Franz Schalk

Franz Schalk ( born May 27, 1863 in Vienna, † September 3, 1931 in Edlach, community Reichenau an der Rax, Lower Austria ) was an Austrian conductor.

Life

In 1900, Schalk was first Kapellmeister of the Vienna Court Opera. From 1904 to 1921 he directed the concerts of the Philharmonic Society. 1909 to 1919 he was a teacher at the Vienna Music Academy and in the years 1918 to 1929 director of the Vienna State Opera. From 1919 to 1924 he shared this post with the composer Richard Strauss. This period is considered the golden time of the Staatsoper. Schalk was instrumental in the founding of the Salzburg Festival, and he also held a position as conductor of the Vienna Hofburg chapel.

Franz Schalk, like his older brother Joseph, a student of Anton Bruckner. Although he contributed greatly to, Bruckner's symphonies make known, however, must be mentioned caveat that he often completely distorted these works in community work with his brother and / or Ferdinand Lion, for his performance heavily edited and often. The most striking example is Bruckner's 5th Symphony, the premiere Schalk 1894 initiated in Graz. He stroked in her final sentence about 100 cycles and instrumented the remainder, as the other symphonic movements also entirely new. In this version, the work was finally published. Only in the 1930s the musicologist Robert Haas was able to publish the original versions of the fifth as well as other processed Bruckner symphonies. The versions of the brothers Schalk and Ferdinand lion fell into oblivion.

Schalk lived for a time in the 13th district of Vienna, Hietzing, in the Elßlergasse 26, 1935 has been designated in the vicinity of the Franz Schalk place for him. Since 1963, the Vienna Philharmonic give the Franz Schalk Medal in Gold.