I make no apology whatsoever for disliking the four symphonies of a lacklustre Austrian composer whose apologists deny that his final works are odes of joy to Nazism. My own objection is purely aesthetic: the music has never moved me.
However, my colleague Richard Bratby has leaped to Schmidt’s defence in the Spectator and it woul be remiss of me to withold a contrary opinion – though I feel that Richard’s advocacy falls some way short of passion.
It begins like this:
The sounds that Franz Schmidt made while learning the trumpet were pretty much unbearable, or so the story goes. In order to practise he would leave his home in the Lower Austrian town of Perchtoldsdorf and walk up to the heath, a grassy hillside above the town. There, far from unappreciative neighbours, and looking down towards the spires of Vienna, a few miles north and east, he could crack notes to his heart’s content — in perfect isolation.
Some artists hand you their metaphors on a plate. Schmidt spent his career trying to escape the suburbs of central European music, dogged by private grief and professional frustration. ‘Someone with a name like Schmidt should never become an artist,’ declared his piano teacher. Later, he played the cello in the Vienna Opera under Gustav Mahler — who stood by while the orchestra’s leader bullied Schmidt into submission. Schmidt lost a wife to mental illness (the Nazis murdered her after his death) and a daughter to childbirth, and continued to write music through heart attacks and nervous breakdowns, even after doctors told him that the effort would kill him — which it did in 1939, 11 months after the Anschluss….
Richard adds in a message to me: As regards his politics: the available written sources from people who knew him in his lifetime (and who had every reason to condemn him) seem to tell a different story from those who have formed an opinion after his death: that’s often how history works. As for the symphonies; well, if you want a between-the-lines guide to my opinions: No.1 is attractive but standard-issue late romantic boilerplate – take it or leave it. No.2: near-masterpiece, really grabs me but you need to be on the same wavelength. No.3: creeps me out, can’t bring myself to like it. No.4: masterpiece, genuinely moving – but it’s definitely a Marmite work. I’ve observed that it seems to leave people either deeply touched or utterly cold.
The New York and Hong Kong Philharmonic music director is spending his 60th birthday in the Netherlands, presenting Beethoven.
Wagner’s Götterdämmerung, originally planned, was a size too big for the Main Hall of the Concertgebouw under the current corona measures. Instead, Jaap van Zweden will conduct Ludwig van Beethoven’s opera Fidelio at the end of the Beethoven year 2020. With largely the same star cast, the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra – where Van Sweden was chief conductor from 2005 to 2011 – and the Groot Omroepkoor.
Anja Kampe soprano, Leonore
Daniel Frank tenor, Florestan
Georg Zeppenfeld bass baritone, Rocco
Simon Nea l baritone, Don Pizarro
Oliver Zwarg bass-baritone, bass-baritone, Don Fernando
Mercedes Arcuri soprano, Marzelline
Thomas Atkins tenor, Jaquino
Robert Holl narrator
From the Association of British Orchestra:
We are delighted to announce that the ABO and other stakeholders have been able to secure an exemption from quarantine regulations for professional performing artists travelling to the UK and for those returning from activity overseas (who have upcoming work commitments). Legislation will be laid in parliament and the exemption will come into force from 4am on Saturday 5th December.
Arts Council England will be publishing guidance shortly on how the exemption will be applied.
This exemption will apply initially to England only. Its extension to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will need ministerial approval from their respective governments.
Here’s how the world has changed.
Instead of releasing physical product, Deutsche Grammophon has redirected part of its output to live-streamed performances.
The label’s recording teams are in London filming Krystian Zimerman playing the five Beethoven piano concertos with the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle at LSO St Luke’s. The performances will be aired on DG Stage on 17, 19 and 21 December.
Also on DG Stage, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla will conduct the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen on 12 December in the Schumann Piano Concerto, soloist Kirill Gerstein. and Mycieszlaw Weinberg’s Symphony No. 7, for harpsichord and strings.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Orchestre Métropolitain will complete a Beethoven symphony cycle on 30 December with the Ninthfrom Montral and on New Year’s Eve there will be a concert from the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester with Andris Nelsons and the Eroica.
The Corsican tenor Tiberre Raffalli, a hit in esoteric opera in Paris, has died of unknown case.
He made his name in Reynaldo Hahn’s Merchant of Venice and wnet on to record Offenbach with John Eliot Gardiner. He was well liked in the Glyndebourne touring company.
BRSO and the Musikverein Vienna have published the last rehearsal that Mariss Jansons conducted, days before his death a year ago.
Marvellous man, always smiling.
The former University of Michigan violin professor has been charged with transporting a minor girl across state lines for sex.
Shipps, 67, is presently free on a $10,000 bond. The trial commences on December 22.
It is alleged that in February, March, June and July of 2002, Shipps transported a girl under the age of 18 across state lines with the intent to engage in sexual activity with her. Shipps retired from the University at the end of last year.
The Romanian soprano headlines the opening of Ankara’s new concert hall tonight.
Also performing are Turkish piano due Güher and Süher Pekinel and the Presidential Symphony Orchestra.
Hardline President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is claiming credit for bringing the $100 million hall into being.
The Royal Opera House has signed a deal with commercial Scala Radio to sponsor Penny Smith’s show, every Sunday from 1-3pm, and Sunday Night Scala with Darren Reddick, from 8-10pm.
Listeners can win a subscription to Royal Opera House digital relays. The campaign will also run on Magic Radio.
Terry McGrath, Director of Audiences and Media at the Royal Opera House, said: ‘We are delighted to announce this festive new partnership with Scala and Magic Radio. After a difficult year for everyone, we look forward to audiences enjoying the breadth of world-class ROH productions and behind the scenes content that Scala and Magic will present this winter.’
The Sydney Opera House has issued proceedings against Acetca, a company with links to the Chinese Communist Pary, which has registered a trademark that resembles the opera house’s distinctive design.
Given the present rancorous state of Oz-China relations, this could go nuclear.
The former Royal Academy of Music Professor Mateja Marinkovic is being sued in London over the purchase of a Landolfi violin from a former student in need.
Marinkovic left the RAM three years ago to teach in China.
The judge has reserved judgement in the violin dispute to a later date.
The Culture and Leisure Committee in the great tenor’s home town of Borlänge have decided that they cannot be bothered to continue funding the Jussi Björling Museum.
Opened in 1994, the museum is the only memorial to an historic voice.
But Björling died in 1960 and Swedes have short memories.
Nobody’s saying what will happen to the museum’s contents.
