Editing Franz Schmidt (composer) (section)

===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).