Schrecker, Franz

Schrecker was born into a wealthy family of the court photographer Ignaz Schrecker, a Czech Jew by birth. His mother Eleanor von Klossman belonged to an old aristocratic family from Styria. After the death of his father in 1888, Schrecker's mother finally settled in Vienna . In 1892, Schrecker entered the Vienna Conservatory , where he initially studied violin under the supervision of Sigismund Bahrich and Arnold Rose , but then transferred to the composition class of Robert Fuchs , who graduated in 1900.

In 1901, one of Schrecker's early works, Intermezzo for strings, won the composer competition in Vienna. In 1907-1920 Schrecker was led by the Philharmonic Choir founded by him, who took part in a number of important premieres - first of all, in the first performance of the Songs of Gurre by Arnold Schoenberg (1913), which Schrecker also conducted. The premiere of the opera The Long Ring ( German Der ferne Klang ) in Frankfurt in 1912 laid the foundation for the composer's fame. Since 1912, he led the composition class at the Vienna Academy of Music . In 1920-1932 F. Schrecker - Director of the Berlin Higher School of Music .

In the late 1920s, Schrecker became a constant target for attacks by the national socialist press - despite the fact that the plots of his musical works did not give the slightest reason for this. In 1932, due to threats from the Nazis, the composer was forced to cancel the premiere of his opera Christophorus, planned for Freiburg. In the same year, the anti-Semitic campaign launched by violin professor Gustav Haveman forced Schrecker to resign as director of the Higher School of Music ^[5] . In 1932-1933, he held the position of head of the master's class at the Prussian Academy of Arts. After Schrecker was fired by the Nazis from all his posts, he died on March 24, 1934 from a heart attack following a stroke.

In the 1920s, Schrecker was considered one of the largest German opera composers - after R. Wagner; his operas were staged more often than the works of R. Strauss . The composer followed a romantic musical style, combined with expressionist inclusions. Constant deviations from the general harmonic flow of the melody are characterized by the introduction of sharp, confusing perceptions of chords. With the exception of two operas, Schrecker is the author of the libretto of all his large works. In his musical compositions, characterization of the characters of his heroes, the influence of the psychoanalysis of Z. Freud , whose admirer was the composer, is felt.

After the National Socialists came to power in Germany, Schrecker's compositions were attributed by them to the manifestations of the so-called. degenerative music . A new revival of his work begins in the late 1970s. Schrecker's operas take place on the opera stages of Berlin, Vienna, Salzburg, Kiel, Chemnitz and others.

Opera and theatrical performances

• 1901-1902: Flammen - 1 Akt. libretto: Dora Leen (? -1942 [?]; real name - Dora Pollock). Forward. Vienna 1902 (Konzertant), Kiel 2001 (szenisch)
• in 1903-1910: Distant ringing (Der ferne Klang) - opera in 3 parts, the libretto of Franz Schrecker, for the first time. August 18, 1912, Frankfurt
• 1908-1912: Toy and Princess (Das Spielwerk und die Prinzessin) - 2 Akte, Prolog, Franz Schrecker's libretto, first. March 15, 1913, Frankfurt / Vienna
• 1911-1915: Tagged (Die Gezeichneten) - An opera in 3 parts, the libretto of Franz Schrecker, for the first time. April 18, 1918, Frankfurt
• 1915: Toy (Das Spielwerk) (revised by Das Spielwerk und die Prinzessin ) - 1 Akt, first. October 30, 1920, Munich
• 1915-1918: Treasure hunters (Der Schatzgräber) - opera with prelude, 4 Akten, epilogue, Franz Schrecker's libretto, first. January 21, 1920, Frankfurt
• 1919-1922: Irrelohe - opera in 3 parts, the libretto of Franz Schrecker, for the first time. March 27, 1924, Cologne
• 1924-1928: The singing devil (Der singende Teufel) - opera in 4 parts, the libretto of Franz Schrecker, first. December 10, 1928, Berlin
• 1924-1928: Christopher, or the vision of the opera (Christophorus oder Die Vision einer Oper) - prologue, 2 acts in 3 scenes, epilogue, Franz Schrecker's libretto, first. October 1, 1978, Freiburg
• 1929-1932: Ghent blacksmith (Der Schmied von Gent) - opera in 3 parts, according to the text of Charles de Coster , for the first time. October 29, 1932, Berlin
• 1933-1934: Memnon (in outline)

Works for orchestra

• 1896: A Song of Love, for string orchestra and harp (lost)
• 1899: Scherzo
• 1899: Symphonie a-moll op. 1 (ending lost)
• 1900: Scherzo for the Orchestra
• 1900: Intermezzo op.8, for string orchestra (later part of the Romantischen Suite )
• 1902-1903: Ekkehard , symphonic overture for large orchestra and organ, op.12
• 1903: Romantische Suite op. 14
• 1904: Phantastische Ouvertüre op. 15
• 1905: Birthday of the Infanta (Der Geburtstag der Infantin) , suite based on the eponymous fairy tale by O. Wilde for chamber chamber orchestra
• 1908: Festive Waltz and Intermezzo Waltz
• 1908: Waltz
• 1908-1909: Dance piece for a large orchestra
• 1909: Piece from the opera Far Ringing (Der ferne Klang)
• 1913: Prelude to drama (from parts to the opera Labeled (Die Gezeichneten) )
• 1916: Chamber Symphony (also called Sinfonietta )
• 1918: Symphonic Intermezzo from the opera Treasure Hunters
• 1928: Small Suite for Chamber Orchestra
• 1929-1930: 4 small pieces for a large orchestra
• 1933: Prelude to the opera (from the unfinished opera Memnon ).

Other muses. works (favorites)

• 1898: Sonata for violin and piano
• 1899: Burial of King Theia ( Felix Dan ) for male choir and orchestra
• 1900: 116. psalm op.6 for female choir and orchestra
• 1902: Swan song op.11 (Dora Leen) for choir and orchestra
• 1909: Five Songs (Instrumentation 1922)
• 1909: Wind - pantomime for violin, cello, clarinet, horn and piano
• 1916: Orchestration of 2 songs by Hugo Wolf
• 1923: Two Irish Songs ( Walt Whitman , Instrumentation 1929, entitled Eternal Life )
• 1932-1933: Wife of Intafern - melodclamation (text by Eduard Stucken )
• 1933: orchestration by Ungarischer Rhapsodie Nr. 2 Franz Liszt
• about 40 songs

• Haidy Schreker-Bures, HH Stuckenschmidt, Werner Oehlmann: Franz Schreker (Österreichische Komponisten des XX. Jahrhunderts, Bd. 17). Verlag Lafite, Wien 1970, ISBN 978-3-85151-054-6 .
• Paul Bekker: Franz Schreker. Studie zur Kritik der modernen Oper (1918). Rimbaud Verlag, Aachen 1983, ISBN 3-89086-930-0 .
• Haidy Schreker-Bures: hören - denken - fühlen. Eine kleine Studie über Schrekers Operntexte. Rimbaud Verlag, Aachen 1983, ISBN 3-89086-931-9 .
• Reinhard Ermen (ed.): Franz Schreker (1878-1934) zum 50. Todestag. Vorwort von Haidy Schreker-Bures und Reinhard Ermen. Beiträge von Sieghart Döhring, Frank Reinisch, Hans Joachim von Kondratowitz, Jens Malte Fischer, Reinhard Ermen, Rudolf Stephan, Peter P. Pachl, Eckhardt van der Hoogen, Michael Struck-Schloen, Manfred Haedler. Rimbaud Verlag, Aachen 1984, ISBN 3-89086-999-8 .
• Franz Schreker, Paul Bekker, Christopher Hailey (ed.): Briefwechsel. Mit sämtlichen Kritiken Bekkers über Schreker u. 16 Abb .. Rimbaud Verlag, Aachen 1994, ISBN 3-89086-921-1 .
• Markus Böggemann und Dietmar Schenk (ed.): “Wohin geht der Flug? Zur Jugend. " Franz Schreker und seine Schüler in Berlin , Olms-Verlag, Hildesheim / Zürich / New York 2009, ISBN 978-3-487-14214-2
• Elmar Budde und Rudolf Stephan (ed.): Franz-Schreker-Symposion. Beiträge von Rudolf Stephan, Reinhold Brinkmann, Elmar Budde, Hermann Danuser, Károly Csipák, Wolfgang Molkow, Friedrich C. Heller, Helmut Kühn, Christopher Hailey. Berlin: Colloquium Verlag, 1978. 141 S. ISBN 3-7678-0524-3 .
• Christopher Hailey: Franz Schreker, 1878-1934: a cultural biography / New-York: Cambridge University Press, 1993. 433 p. ISBN 978-0-521-39255-6 .
• Glebov I., Ginzburg S., Radlov S. Franz Shreker and his opera "Long Ring". L .: Academia, 1925. 67 p.
• Matthias Brzoska: The Crisis of Art Nouveau: Franz Schrecker and the Musical Theater of the 20s // Art of the 20th Century: A Leading Era? Sat articles. In 2 volumes. T. 1 / comp. V. Valkova, B. Getselev / Nizhny Novgorod State. Conservatory named after M.I. Glinka. N. Novgorod, 1997.P. 111-129.
• Degtyareva N.I .: Franz Schrecker's operas and modern in the musical theater of Austria and Germany. SPb., 2010.368 s. ISBN 978-5-7422-2775-5 .