months before his death, set it aside to devote himself to two other commissioned works for the one-armed pianist Paul Wittgenstein
Paul Wittgenstein
Paul Wittgenstein was an Austrian-born concert pianist, who became known for his ability to play with just his left hand, after he lost his right arm during the First World War. He devised novel techniques, including pedal and hand-movement combinations, that allowed him to play chords previously...
, for whom he had often composed: the Clarinet Quintet in A major and the solo Toccata in D minor. Schmidt died on 11 February 1939.
Musical works
As a composer, Schmidt was slow to develop, but his reputation, at least in Austria, saw a steady growth from the late 1890s until his death in 1939. In his music, Schmidt continued to develop the Viennese classic-romantic traditions he inherited from SchubertFranz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
, Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
and his own master, Bruckner. He also takes forward the exotic ‘gypsy’ style of Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
and Brahms. His works are monumental in form and firmly tonal in language, though quite often innovative in their designs and clearly open to some of the new developments in musical syntax initiated by Mahler and Schoenberg. Although Schmidt did not write a lot of chamber music, what he did write, in the opinion of such critics as Wilhelm Altmann, was important and of high quality. Although Schmidt's organ works may resemble others of the era in terms of length, complexity, and difficulty, they are forward-looking in being conceived for the smaller, clearer, classical-style instruments of the Orgelbewegung, which he advocated. Schmidt worked mainly in large forms, including four symphonies
Symphony
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...
(1899, 1913, 1928 and 1933) and two opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
s: Notre Dame (1904-6) and Fredigundis (1916–21). A CD recording of Notre Dame has been available for many years, starring Dame Gwyneth Jones and James King
James King (tenor)
James King was widely regarded as the finest American heldentenor of the post-war period.-Biography:Born in Dodge City, Kansas, King studied music at Louisiana State University and earned a master's degree in 1952 from Kansas City University. He started singing as a baritone, but noticed in 1955...
.
Fredigundis
No really adequate recording has been made of Schmidt's second and last opera Fredigundis, of which there has been but one "unauthorized" release in the early 1980s on the Voce Label of an Austrian Radio broadcast of a 1979 Vienna performance under the direction of Ernst MärzendorferErnst Märzendorfer
Ernst Märzendorfer was an Austrian conductor. He was the first conductor to make a complete recording of the 107 symphonies of Joseph Haydn, and conducted a number of important opera premieres.-Biography:...
. Aside from numerous "royal fanfares" (Fredigundis held the French throne in the sixth century) the score contains some fine examples of Schmidt's later style. New Grove encyclopaedia states that Fredigundis was a critical and popular failure, which may be partly attributable to the fact that Fredigundis (Fredegund
Fredegund
Fredegund was the Queen consort of Chilperic I, the Merovingian Frankish king of Soissons.All her wealth and power came to her through her association with Chilperic...
), the widow of Chilperic I
Chilperic I
Chilperic I was the king of Neustria from 561 to his death. He was one of the sons of the Frankish king Clotaire I and Queen Aregund....
), is presented as a murderous and sadistic feminine monster. Add to this some structural problems with the libretto, and the opera's failure to make headway - despite an admirable and impressive score - becomes comprehensible.
The Book with Seven Seals
Schmidt's crowning achievement was the oratorioOratorio
An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln (1935–37), a setting of passages from the Book of Revelation
Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. The title came into usage from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: apokalupsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation"...
. His choice of subject was prophetic: with hindsight the work appears to foretell, in the most powerful terms, the disasters that were shortly to be visited upon Europe in the Second World War. Here his invention rises to a sustained pitch of genius. A narrative upon the text of the oratorio was provided by the composer.
Schmidt's oratorio stands in the Austro-German tradition stretching back to the time of J. S. Bach and Handel
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
. He was the first to write an oratorio fully on the subject of the Book of Revelation
Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. The title came into usage from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: apokalupsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation"...
(as opposed to a Last Judgement in a Requiem
Requiem (Verdi)
The Messa da Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi is a musical setting of the Roman Catholic funeral mass for four soloists, double choir and orchestra. It was composed in memory of Alessandro Manzoni, an Italian poet and novelist much admired by Verdi. The first performance in San Marco in Milan on 22 May...
like that of Verdi). Far from glorifying its subject, it is a mystical contemplation, a horrified warning, and a prayer for salvation. The premiere was held in Vienna on 15 June 1938, with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra
Vienna Symphony Orchestra
-History:In 1900, Ferdinand Löwe founded the orchestra as the Wiener Concertverein . In 1913 it moved into the Konzerthaus, Vienna. In 1919 it merged with the Tonkünstler Orchestra. In 1933 it acquired its current name...
under Oswald Kabasta
Oswald Kabasta
Oswald Kabasta was an Austrian conductor.Kabasta was born in Mistelbach, Austria and later studied with composer Franz Schmidt. In 1931 he became head of conducting at the Vienna Academy. He also served as musical director of Vienna Radio about this time. In 1938 he became principal conductor...
: the soloists were Rudolf Gerlach (John), Erika Rokyta, Enid Szantho, Anton Dermota
Anton Dermota
Kammersänger Anton Dermota was a Slovene tenor.He was born in a poor family Born in the Upper Carniolan village of Kropa, in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire . He went to the Ljubljana Conservatory with the intention of studying composition and organ, but in 1934 he received a scholarship...
, Josef von Manowarda and with Franz Schütz at the organ.
Symphonies
Schmidt is generally, if erroneously, regarded as a conservative composer (such labels rest upon yet-to-be-resolved aesthetic/stylistic arguments), but the rhythmic subtlety and harmonicHarmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
complexity of much of his music belie this. His music is modern without being modernist, combining a reverence for the great Austro-German lineage of composers with very personal innovations in harmony and orchestration
Orchestration
Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra or of adapting for orchestra music composed for another medium...
(showing an awareness of the output of composers such as Debussy
Claude Debussy
Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
and Ravel
Maurice Ravel
Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
, whose piano music he was known greatly to admire, along with a knowledge of more recent composers in his own German-speaking realm, such as Schoenberg, Berg
Alban Berg
Alban Maria Johannes Berg was an Austrian composer. He was a member of the Second Viennese School with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and produced compositions that combined Mahlerian Romanticism with a personal adaptation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique.-Early life:Berg was born in...
, Hindemith
Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist and conductor.- Biography :Born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, Hindemith was taught the violin as a child...
, etc.). The considerable technical accomplishment of his music ought to compel respect, but he seems to have fallen between two stools: his works are too complex for the conservatively minded, yet too obviously traditional for the avant-garde (they are also notoriously difficult to perform). Since the 1970s his music has enjoyed a modest revival which looks set to continue as it is rediscovered and re-evaluated.
- Symphony No. 1 in E major.
Written in 1896 at age 22. The scherzo of this precociously accomplished symphony (which shows a mature absorption of Bruckner and Richard StraussRichard StraussRichard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
) is especially noteworthy, while Schmidt demonstrates his contrapuntal skills in the Finale.
- Symphony No. 2 in E flat major.
Written in 1913 in a style strongly reminiscent of Strauss and RegerMax RegerJohann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger was a German composer, conductor, pianist, organist, and academic teacher.-Life:...
. This is Schmidt's longest symphony in terms of duration and employs a huge orchestraOrchestraAn orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
. The central movement (of three) is a highly ingenious set of variations, which are grouped to suggest the characters of slow movement and scherzo. The complex scoring of this magnificent symphony renders it a considerable challenge for most orchestras.
- Symphony No. 3 in A major.
A sunny, melodic work in the Schubert vein (although its lyricism and superb orchestration do much to conceal the fact that it is one of the composer's most harmonically advanced works). Winner of the Austrian section of the 1928 International Columbia Graphophone Competition1928 International Columbia Graphophone CompetitionThe 1928 International Columbia Graphophone Competition was a competition part-sponsored by the Columbia Record Company in honour of the centenary of the death of Franz Schubert. Its original aim was to encourage composers to produce completions of Schubert's 'Unfinished' Symphony but the rules...
, it enjoyed some popularity at the time (1928).
- Symphony No. 4 in C major.
Written in 1933, this is the best-known work of his entire oeuvre. The composer called it "A requiem for my daughter". It begins with a long 23-bar melody on an unaccompanied solo trumpet (which returns at the symphony's close, "transfigured" by all that has intervened). The Adagio is an immense ABA ternary structure. The first A is an expansive threnody on solo cello (Schmidt's own instrument) whose seamless lyricism predates Strauss's MetamorphosenMetamorphosenMetamorphosen, Study for 23 Solo Strings, subtitled "In memoriam", is a composition by Richard Strauss, scored for ten violins, five violas, five cellos, and three double basses. It was composed during the closing months of the Second World War, from August 1944 to March 1945. Strauss dedicated it...
by more than a decade (its theme is later adjusted to form the scherzo of the symphony); the B section is an equally expansive funeral march (deliberately referencing BeethovenLudwig van BeethovenLudwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
's EroicaSymphony No. 3 (Beethoven)Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 in E flat major , also known as the Eroica , is a landmark musical work marking the full arrival of the composer's "middle-period," a series of unprecedented large scale works of emotional depth and structural rigor.The symphony is widely regarded as a mature...
in its texture) whose dramatic climax is marked by an orchestral crescendo culminating in a gong and cymbal crash (again, a clear allusion to similar climaxes in the later symphonies of Bruckner, and followed by what Harold TruscottHarold TruscottHarold Truscott was a British composer, pianist, broadcaster and writer on music. Largely neglected as a composer in his lifetime, he made an important contribution to the British piano repertoire and was influential in spreading knowledge of a wide range of mainly unfashionable music.- Life :Born...
has brilliantly described as a "reverse climax", leading back to a repeat of the A section).
Schmidt and Nazism
Schmidt's premiere of Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln was made much of by the Nazis (who had annexed Austria shortly before in the AnschlussAnschluss
The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....
), and Schmidt was seen (according to a report by Georg Tintner
Georg Tintner
Georg Tintner CM was an Austrian-born conductor whose career was principally in New Zealand, Australia, and Canada....
) to give the Nazi salute. His conductor Oswald Kabasta was apparently an enthusiastic Nazi who, being prohibited from conducting in 1946 during de-nazification, committed suicide. These facts long placed Schmidt's posthumous reputation under a cloud. His lifelong friend and colleague Oskar Adler
Oskar Adler
Oskar Adler was an Austrian violinist, physician and esoteric savant.A close friend of Arnold Schoenberg from their schooldays, Adler taught him the rudiments of music, gave him his first grounding in philosophy, and played chamber music with him...
, who fled the Nazis in 1938, wrote afterwards that Schmidt was never a Nazi and never anti-semitic but was extremely naïve about politics. Hans Keller
Hans Keller
Hans Keller was an influential Austrian-born British musician and writer who made significant contributions to musicology and music criticism, as well as being an insightful commentator on such disparate fields as psychoanalysis and football...
gave similar endorsement. Regarding Schmidt's political naivety, Michael Steinberg
Michael Steinberg (music critic)
Michael Steinberg was an American music critic, musicologist, and writer. Born in Breslau, Germany , Steinberg left Germany as one of the Kindertransport child refugees...
, in his magisterial book, The Symphony, tells of Schmidt's recommending Variations on a Hebrew Theme by his student Israel Brandmann to a musical group associated with the proto-Nazi German National Party. Most of Schmidt's principal musical friends were Jews, and they benefited from his generosity.
Schmidt's last work, the cantata "German Resurrection," was composed to a Nazi text. As one of the most famous living Austrian composers, Schmidt was well-known to Hitler and received this commission after the Anschluss. He left it partially completed, to be completed later by Robert Wagner. Already seriously ill, Schmidt worked instead on other compositions such as a piano quintet. His failure to complete the cantata may be a further indication that he was not committed to the Nazi cause.
Listing of Works
Operas- Notre DameNotre Dame (opera)Notre Dame is a romantic opera by Franz Schmidt, to a libretto by himself and Leopold Wilk , a professional chemist and amateur poet. It is based loosely on the novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo....
, romantic Opera in two acts, text after Victor HugoVictor HugoVictor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
by Franz Schmidt and Leopold Wilk; comp. 1902-4, 1st perf. Vienna 1914 - Fredigundis, Opera in three acts, text after Felix DahnFelix DahnFelix Ludwig Julius Dahn was a German lawyer, author and historian.-Biography:Julius Sophus Felix Dahn was born in Hamburg as the oldest son of Friedrich and Constanze Dahn who were notable actors at the city's theatre. The family had both German and French roots...
by Bruno Warden and Ignaz Welleminsky; comp. 1916-21, 1st perf. Berlin 1922
Oratorio
- Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln (The Book with Seven Seals) for Soli, Chorus, Organ and Orchestra, Text after the Revelation of St John; comp. 1935-37; 1st perf. Vienna, 1938
Cantata
- Deutsche Auferstehung a Festival Song for Soli, Chorus, Organ and Orchestra, Text by Oskar Dietrich; comp. 1938-39, unfinished, prepared for performance by Dr. Robert Wagner; 1st perf. Vienna, 1940
Symphonies
- Symphony No. 1 in E major; comp. 1896-99, 1st perf. Vienna 1902
- Symphony No. 2 in E flat major; comp. 1911-13, 1st perf. Vienna 1913
- Symphony No. 3 in A major; comp. 1927-28, 1st perf. Vienna 1928
- Symphony No. 4 in C major; comp. 1932-33, 1st perf. Vienna 1934
Piano Concerti
- Concertante Variations on a Theme of Beethoven for Piano (left hand alone) with orchestral accompaniment; comp. 1923, 1st perf. Vienna 1924; Two-handed arrangement by Friedrich Wührer (1952)
- Piano concerto in E flat major (for left hand alone); comp. 1934, 1st perf.: Vienna 1935; Two-handed version by Friedrich Wührer (1952)
Various Orchestral Works
- Carnival music and Intermezzo from the Opera Notre Dame; comp. 1902-03; 1st perf. Vienna 1903
- Variations on a Hussar Song for orchestra; comp. 1930-31; 1st perf. Vienna 1931
- Chaconne in C sharp minor; comp. completed 1931; Manuscript)
Chamber music
- Four little Fantasy pieces after Hungarian national melodies, for cello with piano accompaniment; comp. 1892; 1st perf. Vienna 1926 (three pieces)
- String Quartet in A major; comp. 1925; 1st perf. Vienna 1925
- String Quartet in G major; comp. 1929; 1st perf. Vienna 1930
- Quintet for piano (left hand alone), two violins, viola and cello in G major; comp. 1926; 1st perf. Stuttgart 1931; two-handed arrangement by Friedrich Wührer (1954)
- Quintet for clarinet, piano (for left hand alone), violin, viola and cello in B major; comp. 1932; 1st perf. Vienna 1933
- Quintet for clarinet, piano (for left hand alone), violin, viola and cello in A major; comp. 1938; 1st perf. Vienna 1939; two-handed arrangement by Friedrich Wührer (1952)
Music for Trumpets
- Variations and Fugue on an original Theme in D major (King's Fanfare from Fredigundis); 3. Arrangement for Trumpets alone; comp. 1925, 1st perf. Vienna 1925
Music for Organ and Trumpet
- Variations and Fugue on an original Theme in D major (King's Fanfare from Fredigundis); 4. Arrangement for 14 Trumpets, Kettledrum and Organ; comp. 1925, 1st perf. Vienna 1925
- Choral overture "God preserve us" for Organ with ad libitum processional Trumpet-chorus; comp. 1933, 1st perf. Vienna 1933
- Solemn Fugue (Fuga solemnis) for Organ with Entrance of 6 Trumpets, 6 Horns, 3 Trombones, Bass Tuba and Kettledrums; comp. 1937, 1st perf. Wien 1939
Piano music
- Romance in A major
- Christmas pastorale in A major (= Organ work, arrangement)
- Intermezzo F sharp minor (2nd movement of the A major Quintet)
- Toccata in D minor (for left hand alone); comp. 1938, 1st perf.: Vienna 1940 (two-handed arrangement); two-handed arrangement by Friedrich Wührer (1952)
Organ works
- Variations on a theme by Christoph Willibald GluckChristoph Willibald GluckChristoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck was an opera composer of the early classical period. After many years at the Habsburg court at Vienna, Gluck brought about the practical reform of opera's dramaturgical practices that many intellectuals had been campaigning for over the years...
(lost) - Variations and Fugue on an original theme in D major (King's Fanfare from Fredigundis), 1. Arrangement; comp. 1916
- Phantasie and Fugue in D major; comp. 1923-24, 1st perf. Vienna 1924
- Variations and Fugue on an original theme in D major (King's Fanfare from Fredigundis), 2. Arrangement; comp. 1924, 1st perf. Vienna 1924
- Toccata in C major; comp. 1924, 1st perf. Vienna 1925
- Prelude and Fugue in E flat major; comp. 1924, 1st perf. Vienna 1925
- Chaconne in C sharp minor; comp. 1925, 1st perf. Vienna 1925
- Four small Chorale preludes; comp. 1926, 1st perf. Vienna 1926
- "O Ewigkeit du Donnerwort" (O Eternity thou Thundrous Word), F major
- "Was mein Gott will" (What My God Wills), D major
- "O, wie selig seid ihr doch, ihr Frommen" (O How Happy Are Ye Now, You Blessed), D minor
- "Nun danket alle Gott" (Now Thank We All Our God), A major
- Fugue in F major; comp. 1927, 1st perf. Vienna 1932
- Prelude and Fugue in C major; comp. 1927, 1st perf. Vienna 1928
- Four little Preludes and Fugues; comp. 1928, 1st perf. Berlin 1929
- Prelude and Fugue in E flat major
- Prelude and Fugue in C minor
- Prelude and Fugue in G major
- Prelude and Fugue in D major
- Chorale Prelude, "Der Heiland ist erstanden"; comp. 1934, 1st perf. Vienna 1934
- Prelude and Fugue in A major, Christmas pastoral; comp. 1934, 1st perf. Vienna 1934
- Toccata and Fugue A flat major; comp. 1935, 1st perf. Vienna 1936