Editing Franz Schmidt (composer) (section)

== Musical works ==
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 [[Franz Schubert|Schubert]], [[Johannes Brahms|Brahms]], and Bruckner. He also takes forward the "gypsy" style of [[Franz Liszt|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 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 [[symphony|symphonies]] (1899, 1913, 1928 and 1933) and two [[opera]]s: ''Notre Dame'' (1904–6) and ''Fredigundis'' (1916–21). A CD recording of ''Notre Dame'' has been available for many years, starring Dame [[Gwyneth Jones (soprano)|Gwyneth Jones]] and [[James King (tenor)|James King]].

===''Fredigundis''===
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 Märzendorfer]]. Aside from numerous "royal fanfares" (Fredigundis held the French throne in the sixth century) the score contains some fine examples of Schmidt's transitional style between his earlier and later manner. In many respects, Schmidt seldom ventured so far from traditional tonality again, and his third and final period (in the last decade-and-a-half of his life) was generally one of (at least partial) retrenchment, consolidation and the integration of the style of his opulently scored and melodious early compositions (the First Symphony, "Notre Dame") with elements of the overt experimentation seen in "Fredigundis", combined with an economy of utterance born of artistic maturity. ''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''===
{{main|The Book with Seven Seals}}
Aside from the mature symphonies (Nos. 2–4), Schmidt's crowning achievement was the [[oratorio]] ''The Book with Seven Seals'' (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.<ref>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]], [[Graz|Grazer]] Domchor, [[Franz Illenberger]] (organ), with [[Julius Patzak]] (Evangelist), [[Otto Wiener (baritone)|Otto Wiener]] (Voice of God), [[Hanny Steffek]], [[Hertha Töpper]], [[Erich Majkut]], [[Frederick Guthrie (bass)|Frederick Guthrie]]. Recorded Stephaniesaal, Graz, January 1962.</ref>

Schmidt's oratorio stands in the Austro-German tradition stretching back to the time of J. S. Bach and [[George Frideric Handel|Handel]]. He was one of relatively few composers to write an oratorio fully on the subject of the Book of Revelation (earlier works include [[Georg Philipp Telemann]]: ''Der Tag des Gerichts'', Schneider: ''Das Weltgericht'', [[Louis Spohr]]: ''Die letzten Dinge'', [[Joachim Raff]]: ''Weltende'', and [[Ralph Vaughan Williams]]: ''Sancta Civitas''). 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-Rusnak|Rudolf Gerlach]] (John), Erika Rokyta, [[Enid Szánthó]], [[Anton Dermota]], [[Josef von Manowarda]] and Franz Schütz at the organ.

===Symphonies===
Schmidt is generally regarded as a conservative composer, but the [[rhythm]]ic subtlety and [[harmony|harmonic]] complexity of much of his music belie this. His music combines a reverence for the Austro-German lineage of composers with innovations in harmony and [[orchestration]] (showing an awareness of the output of composers such as [[Claude Debussy|Debussy]] and [[Maurice Ravel|Ravel]], whose piano music he greatly admired, along with a knowledge of more recent composers in his own German-speaking realm, such as Schoenberg, [[Alban Berg|Berg]], [[Paul Hindemith|Hindemith]], etc.).

*'''Symphony No. 1 in E major'''. <br />Written in 1896 at age 22. The scherzo (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'''. <br />Written in 1913 in a style reminiscent of Strauss and [[Max Reger|Reger]] while also paying homage to the monumentality of Bruckner. This is Schmidt's longest symphony and it employs a huge [[orchestra]]. The central movement (of three) is an ingenious set of variations, which are grouped to suggest the characters of slow movement and scherzo. The complex scoring renders it a considerable challenge for most orchestras.
*'''Symphony No. 3 in A major'''. <br />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]] (the overall winner was Swedish composer [[Kurt Atterberg]] with his 6th Symphony), it enjoyed some popularity at the time (1928).
*[[Symphony No. 4 (Franz Schmidt)|'''Symphony No. 4 in C major'''.]]<br />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 (unmistakably referencing the ''Marcia Funebre'' from [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]]'s ''[[Symphony No. 3 (Beethoven)|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 described as a "reverse climax", leading back to a repeat of the A section).