Hermann Goetz

Hermann Gustav Goetz ( born December 7, 1840 in Königsberg, † December 3, 1876 in Hottingen in Zurich ) was a German composer.

Life

Goetz, the son of a merchant, grew up to the age of 20 completely unspectacular, played Mozart, was active as a conductor of private amateur performances and began a 15 - year Sonata for Piano Four Hands to compose. He enjoyed an excellent education at school and university. From 1857, Louis Köhler his musical education. The late 1850s, he began to study mathematics, but it broke after three semesters, 1860 to switch to the Stern'sches Conservatory in Berlin. Here he studied conducting with Hans von Bülow Star Piano, Hugo Ulrich counterpoint and instrumentation, as well as Julius. With brilliant success, he played on the final exam in 1862 his Piano Concerto in E flat major, ending his studies.

The following year, Goetz received through the mediation of Carl Reinecke a position as organist at the parish church of Winterthur as the successor of Theodor Kirchner. Here he was able gradually a versatile musical activity as a pianist, conductor, organist and piano teacher to entfalten.1868 he married and moved two years later to the community Hottingen which is a district of Zurich today, but remained active until 1872 in Winterthur. In the years 1870-1874 he also wrote reviews for a music magazine. 1874 witnessed the begun in Winterthur, finishing in Zurich opera The Taming of the Shrew in Mannheim their successful premiere. In his last years, Goetz was without concert activities and lessons, as his tuberculosis, from which he suffered since the 1850s, increasingly worse and eventually led to his death, four days before his 36th birthday. His tomb is located on the Zurich Cemetery Rehalp (FG 85133 ).

Style

Goetz's music can not suggest that it comes from a terminally ill. Although he ( the other hand, Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner on the one hand, Johannes Brahms ) showed keen interest in the major currents of his time, he oriented himself more to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Felix Mendelssohn. Also, influences of Robert Schumann reveal. Goetz's music is characterized by lyricism and great clarity. You may be referred to as tends to be more quiet and introverted. Spectacular effects avoids Goetz almost completely. It is characterized by its high compositional mastery that comes especially in the motivic link and textural density advantage. For a long time Goetz was almost forgotten, although Gustav Mahler repeatedly brought some of his works for the performance; only since the 1990s, his work is again more attention. Overall Goetz is not a ground-breaking innovator, but a composer who mastered the technique of composition sovereign and punish its works by its high level, the label " Little Masters " lies.

The Symphony in F major and the Violin Concerto in G major have their strongest moments with distinct cantabile passages. The widely sweeping central part of the cyclically -scale violin concerto recalls from afar to Max Bruch. In his Symphony in F major but can be found just in the middle movements, the cheerful interlude and an elegiac Adagio Minore, melodies, reminiscent of Schumann or Brahms. The Piano Pieces " Loose Leaves" op.7 and " genre paintings " op.13 are delicate, and occasionally tioning character pieces in schumannschem or mendelssohnschem reflection. In the majority of his works Goetz struck serene, detached tones. But - as in the introduction to the final movement of his Piano Quartet in E flat major - get him even more tragic moments of passions. " Nanie " for chorus and orchestra op.10 went ahead of Brahms's composition of the same text Schiller, was displaced by the latter, however.

Although his opera " The Taming of the Shrew " was replayed after its world premiere at many stages, it was denied a permanent success. Successful performances in recent years, however, have confirmed their stage effectiveness. Even in the unfinished posthumous " Francesca da Rimini" by Dante Goetz has composed great music shortly before his death. Despite completion by Ernst Frank the work lacks the dramatic stringency, which ensures a stage effectiveness.

Works

Orchestral works

  • Symphony in E minor (1866, destroyed after his death by Laura Goetz and only fragmentary handed )
  • Symphony in F major, opus 9 (1873 )
  • Spring Overture op.15 (1864 )
  • Piano Concerto No.1 in E flat major (1861 )
  • Piano Concerto No.2 in B flat major op.18 (1867 )
  • Sketches for a third piano concerto in D major
  • Violin Concerto in G major op.22 (1868 )

Vocal music

  • The Taming of the Shrew, opera (1868-1873)
  • Francesca da Rimini, unfinished opera (1875 /76), completed by his friend Ernst Frank, UA 1877, Mannheim
  • The 137ste Psalm for soprano, chorus and orchestra op.14 (1864 )
  • Nänie ( Schiller) op.10 for chorus and orchestra (1874 )

Chamber Music

  • Piano Trio in G minor op.1 (1863 )
  • Three Easy Pieces for violin and piano (1863 )
  • String Quartet in B flat major (1865 /66) (premiered in October 1990! ) Winterthur
  • Piano Quartet in E- flat major Op.6 (1867 )
  • Piano Quintet in C minor op.16 (1874 )

Piano music

  • 2 Sonatinas ( F major, E flat major ) op.8 (1871 )
  • Loose sheets op.7 ( 1864-1869 )
  • Genre pictures op.13 ( 1870-1876 )
  • Sonata for Piano 4 Hdn. D major ( 1855 )
  • Sonata for Piano 4 Hdn. G minor op.17 (1865 )
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