Franz Berwald

Franz Berwald, by an unknown painter

Franz Adolf Berwald (born July 23, 1796 in Stockholm ; † April 3, 1868 there ) was a Swedish composer and violinist . He earned his living for a long time as an orthopedic surgeon and as manager of a sawmill and a glass factory.

Life

Memorial plaque in front of the house, Taubenstrasse 11, in Berlin-Mitte

Franz Berwald was born into a Swedish family of musicians of German origin. His father, Christian Friedrich Georg Berwald (1740–1825), was a student of Franz Benda in Berlin and from 1773 to 1806 violinist in the Stockholm court orchestra , his brother Christian August Berwald (1798–1869) was also a violinist and composed some works, and his cousin Johan Fredrik Berwald (1787–1861) was a conductor and also a composer. Franz Berwald received violin lessons from his father and possibly studied composition with Édouard Dupuy . From 1812 to 1828 he was violinist (later violist ) in the court orchestra at the Royal Theater (now the Royal Opera ) in Stockholm, with two interruptions . Franz Berwald, however, had a variety of talents that went beyond the purely musical and helped him to be self-taught when the circumstances demanded it.

Most of Berwald's early compositions have been lost or destroyed by himself. They met with rejection in Sweden at the time because of their bold harmonies . After further disappointments at home (after Dupuy's death in 1822, his cousin Johan Fredrik succeeded him as court conductor) Berwald went to Berlin in 1829 . There he devoted himself - mostly autodidactically - to orthopedic treatments, which he gave to the poor free of charge, and in 1835 he founded his own orthopedic institute. In 1841 he traveled to Vienna, where he married Mathilde Scherer, his colleague from Berlin, and began to write his most important works: four symphonies and the symphonic poems .

Returning to Stockholm in 1842, he again experienced the rejection of the conservative Swedish music world, a rejection that was based on mutuality and was not diminished by Berwald's sometimes arrogant demeanor. The Sinfonie sérieuse , the only one of his symphonies that he heard during his lifetime, was given a miserable performance by his cousin Johan Fredrik. From 1846 to 1849 Berwald traveled through Europe again. In 1847 he was made an honorary member of the Salzburg Mozarteum ; in Paris , however, he was unsuccessful.

After his return to Sweden in 1849, Berwald was again passed over when filling two important positions. He was neither the successor of his cousin as conductor of the Royal Opera in Stockholm nor music director at Uppsala University . From 1850, he ran a glass factory , later also a sawmill , in Sandö in Ångermanland in northern Sweden . It was not until 1864 that he became a member of the Royal Music Academy . There he finally received a professorship in composition in 1867 after great resistance.

Many important musicians supported Berwald's remarkable compositions during his lifetime and afterwards. It is possible that it has not yet taken the position it deserves in music history. In general, his works and his style testify to an original originality with regard to the instrumentation (e.g. serenade for tenor and chamber ensemble), musical themes and the application of musical forms (see below); Although role models are recognizable ( Beethoven , Mendelssohn ) and his works are definitely in the tradition that was valid up to then, Berwald found his own tonal language that places him among the big names of Scandinavian composers and highlights him as unique within the Swedish musical tradition.

The Berwaldhalle , a concert hall in Stockholm, is named after Franz Berwald .

Style and works

Franz Berwald developed a remarkably independent style in the course of his life. There are similarities with Mendelssohn's compositional style; But Berwald is by no means an epigone . His music is sometimes perceived as being intellectually cool. Like Mendelssohn, he developed the Viennese Classic rather than turning to Romanticism .

Berwald also developed his own instrumentation , in which z. For example, the trumpets take on the function that the horns had in Romanticism. Surprise effects like sudden bangs in the 3rd symphony are typical of his style.

In the 1840s he turned increasingly to orchestral music; in the 1850s he composed mainly chamber music. Berwald tried his best as an opera composer all his life, but he was never successful. His opera compositions are considered weaker than his orchestral and chamber music.

Berwald placed particular emphasis on the formal structure of his works. Already in the early septet he interlaced the slow movement and the scherzo. Especially in his chamber music he went much further later and composed a. a. works in one movement that merge the sonata main movement form with conventional multiple movements in an interesting way.

Berwald is considered one of the most original composers of his time. The fact that his works were never really noticed is due, on the one hand, to the fact that his individual musical style sounded too unusual for the conservative Swedish audience of the time. His music has been called "bizarre". On the other hand, Berwald was decried as arrogant and not sociable. Better social relationships would probably have promoted his work very much. Berwald was almost forgotten after his death; today he is considered Sweden's most important composer of the 19th century.

Works

Symphonies

• Symphony in A major (fragment) (1820)
• Symphony No. 1 in G minor, Symphony sérieuse (1842)
• Symphony No. 2 in D major Symphony capricieuse (1842)
• Symphony No. 3 in C major Symphony Singulière (1845)
• Symphony No. 4 in E flat major Symphony naïve (1845)

Concerts

• Theme and Variations in B flat major for violin and orchestra (1816)
• Concerto in E major for 2 violins and orchestra (1817)
• Violin Concerto in C sharp minor (1820)
• Concert piece in F major for bassoon and orchestra (1827)
• Piano Concerto in D major (1855)

Further orchestral works

• Slaget vid Leipzig ( The Battle of Leipzig ) (1828)
• Elf Game (1841)
• Fugue in E flat major (1841)
• Serious and cheerful crickets (1842)
• Memory of the Norwegian Alps (1842)
• Bayaderen Festival (1842)
• Race (1842)
• Stor polonaise ( Grand polonaise ) (1843)

Chamber music

• Duo for violin and piano in D major (1857–1860)
• Duo for violoncello (or violin) and piano in B flat major (1858)
• Duo Concertante for 2 violins in A major (1816)
• Piano Trio in C major (1845)
• Piano Trio No. 1 in E flat major (1849)
• Piano Trio No. 2 in F minor (1851)
• Piano Trio No. 3 in D minor (1851)
• Piano Trio No. 4 in C major (1853)
• String Quartet No. 1 in G minor (1818)
• String Quartet No. 2 in A minor (1849)
• String Quartet No. 3 in E flat major (1849)
• Quartet in E flat major for piano, clarinet, horn and bassoon (1819)
• Piano Quintet No. 1 in C minor (1853)
• Piano Quintet No. 2 in A major (1850-1857)
• Septet in B flat major for clarinet, horn, bassoon, violin, viola, violoncello and double bass (1828)
• some piano pieces

Vocal works

• Cantat i anledning av Högtidligheterna (1821)
• Cantat författad i anledning av HKH Kronprinsessans ankomst till Sverige och Höga formälning (1823)
• Gustaf Adolph den stores seger och död vid Lützen (1845)
• Nordiska fantasibilder (1846)
• Gustaf Wasas färd till Dalarna (1849)
• Apoteos (1864)
• further choral works as well as several songs

Stage works

• Leonida . Opera (1829, lost)
• Jag går in the monastery . Operetta (1843; premiere 1843)
• Modehandlerskan . Operetta (1843; premiere 1845)
• A rural engagement party in Sweden . Cantata (1847)
• Estrella de Soria . Opera (1841/48)
• Drottningen av Golconda ( The Queen of Golconda ). Opera (1864)

Works for wind orchestra

• Revue march

Web links

Commons : Franz Berwald  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Franz Berwald in the catalog of the German National Library
• Sheet music and audio files by Franz Berwald in the International Music Score Library Project