The Art-Music, Literature and Linguistics Forum
March 28, 2024, 05:14:14 pm
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?

Login with username, password and session length
News: Here you may discover hundreds of little-known composers, hear thousands of long-forgotten compositions, contribute your own rare recordings, and discuss the Arts, Literature and Linguistics in an erudite and decorous atmosphere full of freedom and delight.
 
  Home Help Search Gallery Staff List Login Register  

Franz Schreker (1878-1934)

Pages: [1]   Go Down
  Print  
Author Topic: Franz Schreker (1878-1934)  (Read 248 times)
0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.
Albion
Level 7
*******

Times thanked: 2750
Offline Offline

Posts: 1683


Frederic Cowen (1852-1935)


View Profile
« on: July 02, 2022, 09:06:39 pm »

At one time (the early 1920s), Schreker was ranked with Richard Strauss amongst the most prominent Austro-German composers of opera, his three greatest triumphs being Der ferne Klang (1903-10), Die Gezeichneten (1911-15) and Der Schatzgraber (1915-18). All being written to his own libretto they mostly dealt in quite daring (for the time) eroticism and decadence: perhaps part of their appeal to post-war audiences craving escapism.

Nevertheless, whatever the subject matter, Schreker clothed his texts with some quite glorious, sumptuously-orchestrated music. Besides these, there is a quite magical Chamber Symphony (1916) and much else besides. His fortunes waned in the late 1920s as he gradually changed his musical style to a more acerbic tone with sparser orchestration, and this, together with the rise of Fascism, effectively ended his career. So what to recommend?

If you like your operas full-fat, go for

Der Ferne Klang (Gerd Albrecht, Capriccio 60 024-2)
Die Gezeichneten (Zagrosek, Decca 444 442-2)
Der Schatzgraber (Marc Albrecht, Challenge Classics CC72591)

but if you're not an opera fan, but still want to hear some of this wonderful music, I would strongly recommend the first of the two Schreker volumes on Chandos recorded by the BBC Philharmonic under Vassily Sinaisky (CHAN 9797) which contains orchestral extracts from the three operas mentioned above.

 :)

Report Spam   Logged

"A piece is worth your attention, and is itself for you praiseworthy, if it makes you feel you have not wasted your time over it." (Sydney Grew, 1922)

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

guest822
Guest
« Reply #1 on: July 02, 2022, 09:53:43 pm »

At one time (the early 1920s), Schreker was ranked with Richard Strauss amongst the most prominent Austro-German composers of opera, his three greatest triumphs being Der ferne Klang (1903-10), Die Gezeichneten (1911-15) and Der Schatzgraber (1915-18). All being written to his own libretto they mostly dealt in quite daring (for the time) eroticism and decadence: perhaps part of their appeal to post-war audiences craving escapism.

Nevertheless, whatever the subject matter, Schreker clothed his texts with some quite glorious, sumptuously-orchestrated music. Besides these, there is a quite magical Chamber Symphony (1916) and much else besides. His fortunes waned in the late 1920s as he gradually changed his musical style to a more acerbic tone with sparser orchestration, and this, together with the rise of Fascism, effectively ended his career. So what to recommend?

If you like your operas full-fat, go for

Der Ferne Klang (Gerd Albrecht, Capriccio 60 024-2)
Die Gezeichneten (Zagrosek, Decca 444 442-2)
Der Schatzgraber (Marc Albrecht, Challenge Classics CC72591)

but if you're not an opera fan, but still want to hear some of this wonderful music, I would strongly recommend the first of the two Schreker volumes on Chandos recorded by the BBC Philharmonic under Vassily Sinaisky (CHAN 9797) which contains orchestral extracts from the three operas mentioned above.

 :)



Thank you. I have the Chandos CD you refer to (as a download) so I must give it another spin as I'm a sucker for sumptuosity.
Report Spam   Logged
Hetty Clapp
Level 1
*

Times thanked: 37
Offline Offline

Posts: 2


View Profile
« Reply #2 on: July 02, 2022, 10:23:27 pm »

At one time (the early 1920s), Schreker was ranked with Richard Strauss amongst the most prominent Austro-German composers of opera, his three greatest triumphs being Der ferne Klang (1903-10), Die Gezeichneten (1911-15) and Der Schatzgraber (1915-18). All being written to his own libretto they mostly dealt in quite daring (for the time) eroticism and decadence: perhaps part of their appeal to post-war audiences craving escapism.

Oo, that sounds right up my street! Thanks for the tip-off.
Report Spam   Logged
Albion
Level 7
*******

Times thanked: 2750
Offline Offline

Posts: 1683


Frederic Cowen (1852-1935)


View Profile
« Reply #3 on: July 02, 2022, 10:56:42 pm »

At one time (the early 1920s), Schreker was ranked with Richard Strauss amongst the most prominent Austro-German composers of opera, his three greatest triumphs being Der ferne Klang (1903-10), Die Gezeichneten (1911-15) and Der Schatzgraber (1915-18). All being written to his own libretto they mostly dealt in quite daring (for the time) eroticism and decadence: perhaps part of their appeal to post-war audiences craving escapism.

Oo, that sounds right up my street! Thanks for the tip-off.

If you think that's fun, in Korngold's Das Wunder der Heliane the heroine (in theory) pops up completely in the nude! Ah, the good old days, eh? Though I don't think that the sight of Lotte Lehmann in the buff in 1927 would have titillated anybody's fancy...



 :D
Report Spam   Logged

"A piece is worth your attention, and is itself for you praiseworthy, if it makes you feel you have not wasted your time over it." (Sydney Grew, 1922)

Pages: [1]   Go Up
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by EzPortal
Bookmark this site! | Upgrade This Forum
SMF For Free - Create your own Forum


Powered by SMF | SMF © 2016, Simple Machines
Privacy Policy