Franz Schreker
Franz Schreker ( born March 23, 1878 in Monaco, † March 21, 1934 in Berlin; actually Schrecker ) was an Austrian composer.
Life
The son of a Jewish court photographer from Bohemia and a mother from a noble family altsteirischen was one of the most performed German composers of his time. Schreker in Vienna studied composition with Robert Fuchs. In 1911 he took over the management of the company founded by him Philharmonic Choir, since 1912, he led himself a composition class at the Academy of Music in Vienna. The fame brought Schreker as director in the Berlin Academic College of Music, where he worked from 1920 to 1931. A forum was offered to him by Universal Edition in the music magazine dawn, appeared in the 1919-1937 103 articles by and about him. Already in the late 1920s, Schreker was attack an object of cultural policy of the National Socialists. 1932 was withdrawn on the basis of Nazi terror planned in Freiburg premiere of his opera Christopher of Schreker himself, and he was forced to resign from his post as director of the Berlin Academy of Music, which he had led since 1920. From 1932 to 1933 he was also director of a master class in composition at the Prussian Academy of Arts. Shortly after his forced retirement, the Max von Schillings possessed, he died on March 21, 1934 of a heart attack, a stroke which had preceded, and was buried in the forest cemetery Dahlem. The tomb is located in the Dept. 10A - sixth
In 1959 ( 10th District ), Franz Schreker - Alley and 1936 in Ottakring ( 16th district ) was named after him in the Schrekergasse Vienna favorites.
Work
In the 1920s, Franz Schreker was considered one of the most important opera composers in Germany by Wagner; his operas reached temporarily higher performance numbers than those of Richard Strauss. As this is a Schreker late romantics; at the same time has his musical language expressionistic elements. It is characterized by a constant harmonic fluctuation with shimmering, iridescent chords.
Apart from two exceptions ( flames and Der Schmied von Gent) Schreker wrote the lyrics to his operas himself from psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud's influence, the librettist Schreker draws relentless psychological portraits of his operatic protagonists, some of which even have autobiographical references.
The Nazis as " degenerate", came Schreker's works after 1933 almost into oblivion. End of the 1970s put a Schreker " Renaissance ", which continues to this day, such as the performances of the opera Der Schmied von Gent at the Berlin State Opera in 1981 and at the Theater Chemnitz in 2010, a series with the less popular titles flames, Christopher and the game works and the princess at the Kiel Opera under Kirsten Harms, the Blight at the Salzburg Festival in 2005 and the distant sound of the Vienna State Opera in 1991 showed.
To his rediscovery also contributed to the record industry, which brought out 24 new recordings of his works on CD in the past 19 years.
Catalog of works (selection)
Stage Works / opera
( Libretti, unless otherwise stated, by Franz Schreker )