Robert Fuchs was an Austria

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...

 and music teacher

Teacher

A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...

.

As Professor of music theory

Music theory

Music theory is the study of how music works. It examines the language and notation of music. It seeks to identify patterns and structures in composers' techniques across or within genres, styles, or historical periods...

 at the Vienna Conservatory, Fuchs taught many notable composers, while he was himself a highly regarded composer in his lifetime.

Biography

He was born in Frauental an der Laßnitz

Frauental an der Laßnitz

Frauental an der Laßnitz is a municipality in the district of Deutschlandsberg in Styria, Austria. On its territory lies the eastern entrance of the Koralmtunnel, a 33km long railway tunnel currently under construction.-References:...

 in Styria in 1847 as the youngest of thirteen children. He studied at the Vienna Conservatory with Felix Otto Dessoff

Felix Otto Dessoff

Felix Otto Dessoff was a German conductor and composer.-Biography:Dessoff was born in Leipzig and entered the conservatory there where he studied composition, piano and conducting with some of the foremost teachers of the day, including Ignaz Moscheles for piano and Moritz Hauptmann and Julius...

 and Joseph Hellmesberger

Joseph Hellmesberger, Sr.

Josef Hellmesberger, Sr. was an Austrian violinist, conductor, and composer.Born in Vienna, he was the son of musician and pedagogue, Georg Hellmesberger, Sr. , was taught violin by his father at the Vienna Conservatoire. Hellmesberger hails from a family of notable musicians including: brother,...

 among others. He eventually secured a teaching position there and was appointed Professor of music theory

Music theory

Music theory is the study of how music works. It examines the language and notation of music. It seeks to identify patterns and structures in composers' techniques across or within genres, styles, or historical periods...

 in 1875. He retained the position until 1912. He died in 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...

 at the age of eighty.

He was the brother of Johann Nepomuk Fuchs

Johann Nepomuk Fuchs

Johann Nepomuk Fuchs was an Austrian composer and conductor, and the brother of Robert Fuchs.Fuchs was born at Frauental, Styria. He worked as a conductor in Bratislava, Brno, Cologne, Hamburg, and Leipzig, before he became Kapellmeister of the Wiener Hofoper in 1880 and Vice Kapellmeister in 1894...

, who was also a composer and conductor

Conducting

Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...

, primarily of 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.

Robert Fuchs taught many notable composers, including George Enescu

George Enescu

George Enescu was a Romanian composer, violinist, pianist, conductor and teacher.-Biography:Enescu was born in the village of Liveni , Dorohoi County at the time, today Botoşani County. He showed musical talent from early in his childhood. A child prodigy, Enescu created his first musical...

, 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...

, Hugo Wolf

Hugo Wolf

Hugo Wolf was an Austrian composer of Slovene origin, particularly noted for his art songs, or lieder. He brought to this form a concentrated expressive intensity which was unique in late Romantic music, somewhat related to that of the Second Viennese School in concision but utterly unrelated in...

, Jean Sibelius

Jean Sibelius

Jean Sibelius was a Finnish composer of the later Romantic period whose music played an important role in the formation of the Finnish national identity. His mastery of the orchestra has been described as "prodigious."...

, Alexander von Zemlinsky

Alexander von Zemlinsky

Alexander Zemlinsky or Alexander von Zemlinsky was an Austrian composer, conductor, and teacher.-Early life:...

, Erich Korngold, Franz Schmidt

Franz Schmidt

Franz Schmidt was an Austrian composer, cellist and pianist of Hungarian descent and origin.- Life :Schmidt was born in Pozsony , in the Hungarian part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire . His father was half Hungarian and his mother entirely Hungarian...

, Franz Schreker

Franz Schreker

Franz Schreker was an Austrian composer, conductor, teacher and administrator. Primarily a composer of operas, his style is characterized by aesthetic plurality , timbral experimentation, strategies of extended tonality and...

, Richard Heuberger

Richard Heuberger

Richard Franz Joseph Heuberger was an Austrian composer of operas and operettas, a music critic, and teacher....

, Robert Stolz

Robert Stolz

Robert Elisabeth Stolz was an Austrian songwriter and conductor as well as a composer of operettas and film music.- Biography :...

, Leo Fall

Leo Fall

Leo Fall was an Austrian composer of operettas.-Life:Born in Olmütz , Leo Fall was taught by his father Moritz Fall , a bandmaster and composer, who settled in Berlin. The younger Fall studied at the Vienna Conservatory before rejoining his father in Berlin...

, Petar Krstic

Petar Krstic

Petar Krstic was a Serbian composer and conductor famous throughout Yugoslavia.Krstic studied under the Austrian composer Robert Fuchs in Vienna. He was a famed conductor and pedagogue in Belgrade as well as musical leader of Belgrade radio. His most famous operas include Zulumcar 1927 and Ženidba...

, Erkki Melartin

Erkki Melartin

Erkki Melartin was a Finnish composer and pupil of Martin Wegelius from 1892-99 in Helsinki, and Robert Fuchs from 1899-1901 in Vienna. He shares identical birth and death years with the composer Maurice Ravel....

, and Leo Ascher

Leo Ascher

Leo Ascher was a composer of operettas, popular songs and film scores.-Biography:Ascher was born in Vienna as Leonem Ascher. His father, Moritz Ascher, was a local umbrella manufacturer. Leo wrote his first composition, a waltz, at the age of 13 in 1893. He studied law at the University of Vienna...

.

Notability

"Unfailingly tuneful and enjoyable, Robert Fuchs’s piano trios are an easily accessible way to get to know a composer whom 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...

 greatly admired," noted the magazine Gramophone. "In his time Fuchs was very highly regarded, with one critic famously pointing to Fuchsisms in 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...

’s Second Symphony."

That his compositions did not become better known was largely because he did little to promote them, living a quiet life in Vienna and refusing to arrange concerts, even when the opportunity arose, in other cities. He certainly had his admirers, among them Brahms, who almost never praised the works of other composers. But with regard to Fuchs, Brahms wrote, “Fuchs is a splendid musician, everything is so fine and so skillful, so charmingly invented, that one is always pleased.” Rarely, if ever, did another composer receive this kind of an accolade from Brahms. Famous contemporary conductors, including Arthur Nikisch

Arthur Nikisch

Arthur Nikisch ; 12 October 185523 January 1922) was a Hungarian conductor who performed internationally, holding posts in Boston, London and - most importantly - Berlin. He was considered an outstanding interpreter of the music of Bruckner, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven and Liszt...

, Felix Weingartner

Felix Weingartner

Paul Felix von Weingartner, Edler von Münzberg was an Austrian conductor, composer and pianist.-Biography:...

 and Hans Richter

Hans Richter (conductor)

Hans Richter was an Austrian orchestral and operatic conductor.-Biography:Richter was born in Raab , Kingdom of Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Empire. His mother was opera-singer Jozsefa Csazenszky. He studied at the Vienna Conservatory...

, championed his works when they had the opportunity but with few exceptions, it was his chamber music which was considered his finest work.

In his lifetime, his best known works were his five serenades; their popularity was so great that Fuchs acquired the nickname "Serenaden-Fuchs" (roughly, "Serenading Fox").

Johannes Moser and Paul Rivinius recorded his Sonata No.2 in E Minor, Op. 83 for Violoncello and Piano in 2006 for Hanssler Classic.

Orchestral

• Symphonies
  • Symphony No.1 in C major, Op.37
  • Symphony No.2 in E major, Op.45
  • Symphony No.3 in E major, Op.79

• Serenades
  • Serenade for string orchestra No.1 in D major, Op.9 (The American Symphony Orchestra gave the US premiere of the Serenade No. 1 (1874) on November 15, 2009.)
  • Serenade for string orchestra No.2 in C major, Op.14
  • Serenade for string orchestra No.3 in E minor, Op.21
  • Serenade for string orchestra and 2 horns in G minor, Op.51
  • Serenade for small orchestra in D major, Op. 53

• Andante grazioso & Capriccio for string orchestra, Op.63
• Piano Concerto in B minor, Op.27

Vocal

• Operas
  • Die Königsbraut, in 3 acts, Op.46 (1889) (librettist: Ignaz Schnitzer) premiered in Vienna
  • Die Teufelsglocke, in 3 acts (w/o Op.) (1891) (librettist: Bernhard Buchbinder)

• Choral works
  • Mass in G, Op. 108
  • Mass in D minor, Op. 116
  • Mass in F, without Opus number

Chamber

• Quintets
  • Quintet for clarinet and string quartet in E major, Op.102

• Quartets
  • String Quartet No.1 in E major, Op.58
  • String Quartet No.2 in A minor, Op.62
  • String Quartet No.3 in C major, Op.71
  • String Quartet No.4 in A major, Op.106
  • Piano Quartet No.1 in G minor, Op.15
  • Piano Quartet No.2 in B minor, Op.75

• Trios
  • Trio in F minor for violin, viola, and piano, Op.115
  • Seven Fantasy Pieces for violin, viola and piano, Op.57
  • String Trio in A major, Op.94
  • Piano Trio in C major, Op.22
  • Piano Trio in B major, Op.72
  • Terzetti (trios for two violins and viola) Opp. 61 nos. 1 in E minor, 2 in D minor
  • Terzetto in C minor, Op. 107

• Duos
  • Two Violins
    • Twenty Duos, Op. 55
    • Phantasiestücke, Op. 105 (16 duos)
  • Violin and Viola
    • Twelve Duets, Op. 60
  • Violin and Piano
    • Violin Sonata No.1 in F minor, Op. 20
    • Violin Sonata No.2 in D major, Op. 33
    • Violin Sonata No.3 in D minor, Op. 68
    • Violin Sonata No.4 in A major, Op. 77
    • Violin Sonata No.5 in E major, Op. 95
    • Violin Sonata No.6 in G minor, Op.103
    • Ten Fantasy Pieces for violin and piano, Op. 74
  • Viola and Piano
    • Viola Sonata in D minor, Op. 86
    • Six Fantasies for viola and piano, Op. 117
  • Cello and Piano
    • Cello Sonata No.1 in D minor, Op. 29
    • Cello Sonata No.2 in E minor, Op. 83
    • Seven Fantasy Pieces for cello and piano, Op. 78
  • Double-Bass and Piano
    • Double Bass Sonata, B Major, Op.97
    • Three Pieces for Double Bass and Piano, Op.96

Solo

• Organ
  • Fantasia in C major, Op. 87
  • Fantasia in E minor, Op. 91
  • Fantasia in D major, Op. 101
  • Variations and Fugue on an Original Theme

• Piano
  • Improvisation for Piano, Op. 11
  • Piano Sonata No.1 in G major, Op. 19
  • Piano Sonata No.2 in G minor, Op. 88
  • Piano Sonata No.3 in D major, Op. 109
  • Jugendklänge, Op. 32
  • Twelve Waltzes, Op.110
  • Dewdrops (Tautropfen), Thirteen Pieces for Piano, Op. 112

• Harp
  • Harp Fantasy, Op. 85

External links

• Free scores at the Mutopia Project
  Mutopia project
  The Mutopia Project is a volunteer-run effort to create a library of free content sheet music, in a way similar to Project Gutenberg's library of public domain books.The music is reproduced from old scores that are out of copyright...
  
  
• Sound-bites from Several Chamber Music Works & short biography
• Notes on Piano Trios by Gramophone