Franz Schmidt

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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 Märzendorfer. Aside from numerous "royal fanfares" (Fredigundis held the French throne in the sixth century) the score contains some fine examples of Schmidt's transitional style between his earlier and later manner. In many respects, Schmidt seldom ventured so far from traditional tonality again, and his third and final period (in the last decade-and-a-half of his life) was generally one of (at least partial) retrenchment, consolidation and the integration of the style of his opulently scored and melodious early compositions (the First Symphony, "Notre Dame") with elements of the overt experimentation seen in "Fredigundis", combined with an economy of utterance born of artistic maturity. 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…Citește mai mult

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R.I.P
Franz

Franz Schmidt, also Ferenc Schmidt (Hungarian: [ˈʃmitː ˈfɛrɛnt͡s], 22 December 1874 – 11 February 1939) was an Austro-Hungarian composer, cellist and pianist.

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Life Schmidt was born in Pozsony/Pressburg, in the Hungarian part of Austria-Hungary (today Bratislava, Slovakia) to a half-Hungarian father – with the same name, born in the same city – and to a Hungarian mother, Mária Ravasz. He was a Roman Catholic. His earliest teacher was his mother, an accomplished pianist, who gave him a systematic instruction in the keyboard works of J. S. Bach. He received a foundation in theory from Felizian Josef Moczik, the 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, for a few lessons, counterpoint with Anton Bruckner, who was already seriously ill at that time), graduating "with excellence" in 1896. He 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 eventual outlook…Citește mai mult

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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 feted 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: the Quintet in A major for piano left-hand, clarinet, and string trio; and the Toccata in D minor for solo piano. Schmidt died on 11 February 1939.

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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 Schubert, Brahms, and Bruckner. He also takes forward the "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 operas: 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.

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Aside from the mature symphonies (Nos. 2–4), Schmidt's crowning achievement was the oratorio The Book with Seven Seals (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 one of relatively few composers to write an oratorio fully on the subject of the Book of Revelation (earlier works include Georg Philipp Telemann: Der Tag des Gerichts, Schneider: Das Weltgericht, Louis Spohr: Die letzten Dinge, Joachim Raff: Weltende, and Ralph Vaughan Williams: Sancta Civitas). 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 Szánthó, Anton Dermota, Josef von Manowarda…Citește mai mult

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Symphonies Schmidt is generally regarded as a conservative composer, but the rhythmic subtlety and harmonic complexity of much of his music belie this. His music combines a reverence for the Austro-German lineage of composers with innovations in harmony and orchestration (showing an awareness of the output of composers such as Debussy and Ravel, whose piano music he greatly admired, along with a knowledge of more recent composers in his own German-speaking realm, such as Schoenberg, Berg, Hindemith, etc.).

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Symphony No. 1 in E major. Written in 1896 at age 22. The scherzo (which shows a mature absorption of Bruckner and Richard Strauss) 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 reminiscent of Strauss and Reger while also paying homage to the monumentality of Bruckner. This is Schmidt's longest symphony and it employs a huge orchestra. The central movement (of three) is an ingenious set of variations, which are grouped to suggest the characters of slow movement and scherzo. The complex scoring 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 Competition (the overall winner was Swedish composer Kurt Atterberg with his 6th Symphony), 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…Citește mai mult

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Schmidt's premiere of The Book with Seven Seals was made much of by the Nazis (who had annexed Austria shortly before in the Anschluss), and Schmidt was seen to give the Nazi salute (according to a report by Georg Tintner, who revered Schmidt and whose intent to record his symphonies was never realised). 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 antisemitic but was extremely naive about politics. Hans Keller gave a similar endorsement. Regarding Schmidt's political naivety, Michael Steinberg, in his 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 listed work, the cantata Deutsche Auferstehung (German Resurrection), was composed to a Nazi text. As one of the most famous living Austrian composers, Schmidt was well known to Hitler…Citește mai mult

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Operas Notre Dame, romantic Opera in two acts, text after Victor Hugo by Franz Schmidt and Leopold Wilk; comp. 1902–4, premiered Vienna 1914 Fredigundis, Opera in three acts, text after Felix Dahn by Bruno Hardt-Warden and Ignaz Michael Welleminsky; comp. 1916–21, premiered Berlin 1922

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Oratorio The Book with Seven Seals (Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln) for Soli, Chorus, Organ and Orchestra, Text after the Revelation of St John; comp. 1935–37; premiered Vienna, 1938

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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; premiered Vienna, 1940

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Symphonies Symphony No. 1 in E major; comp. 1896–99, premiered Vienna 1902 Symphony No. 2 in E-flat major; comp. 1911–13, premiered Vienna 1913 Symphony No. 3 in A major; comp. 1927–28, premiered Vienna 1928 Symphony No. 4 in C major; comp. 1932–33, premiered Vienna 1934

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Piano concertos Concertante Variations on a Theme of Beethoven for Piano (left hand alone) with orchestral accompaniment; comp. 1923, premiered Vienna 1924; Two-handed arrangement by Friedrich Wührer (1952) Piano Concerto in E-flat major (for left hand alone); comp. 1934, premiered: Vienna 1935; Two-handed version by Friedrich Wührer (1952)

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Other orchestral works Carnival music and Intermezzo from the Opera Notre Dame; comp. 1902–03; premiered Vienna 1903 Variations on a Hussar Song for orchestra; comp. 1930–31; premiered Vienna 1931 Chaconne in D minor; transcribed from the Chaconne in C-sharp minor for organ from 1925; completed 1931; Manuscript