Scherzo and Intermezzo, Op. 8
Franz Schreker
About the Composer
Born in Monaco in 1878, Austrian composer Franz Schreker (born Schrecker) was a central figure in the development of opera in Austria in the early 20th century. He was the son of Ignaz Schrecker, a court photographer of Jewish birth, and his wife Eleonore von Clossman, a member of the Catholic aristocracy of eastern Styria. Schreker’s father’s profession kept the family traveling during the first four years of his life, until the family settled in Linz in 1882. However, the stay in Linz was not permanent, when, following Ignaz Schrecker’s early death in 1888, the family moved back to Vienna. It was in Vienna that Schreker began his formal musical studies, at the Conservatory in 1892. There he studied violin with Ernst Bachrich and Arnold Rosé and composition with Robert Fuchs, ultimately graduating in 1900.
In the years leading up to and immediately following his graduation from the Conservatory, Schreker received the first public performance of his work (Love Song in London, 1896) as well as several performances in Vienna, including the concert premiere of his first opera, Flammen, in 1902. His first big success however, happened the year prior when his Intermezzo for strings, Op. 8 won first prize in a competition sponsored by the Neue musikalische Presse. In 1903 he began writing his next opera, Der ferne Klang, whose 1912 premiere in Frankfurt cemented his status as a successful composer.
In addition to his work as a composer, Schreker was also an accomplished conductor and teacher. In 1895, he began conducting and founded the Verein der Musikfreunde Döbling, which he would continue to lead until 1899. In 1907 he formed the Vienna Philharmonic Chorus, which he conducted until 1920. The chorus became a leading force in the performance of new music in Vienna, which included premieres of Zemlinsky’s Psalm XXII and Schoenberg’s Friede auf Erden and Gurrelieder. In 1913 he was appointed full professor at the Vienna Conservatory and in 1920 he was appointed director of the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin.
Despite the interruption of World War I, Schreker’s successful status as a leading opera composer continued and peaked during the early years of the Weimar Republic. For a period of time he was the most performed living opera composer after Richard Strauss. However, in the mid-1920s his artistic prowess began to decline following mixed receptions of his operas Irrelohe and Der singende Teufel and the rise of anti-Semitism, Right-wing demonstrations against his music, and the pressure of the National Socialist party, which forced the cancellation of the premiere of Chirstophorus, and would eventually cease performances of his works completely. Between 1932 and 1933, Schreker was forced to resign or dismissed from his teaching positions, and in December 1933 he suffered a stroke that eventually claimed his life two days before his 56th birthday.
About the Music
Schreker’s musical output can viewed as a microcosm of central European modernism, with its blend of Romanticism, naturalism, symbolism, Impressionism, Expressionism, and Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity). From a young age he was drawn to dramatic music and the associative properties of harmony and timbre. His early works were highly influenced by his studies at the Conservatory, which tempered his flare for the dramatic; however, following his graduation, his compositional style demonstrates a freer harmonic language, a more nuanced conception of melody and phrasing, and a newfound experimentation with timbral combinations and contrapuntal textures.
Written for strings, Schreker’s Intermezzo and Scherzo are part of a late 19th/early 20th century revival of the classical and pre-classical suite and serenade. Throughout his career Schreker made numerous contributions to this genre, which was seen as a decided reaction against other instrumental genres of the time, namely the symphonic poem and the monstrous post-Wagner symphonies. These smaller self-contained forms were favored by Schreker’s composition teacher, Robert Fuchs, who undoubtedly had a significant influence over the young composer’s formative years. While the exact details around their conception remain unknown, it is presumed that the two works were composed together toward the end of 1900, and most likely motivated by a competition for “short, characteristic orchestra piece for string instruments” sponsored by the Neue musikalische Presse in 1901.
As previously mentioned, the Intermezzo was awarded first prize (out of 93 submissions), and as a result received publication by Bosworth & Co. in 1902. Its premiere was well-received and the work was praised for its “rich sonority.” The short work is a three-part song and hints at Sherker’s mature lush harmonic language. In the middle section Schreker displays his remarkable aptitude for chromatic digressions, irregular phrase lengths, and shifting syncopations. In contrast, the Scherzo possesses much more regular metrical and phrase patterns. Here, Schreker turns to his manipulation of harmonic language to provide some unexpected twists. In many was the Scherzo echoes the string textures of Antonín Dvořák and the style of Hugo Wolf’s Italian Serenade. In both the Intermezzo and the Scherzo the string parts are highly active and receive lavish subdivisions, a technique that would follow Schreker throughout his career. They are accomplished early works that speak to the foundation on which Schreker built his prosperous career.
Note by Christina Dioguardi