Franz Schalk

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Franz Schalk (born May 27, 1863 in Vienna ; † September 3, 1931 in Edlach , municipality of Reichenau an der Rax , Lower Austria ) was an Austrian conductor and long-time director of the Vienna State Opera .

Signature of Franz Schalk (1915)

Life

Franz Schalk studied from 1875 to 1881 at the Vienna Conservatory of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde violin with Josef Hellmesberger and Karl Heißler, piano with Julius Epstein and music theory and composition with Anton Bruckner . On the advice of Bruckner, he started a career as Kapellmeister . After first positions in Olomouc , Chernivtsi , Karlsbad , Reichenberg , Breslau and Graz , he came to the German State Theater in Prague in 1895 and to the Royal Opera in Berlin in 1898 . He established his international reputation as a Wagner conductor with guest conductors at Covent Garden in London (1898, 1907, 1911) and at the Metropolitan Opera in New York (1898/99) .

In 1900, Gustav Mahler appointed Schalk as First Kapellmeister to the Vienna Court Opera. There he conducted a. a. the world premiere of Erich Wolfgang Korngold's ballet Der Schneemann (1910). From 1904 to 1921 he directed the concerts of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde . From 1909 to 1919 he was a teacher at the Vienna Music Academy and from 1918 to 1929 director of the Vienna State Opera . From 1919 to 1924 he shared this position with the composer Richard Strauss , whose opera Die Frau ohne Schatten was premiered in 1919 under Schalk's direction. This time is considered the heyday of the State Opera, whose guest appearances he founded with trips to Geneva , Paris , Cologne and Stockholm . He promoted u. a. also the work of the composer Franz Schmidt and conducted the premieres of his 2nd symphony (1913) and 3rd symphony (1928). Schalk played a key role in founding the Salzburg Festival , where he was a member of the board until his death. He also held a position as conductor at the Vienna Hofburg Chapel.

Like his older brother Joseph, Franz Schalk was a student of Anton Bruckner . Although he made a significant contribution to publicizing Bruckner's symphonies , it must be mentioned that he edited these works, often in collaboration with his brother and / or Ferdinand Löwe , for his performance and often completely distorted them. The most striking example here is Bruckner's 5th Symphony , the world premiere of which Schalk conducted in Graz in 1894 . In its final movement, he cut over 100 bars and, like the other symphony movements, orchestrated the remainder from scratch. The work was finally published in this version. It was not until the 1930s that the musicologist Robert Haas was able to publish the original versions of the fifth and other edited Bruckner symphonies. The versions of the brothers Schalk and Ferdinand Löwes fell into oblivion.

The relationship between Bruckner and Schalk was not untroubled. As it became clear in the meantime through the publication of the correspondence - Benjamin-Gunnar Cohrs had spoken about it - the Schalk brothers were not always honest with Bruckner. Outwardly, they pretended to be very helpful; but around the back they often made fun of him. Bruckner seemed to feel this and so Max Auer reported that during a walk in 1893 - when asked about the editors of his symphonies, very annoyed - in the Bavarian dialect of his homeland - blurted out: “Come on with dö two guys, when mine Playing symphonies, you never know it. ”Despite some questionable traits of the young Schalk - which one can perhaps excuse with his immaturity - Schalk was one of the most important supporters of Bruckner's music.

He has revised his views in the course of his life and, while waiting for the idea of ​​a complete edition; however, he did not reject them outright. From a meeting of Bruckner experts in Munich (1927), Max Auer reported that Schalk supported the publication of the manuscripts, although only for scientific purposes, but then in the end. The Linz version of the 1st symphony and the publication of the 6th symphony based on the manuscript also seemed important to him .

He particularly wanted to see the F minor mass printed in the original, simple version of the court orchestra, because he had enjoyed conducting this mass in the manuscript version after 1919 and regularly. (Somehow he indirectly rejected the work of his brother Josef, who had edited the first edition a lot!)

Siegmund von Hausegger reported that Schalk then took a self-ironic, very critical attitude towards his own work as an editor in relation to him in 1930. (In 1930 he had performed the 6th Symphony in Munich in its version - revised and arranged according to the manuscript. Here it came very close to the original.) At Auer's request, he was to take over the premiere of the 9th Symphony in the original; But since he was already seriously ill, he could no longer answer Auer's letter and Siegmund von Hausegger took over this memorable premiere in 1932.

Many important works were premiered during his work as opera director; the fragments from Gustav Mahler's 10th Symphony he premiered in 1924.

Schalk lived for a while in the 13th district of Vienna, Hietzing , at Elßlergasse 26. In 1935, near Franz-Schalk-Platz was named after him. Since 1963, giving Vienna Philharmonic , the Franz Schalk Medal in Gold .

Franz Schalk was married to the singer Lili Schalk (born von Hopfen, 1873–1967). As his heir, she owned many of Anton Bruckner's manuscripts. Although there was a contractual agreement to make it available for the complete edition - at least for inspection - there were repeated problems with the management of the Anton Bruckner Complete Edition. For example, in 1939 Robert Haas was not given access to the engraver's copy of the 3rd Symphony (III / 3). Only Leopold Nowak got access to many of the sources. The intermediate form of the adagio of the 8th symphony , which has since been published and performed, was also among the musical manuscripts.

Known students (excerpt)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Günter Moseler:  Schalk, Franz. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, personal section, volume 14 (Riccati - Schönstein). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 2005, ISBN 3-7618-1134-9  ( online edition , subscription required for full access)
  2. ^ A b c Christa Harten:  Schalk Franz. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 10, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1994, ISBN 3-7001-2186-5 , p. 31 f. (Direct links on p. 31 , p. 32 ).
  3. ↑ a b c Deryck Cooke:  Schalk, Franz. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
  4. ↑ a b Uwe Harten: Schalk, Franz. In: Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon . Online edition, Vienna 2002 ff., ISBN 3-7001-3077-5 ; Print edition: Volume 4, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2005, ISBN 3-7001-3046-5 .
  5. ^ Fritz Oeser : The sound structure of the Bruckner symphony. Dissertation, 1939, footnote p. 55.
personal data
SURNAME Schalk, Franz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian conductor
DATE OF BIRTH May 27, 1863
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH September 3, 1931
Place of death Edlach (municipality of Reichenau an der Rax , Lower Austria )