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Franz Schmidt
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Franz Schmidt (22 December 1874 11 February 1939) was an Austrian composer,
Donate to Wikipedia cellist and pianist.[1][2]
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Contents
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1 Life
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2 Musical works
About Wikipedia
2.1 Fredigundis
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2.2 The Book with Seven Seals
Recent changes
Contact page 2.3 Symphonies
3 Schmidt and Nazism
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4 Listing of works
What links here
5 Notes
Related changes
6 References
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7 External links
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Wikidata item Life [ edit ]
Cite this page
Schmidt was born in Pozsony (known in German as Pressburg), in the Hungarian part of
Print/export the Austro-Hungarian Empire (the city is now Bratislava, capital of Slovakia). His father
Create a book was half Hungarian and his mother entirely Hungarian.[1] He was a Roman Catholic.[1]
Download as PDF
Printable version
His earliest teacher was his mother, Mria Ravasz, an accomplished pianist, who gave
him a systematic instruction in the keyboard works of J. S. Bach. He received a thorough
Languages
foundation in theory from Brother Felizian Moczik, the outstanding organist at the
Catal
Franciscan church in Pressburg.[3] He studied piano briefly with Theodor Leschetizky,
etina
Dansk with whom he clashed. He moved to Vienna with his family in 1888, and studied at the
Deutsch Vienna Conservatory (composition with Robert Fuchs, cello with Ferdinand
Esperanto Hellmesberger and theory (the counterpoint class) with Anton Bruckner), graduating "with
Franais excellence" in 1896.
Italiano

He beat 13 other applicants and obtained a post as cellist with the Vienna Court Opera
Latvieu Orchestra, where he played until 1914, often under Gustav Mahler. Mahler habitually had
Nederlands 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 style. Also a brilliant pianist,
Slovenina in 1914 Schmidt took up a professorship in piano at the Vienna Conservatory, which had

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Slovenina
been recently renamed Imperial Academy of Music and the Performing Arts. (Apparently,
Svenska
when asked who the greatest living pianist was, Leopold Godowsky replied, "The other

Edit links one is Franz Schmidt.") In 1925 he became Director of the Academy, and from 1927 to
1931 its Rector.

As teacher of piano, cello and counterpoint and composition at the Academy, Schmidt
trained numerous musicians, conductors and composers who later achieved fame.
Among his best-known students were the pianist Friedrich Whrer and Alfred Ros (son
of Arnold Ros, the legendary founder of the Ros Quartet, Konzertmeister of the Vienna
Philharmonic and brother-in-law of Gustav Mahler). Among the composers were Theodor
Berger, Marcel Rubin and Alfred Uhl. He received many tokens of the high esteem in
which he was held, notably the Franz-Josef Order, and an Honorary Doctorate from the
University of Vienna.[4]

Schmidt's private life was in stark contrast to the success of his distinguished professional
career, and was overshadowed by tragedy. His first wife was, from 1919, confined in the
Vienna mental hospital Am Steinhof, and three years after his death was murdered under
the Nazi euthanasia program. His daughter Emma died unexpectedly after the birth of her
first child. Schmidt experienced a spiritual and physical breakdown after this, but achieved
an artistic revival and resolution in his Fourth Symphony of 1933 (which he inscribed as
"Requiem for my Daughter") and, especially, in his oratorio The Book With Seven Seals.
His second marriage, to a successful young piano student, for the first time brought some
desperately needed stability into the private life of the artist, who was plagued by many
serious health problems.[5]

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 fted 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, for
whom he had often composed: the Clarinet Quintet in A major and the solo Toccata in D
minor. Schmidt died on 11 February 1939.[6]

Musical works [ edit ]

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 his own master, Bruckner. He also takes forward the exotic 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

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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
(191621). A CD recording of Notre Dame has been available for many years, starring
Dame Gwyneth Jones and James King.

Fredigundis [ edit ]

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 Mrzendorfer. Aside from numerous "royal fanfares" (Fredigundis
held the French throne in the sixth century) the score contains some fine examples of
Schmidt's later style. 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 to make headway
- despite an admirable and impressive score - becomes comprehensible.

The Book with Seven Seals [ edit ]

Main article: The Book with Seven Seals

Schmidt's crowning achievement was the oratorio Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln (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.[7]

Schmidt's oratorio stands in the Austro-German tradition stretching back to the time of J.
S. Bach and Handel. He was the first to write an oratorio fully on the subject of the Book
of Revelation (as opposed to a Last Judgement in a Requiem like that of Giuseppe Verdi).
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 Szantho, Anton Dermota, Josef von Manowarda and with Franz
Schtz at the organ.

Symphonies [ edit ]

Schmidt is generally, if erroneously, regarded as a conservative composer (such labels

rest upon yet-to-be-resolved aesthetic/stylistic arguments), but the rhythmic subtlety and
harmonic complexity of much of his music belie this. His music is modern without being
modernist, combining a reverence for the great Austro-German lineage of composers with
very personal 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,

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such as Schoenberg, Berg, Hindemith, etc.). The considerable technical accomplishment

of his music ought to compel respect, but he seems to have fallen between two stools: his
works are too complex for the conservatively minded, yet too obviously traditional for the
avant-garde (they are also notoriously difficult to perform). Since the 1970s his music has
enjoyed a modest revival which looks set to continue as it is rediscovered and re-
evaluated.

Symphony No. 1 in E major.

Written in 1896 at age 22. The scherzo of this precociously accomplished symphony
(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, with homage to the
grandiosity of Bruckner. This is Schmidt's longest symphony and it employs a huge
orchestra. The central movement (of three) is a highly ingenious set of variations,
which are grouped to suggest the characters of slow movement and scherzo. The
complex scoring of this magnificent symphony 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, 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 my daughter". It begins with a long 23-bar melody on an
unaccompanied solo trumpet (which returns at the symphony's close, "transfigured" by
all that has intervened). The Adagio is an immense ABA ternary structure. The first A
is an expansive threnody on solo cello (Schmidt's own instrument) whose seamless
lyricism predates Strauss's Metamorphosen by more than a decade (its theme is later
adjusted to form the scherzo of the symphony); the B section is an equally expansive
funeral march (deliberately referencing Beethoven's Eroica in its texture) whose
dramatic climax is marked by an orchestral crescendo culminating in a gong and
cymbal crash (again, a clear allusion to similar climaxes in the later symphonies of
Bruckner, and followed by what Harold Truscott has brilliantly described as a "reverse
climax", leading back to a repeat of the A section).

Schmidt and Nazism [ edit ]

This section possibly contains original research.

Please improve it by verifying the claims made and
adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of
original research should be removed. (July 2013)

This section does not cite any sources. Please help

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improve this section by adding citations to reliable

sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and
removed. (July 2013)

Schmidt's premiere of Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln was made much of by the Nazis (who
had annexed Austria shortly before in the Anschluss), and Schmidt was seen (according
to a report by Georg Tintner, who revered Schmidt and intended to record his symphonies
until prevented by his own death) to give the Nazi salute. 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 nave about politics. Hans Keller gave similar endorsement. Regarding
Schmidt's political naivety, Michael Steinberg, in his magisterial 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 work, the cantata German Resurrection, was composed to a Nazi text. As
one of the most famous living Austrian composers, Schmidt was well-known to Hitler and
received this commission after the Anschluss. He left it unfinished, to be completed later
by Robert Wagner. Already seriously ill, Schmidt worked instead on other compositions
such as a piano quintet. His failure to complete the cantata is likely to be a further
indication that he was not committed to the Nazi cause; such, at any rate, was the opinion
of his friend Oskar Adler.

Listing of works [ edit ]

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 Warden and Ignaz
Welleminsky; comp. 1916-21, premiered Berlin 1922

Oratorio

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

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

Symphonies

Symphony No. 1 in E major; comp. 1896-99, premiered Vienna 1902

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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

Piano Concerti

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 Whrer (1952)
Piano concerto in E flat major (for left hand alone); comp. 1934, premiered: Vienna
1935; Two-handed version by Friedrich Whrer (1952)

Various 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 from 1925;
completed 1931; Manuscript

Chamber music

Four little Fantasy pieces after Hungarian national melodies, for cello with piano
accompaniment; comp. 1892; premiered Vienna 1926 (three pieces)
String Quartet in A major; comp. 1925; premiered Vienna 1925
String Quartet in G major; comp. 1929; premiered Vienna 1930
Quintet for piano (left hand alone), two violins, viola and cello in G major; comp. 1926;
premiered Stuttgart 1931; two-handed arrangement by Friedrich Whrer (1954)
Quintet for clarinet, piano (for left hand alone), violin, viola and cello in B flat major;
comp. 1932; premiered Vienna 1933
Quintet for clarinet, piano (for left hand alone), violin, viola and cello in A major; comp.
1938; premiered Vienna 1939; two-handed arrangement by Friedrich Whrer (1952)

Music for Trumpets

Variations and Fugue on an original Theme in D major (King's Fanfare from

Fredigundis); 3. Arrangement for Trumpets alone; comp. 1925, premiered 1925

Music for Organ and Trumpet

Variations and Fugue on an original Theme in D major (King's Fanfare from

Fredigundis); 4. Arrangement for 14 Trumpets, Kettledrum and Organ; comp. 1925,
premiered Vienna 1925
Choral overture "God preserve us" for Organ with ad libitum processional Trumpet-
chorus; comp. 1933, premiered Vienna 1933
Solemn Fugue (Fuga solemnis) for Organ with Entrance of 6 Trumpets, 6 Horns, 3
Trombones, Bass Tuba and Kettledrums; comp. 1937, premiered Wien 1939

Piano music

Romance in A major
Christmas pastorale in A major (= Organ work, arrangement)
Intermezzo F sharp minor (2nd movement of the A major Quintet)
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Toccata in D minor (for left hand alone); comp. 1938, premiered: Vienna 1940 (two-
handed arrangement); two-handed arrangement by Friedrich Whrer (1952)

Organ works

Variations on a theme by Christoph Willibald Gluck (lost)

Variations and Fugue on an original theme in D major (King's Fanfare from
Fredigundis), 1. Arrangement; comp. 1916
Phantasie and Fugue in D major; comp. 1923-24, premiered Vienna 1924
Variations and Fugue on an original theme in D major (King's Fanfare from
Fredigundis), 2. Arrangement; comp. 1924, premiered Vienna 1924
Toccata in C major; comp. 1924, premiered Vienna 1925
Prelude and Fugue in E flat major; comp. 1924, premiered Vienna 1925
Chaconne in C sharp minor; comp. 1925, premiered Vienna 1925
Four small Chorale preludes; comp. 1926, premiered Vienna 1926
"O Ewigkeit du Donnerwort" (O Eternity thou Thundrous Word), F major
"Was mein Gott will" (What My God Wills), D major
"O, wie selig seid ihr doch, ihr Frommen" (O How Happy Are Ye Now, You Blessed), D
minor
"Nun danket alle Gott" (Now Thank We All Our God), A major

Fugue in F major; comp. 1927, premiered Vienna 1932

Prelude and Fugue in C major; comp. 1927, premiered Vienna 1928
Four little Preludes and Fugues; comp. 1928, premiered 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, "Der Heiland ist erstanden"; comp. 1934, premiered Vienna 1934
Prelude and Fugue in A major, Christmas pastoral; comp. 1934, premiered Vienna
1934
Toccata and Fugue A flat major; comp. 1935, premiered Vienna 1936

Notes [ edit ]

1. ^ a b c Franz Schmidt (1874-1939) and Dohnnyi Ern (1877-1960): A study in Austro-

Hungarian Alternativ.
2. ^ Franz Schmidt- Gesellschaft
3. ^ Biographical note in insert to Amadeo recording AVRS 5004-5005.
4. ^ This paragraph taken from German Wikipedia.
5. ^ This paragraph re-worked from German Wikipedia.
6. ^ This paragraph from German Wikipedia.
7. ^ F. Schmidt, Einige Bemerkungen zum text des Oratoriums (Written for the original
production). Reproduced in insert booklet to recording, Amadeo LP set AVRS 5004/5005
St, cond. Anton Lippe, Munich Philharmonic, Grazer Domchor, Franz Illenberger (organ),
with Julius Patzak (Evangelist), Otto Wiener (Voice of God), Hanny Steffek, Hertha
Tpper, Erich Majkut, Frederick Guthrie. Recorded Stephaniesaal, Graz, January 1962.

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References [ edit ]

Thomas Bernard Corfield - Franz Schmidt (1874-1939) - A Discussion of His Style

With Particular Reference to the Four Symphonies and 'Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln
(Garland Publishing, New York, 1989)
Harold Truscott - The Music of Franz Schmidt - 1: The Orchestral Music (Toccata
Press, London, 1984)
Wilhelm Altmann - Handbuch fr Streichquartettspieler (Handbook for String quartet
performers) (Hinrichshofen Verlag, Wilhelmshafen, 1972)
Otto Brusatti, Studien zu Franz Schmidt (Studies of Franz Schmidt) (Universal Edition,
Vienna 1977)
Andreas Liess, Franz Schmidt (Bhlau, Graz 1951)
C. Nemeth, Franz Schmidt (Leipzig 1957)
Walter Obermaier (Ed.), Franz Schmidt und seine Zeit (Franz Schmidt and his time):
Symposium 1985 (Doblinger, Vienna-Munich 1988).
Carmen Ottner, Quellen zu Franz Schmidt (Sources for Franz Schmidt), Parts 1 and 2.
(Doblinger, Vienna-Munich 1985-1987)
Carmen Ottner (Hrsg.): Franz Schmidt und die sterreichische Orgelmusik seiner Zeit
(Franz Schmidt, and Austrian Organ-Music of his time): Symposion 1991 (Doblinger,
Vienna 1992), ISBN 3-900695-24-5
Norbert Tschulik: Franz Schmidt (sterreichischer Bundesverlag, Wien 1972)
Peter Watchorn: Isolde Ahlgrimm, Vienna and the early music revival (Ashgate,
Burlington Vermont; Aldershot UK; 2007), ISBN 978-0-7546-5787-3

External links [ edit ]

Franz Schmidt String Quartet No.1 sound-bites and information about the work
Free scores by Franz Schmidt at the International Music Score Library Project

WorldCat VIAF: 9891919 LCCN: n79077217 ISNI:

0000 0001 0777 0436 GND: 118608762 SUDOC: 030427983 BNF:
Authority control cb12184381w (data) MusicBrainz:
c481ad0e-7135-4d5d-a61e-210ff61da964 NDL: 01227776 NKC:
js20020225017

Categories: 1874 births 1939 deaths 19th-century classical composers

19th-century classical musicians 20th-century classical composers
20th-century classical musicians Austrian classical cellists
Austrian classical composers Austrian classical pianists
Austrian male classical composers Austrian opera composers
Burials at the Zentralfriedhof Hungarian classical cellists
Hungarian classical composers Hungarian classical pianists
Hungarian music educators Hungarian Roman Catholics People from Bratislava
Romantic composers Viennese composers

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