Franz Schmidt (composer)

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Franz Schmidt, photographed by Hermann Clemens Kosel .

Franz Schmidt (born December 22, 1874 in Preßburg , today Bratislava, Austria-Hungary , † February 11, 1939 in Perchtoldsdorf ) was an Austrian composer .

Life

The house where Franz Schmidt was born in 1922. The house stood in Pressburg on the corner of Marktplatz (today nám. SNP) and Ursulinengasse and was demolished at the end of the 1920s.

Franz Schmidt was the son of the Pressburg businessman Franz Schmidt and his Hungarian wife Maria geb. Ravasz. His mother - an excellent pianist - noticed his outstanding talent, gave him piano lessons as a child and introduced him to the work of Johann Sebastian Bach . He was instructed in music theory and organ playing from Father Felician Josef Moczik , the organist at the Franciscan Church in Pressburg . He studied piano with Theodor Leschetizky , with whom he soon fell out due to his outdated, disfiguring Rubati style of interpretation.

In 1888 the family moved to Vienna and Schmidt continued his studies at the Conservatory of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde (composition with Robert Fuchs , cello with Ferdinand Hellmesberger and, for a short time, counterpoint with Anton Bruckner ), which he graduated with "distinction" in 1896.

From 1896 to 1911 Schmidt was a member of the Vienna Philharmonic and until 1914 the solo cellist in the Court Opera Orchestra (today the orchestra of the Vienna State Opera ) and was recognized and celebrated in equal measure as an organist, soloist, chamber musician, accompanist and conductor. Along with Oskar Adler he played in the quartet of Arnold Schoenberg . From his time in Pressburg he knew the well-known organ builder Vincent Možný (also: Vincze Mozsny, 1844–1919), who built an organ for him in 1908 according to his own instructions. This organ is now in the parish church of Maria Enzersdorf-Südstadt .

Relief for the Schmidt Symphony Orchestra at the Franz Schmidt Villa

In 1914 Schmidt got a professorship for piano at the Vienna Music Academy (today: University of Music and Performing Arts). In 1925 he became director there and was rector from 1927 to 1931. As a teacher for piano, violoncello, counterpoint and composition, he trained numerous musicians, conductors and composers who later became important at the music academy. His most famous students included u. a. the pianist Friedrich Wührer , the composer Rudolf Wimmer and Alfred Rosé (son of Arnold Rosé , the legendary founder of the Rosé Quartet , concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic and brother-in-law of Gustav Mahler ), and later the singing teacher Walter Taussig . Theodor Berger , Marcel Rubin and Alfred Uhl should be mentioned among the composers . Schmidt gave up teaching in 1937 for health reasons. The broad horizons of the educator Schmidt are documented by a performance of Arnold Schönberg's complex Pierrot Lunaire , which at the time was part of the extreme avant-garde , which Schmidt rehearsed with students at the Academy in 1929. Otherwise, there were hardly any personal relationships between the exponents of the so-called Viennese school around Schönberg and the “late romantic” Franz Schmidt.

Bust in Franz-Schmidt-Park in Vienna-Hietzing

Many awards testify to the high esteem he has received: u. a. the Franz Joseph Order and the honorary doctorate (Dr. phil. hc) from the University of Vienna awarded on the occasion of his 60th birthday . According to statements by Schmidt's students, their teacher knew almost all of the piano compositions known at the time by heart.

However, his private life was largely in stark contrast to his successful professional career: two young people remained unfulfilled. His first wife Karoline Perssin (1880–1942) was treated as an inpatient in the Vienna mental hospital Am Steinhof from 1919 (and murdered three years after Franz Schmidt's death in the course of the National Socialist euthanasia campaign). His daughter Emma (1902–1932) died unexpectedly after the birth of their first child. The broken father called his 4th symphony a "Requiem for my daughter". It was only his second marriage to his much younger piano student Margarethe Jirasek (1891–1964) that gave the artist, who was already struggling with serious health problems, the much-needed stabilization of his private life. Schmidt also had a son, Ludwig Zirner, with his first lover Elise Zwieback from his student days .

Franz Schmidt laid out in the Vienna Musikverein in 1939

In the last year of his life, the terminally ill experienced the "Anschluss" of Austria to the German Empire . Like other prominent personalities, Schmidt also advocated a “yes” vote in the April 1938 referendum . Schmidt was courted by the National Socialists as the most important living composer in Austria, the then “ Ostmark ”, even if he was seen as a “representative of religious art”. Schmidt was commissioned to write a cantata with the title German Resurrection. However , composing a festive song left this unfinished. In the summer and autumn of 1938, a few months before his death, Schmidt completed two commissioned works for the one-armed pianist Paul Wittgenstein : the clarinet quintet in A major and the (solo) Toccata in D minor.

On February 17, 1939, Schmidt's remains were laid out in the Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein, his body was then consecrated in the Karlskirche and buried in a grave of honor in the central cemetery.

reception

Andre Roder : Grave in the Vienna Central Cemetery

Franz Schmidt is one of the composers of the Austrian late Romantic period, and his music is characterized by a characteristic sound language with subtle harmonization. The highlight of his work, which is not very extensive but of high quality, is the oratorio The Book with Seven Seals , which was premiered by the Wiener Symphoniker and the Wiener Singverein . Franz Schmidt is also considered to be the forerunner of the organ movement, as he decidedly rejected the romantic orchestral organ (including swell works).

After 1945, Schmidt's work and life were viewed much more critically due to his advocacy of the "Anschluss", the courtship by the National Socialists and his sympathy for the Austro-Fascist regime. Leon Botstein summarized this in such a way that Schmidt based his work on the traditions of Austrian Catholicism and thus lent himself the image of a non-corruptible, anti- cosmopolitan artist who was attached to his native roots. This attitude meant that Schmidt was absorbed by Austrofascism and National Socialism in the 1930s and did not oppose it.

Awards

  • Franz Schmidt was buried in an honorary grave of the City of Vienna in the Vienna Central Cemetery (group 32 C, number 16).
  • In 1956 the street in front of his house in Perchtoldsdorf was named after him. At the same time, a memorial plaque was also attached to this house.
  • In 1985 the new organ in the Perchtoldsdorf parish church was named after him.
  • In 2001 the Ernst Krenek Park in Vienna Hietzing was renamed Franz Schmidt Park.
  • In 2005 a bust of Schmidt was erected in Franz Schmidt Park.

Home addresses of Franz Schmidt

Memorial room of the Franz Schmidt memorial, Perchtoldsdorf
from 1889: III district , Rudolfsgasse 40 (today Juchgasse)
1891–1899: III district, Erdberger Strasse 57
1900: III district, Hainburger Strasse 56
1901-1904: XII district , Korbergasse 5
1905–1909: XIII district , Auhofstrasse 146
1910: XIII district, Hadikgasse 140
1911: XVIII district , Haizingergasse 33
1912–1922: XIII district, Elßlergasse 26
1923–1926: III district, Neulinggasse 36 / IV / 7
1926–1939: Perchtoldsdorf (Lower Austria), Lohnsteinstrasse 4

Works

Operas

  • Notre Dame , romantic opera in two acts, text based on Victor Hugo by Franz Schmidt and Leopold Wilk; composed: 1902–1904, first performance: Vienna 1914
  • Fredigundis , opera in three acts, text based on Felix Dahn by Bruno Warden and Ignaz Welleminsky ; composed: 1916–1921, premiere: Berlin, December 19, 1922

Oratorio

cantata

Symphonies

Piano concerts

  • Fantasy piece for piano with orchestra accompaniment in B flat major (largely identical to the interlude and carnival music from Notre Dame, but expanded with pianistic cadences. Probably written before the opera of the same name). Premiere from the manuscript, Vienna, Musikverein: November 8, 2013. Piano: Jasminka Stancul, Wiener Symphoniker, conductor: Fabio Luisi
  • Concert Variations on a Theme by Beethoven for piano (left hand alone) with orchestra accompaniment; composed: 1923, premier: Vienna 1924; Two-handed version by Friedrich Wührer (printed 1952)
  • Piano Concerto in E flat major (for left hand alone); composed: 1934, premiere: Vienna 1935; Two-handed version by Friedrich Wührer (printed 1952)

Other orchestral works

  • Carnival music and interlude from the opera Notre Dame; composed: 1902–1903; Premiere: Vienna 1903
  • Variations on a hussar song for orchestra; composed: 1930–1931; Premiere: Vienna 1931
  • Orchestra Chaconne in C sharp minor; composed: completed 1931; (Manuscript)

Chamber music

  • Four small fantasy pieces based on Hungarian national melodies for violoncello with piano accompaniment; composed: 1892; Premiere: Vienna 1926 (three pieces)
  • String Quartet in A major; composed: 1925; Premiere: Vienna 1925
  • String Quartet in G major; composed: 1929; Premiere: Vienna 1930
  • Quintet for piano (left hand alone), two violins, viola and violoncello in G major; composed: 1926; WP: Stuttgart 1931; two-handed version by Friedrich Wührer (printed 1954)
  • Quintet for clarinet, piano (for the left hand alone), violin, viola and violoncello in B flat major; composed: 1932; Premiere: Vienna 1933
  • Quintet for clarinet, piano (for the left hand alone), violin, viola and violoncello in A major; composed: 1938; Premiere: Vienna 1939; two-handed version by Friedrich Wührer (printed 1952)

Music for wind instruments

  • Variations and fugue on a separate theme in D major (King's fanfares from Fredigundis ); 3rd version for wind instruments alone; composed: 1925, premiere: Vienna 1925

Music for organ and wind instruments

  • Variations and fugue on a separate theme in D major (King's fanfares from Fredigundis ); 4th version for 14 wind instruments, timpani and organ; composed: 1925, premiere: Vienna 1925
  • Choral prelude “Gott erhalte” for organ with a brass choir joining ad libitum; composed: 1933, premiere: Vienna 1933
  • Fuga solemnis for organ with access to 6 trumpets, 6 horns, 3 trombones, bass tuba and timpani; composed: 1937, premiere: Vienna 1939

Piano music

  • Romance in A major
  • Christmas pastoral in A major (= organ work, arranged)
  • Intermezzo in F sharp minor (= 2nd movement of the A major quintet)
  • Toccata in D minor (for the left hand alone); composed: 1938, premier: Vienna 1940 (two-hand version); two-handed version by Friedrich Wührer (printed: 1952)

Organ works

  • Variations on a Theme by Chr. W. Gluck (lost)
  • Variations and Fugue on an own theme in D major (King's Fanfares from Fredigundis ), 1st version; composed: 1916
  • Fantasy and Fugue in D major; composed: 1923–1924, premiere: Vienna 1924
  • Variations and fugue on an own theme in D major (King's Fanfares from Fredigundis ), 2nd version; composed: 1924, premiere: Vienna 1924
  • Toccata in C major; composed: 1924, premiere: Vienna 1925
  • Prelude and Fugue in E flat major; composed: 1924, premiere: Vienna 1925
  • Chaconne in c sharp minor; composed: 1925, premiere: Vienna 1925
  • Four small chorale preludes; composed: 1926, premiere: Vienna 1926
    • “O eternity you thunder word”, F major
    • "What my God wants", B minor
    • “Oh, how happy you are, you pious ones”, D minor
    • “Now all thank God”, A major
  • Fugue in F major; composed: 1927, premiere: Vienna 1932
  • Prelude and Fugue in C major; composed: 1927, premiere: Vienna 1928
  • Four little preludes and fugues; composed: 1928, premiere: 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 "The Savior Has Risen"; composed: 1934, premiere: Vienna 1934
  • Prelude and Fugue in A major, Christmas pastorals; composed: 1934, premiere: Vienna 1934
  • Toccata and Fugue in A flat major; composed: 1935, premiere: Vienna 1936

literature

  • Otto Brusatti : Studies on Franz Schmidt . Universal Edition, Vienna 1977
  • Andreas Liess : Franz Schmidt . Böhlau, Graz 1951
  • Carl Nemeth : Franz Schmidt . Leipzig 1957
  • Walter Obermaier (Ed.): Franz Schmidt and his time: Symposium 1985 . Doblinger, Vienna / Munich 1988
  • Carmen Ottner : Sources for Franz Schmidt . 1st and 2nd part. Doblinger, Vienna / Munich 1985–1987
  • Carmen Ottner (Hrsg.): Franz Schmidt and the Austrian organ music of his time: Symposion 1991 . Doblinger, Vienna 1992, ISBN 3-900695-24-5
  • Carmen Ottner: Schmidt, 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 .
  • P. Rainer Rudolf, Eduard Ulreich: Karpatendeutsches Biographisches Lexikon. Working group of Carpathian Germans from Slovakia, Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-927096-00-8 , p. 291 f.
  • Norbert Tschulik: Franz Schmidt . Österreichischer Bundesverlag, Vienna 1972
  • Albert Arbeiter: Introduction to the book with seven seals, self-published, Judenburg 1958, 2nd edition Bregenz
  • Gerhard Schmiedpeter: literary and musical aspects of the opera Notre-Dame . Diploma thesis at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, 1985, manuscript
  • Gregor Gatscher-Riedl: Franz Schmidt and Perchtoldsdorf In: Heimatkundliche Beilage [to the official gazette of the district authority Mödling], 49th year, F. 4, (Mödling 5th December 2014), p. 27 ff.
  • Reiner Schuhenn : Franz Schmidt's oratorio works , Doblinger, Vienna 1990

Web links

Commons : Franz Schmidt (composer)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Father Felician practiced on den10jährigen Schmidt made a decisive influence. In addition to music, he taught him a very good general education. Father Felician, who was court preacher to Archduke Friedrich and his wife Archduchess Isabella , often took Schmidt with him to their Pressburg palace , through which he came into contact with the court society at the time.
  2. Stephen Luttmann: Foreword to Franz Schmidt's 2nd String Quartet ( memento from June 29, 2015 in the web archive archive.today ) on musikmph.de (2011).
  3. ^ Ferdinand Scherber: Franz Schmidt died . In: Wiener Zeitung , February 12, 1939, p. 12
  4. ^ Norbert Tschulik, Franz Schmidt; Critical Biography (London, England, 1980. Translation: Angela Toltoscher).
  5. The cantata was nevertheless premiered in 1940 in a version supplemented and orchestrated by Robert Wagner by the Wiener Symphoniker and the Singverein in the Wiener Musikverein (broadcast live on the radio). German resurrection. Library record on WorldCat .
  6. a b c Street names in Vienna since 1860 as “Political Places of Remembrance” (PDF; 4.4 MB), p. 157f, final research project report, Vienna, July 2013
  7. Hartmut Krones : The concert policy of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna from 1938 to 1945. In: Otto Kolleritsch (ed.), The Vienna School and the Hakenkreuz , Vienna 1990, pp. 189–203.
  8. ^ List of streets in Perchtoldsdorf in RegiowikiAT accessed on February 18, 2016