Othmar Schoeck, "Das Stille Leuchten"
Othmar SCHOECK
(1886-1957)
Niklaus TUELLER, baryton
Mario VENZAGO, piano
With the exception of Arthur Honegger, Othmar Schoeck (1886-1957) is certainly the most independent Swiss composer of the first half of this century. Honegger achieved his ends more easily, not only because he was able to live and work' in Paris, but also because of his thorough knowledge of every type of music - the theatre, oratorio, symphonic and chamber music, and music for films. Schoeck's importance, however, is based almost exclusively on vocal music, and is therefore more closely linked with the German language and the regions where it is spoken. In addition, the librettos of most of his operas are imperfect. Furthermore, understanding of Schoeck in Switzerland was unfortunately characterised for a long time by a typically provincial narrow-mindedness. Many of his friends took it upon themselves - in all good faith - to protect him against a so-called "Dadaist front against lyricism". They also tried to isolate him from the most important cultural currents of the twentieth century, though now, a few decades later, it is easy to see that he belonged to them significantly.
It is true that Schoeck started in a typically romantic tradition, composing more than a hundred lieder in his early years. Three of them can be heard in the "Postscript" to this album; in a historic recording with the composer at the piano. But during the first world war, when Zurich had briefly become a great cultural capital, an essential development came about in his musical language through new meetings, in particular with Ferruccio Busoni. During the twenties, when so many artists were experimenting, absolutely new fields of expression were revealed to Schoeck. Between the "ElegyJJ (1923) and the "Notturno" (1933) (Accord record No 140021 with Niklaus Tuller and the Berne quartet) he composed his most daring works. Most important were the opera '.'Penthesilea", based on Kleist's expressionist play, the cycle "Lebendig begraben" (Buried alive) and, towards the end of this' period, when Hindemith had returned to severe forms, the dramatic cantata "The fisherman and his wife", designed as a set of variations.
His subsequent development is difficult to understand because of the political situation in Switzerland in general and Schoeck's situation in particular. Nazism had struck a severe blow at German culture, and independent Swiss art has practically never existed, at least in the field of music. Restriction to a single region resulted in a narrowing of the horizon. In connection with the poet Albin Zollinger, Max Frisch spoke of .the inevitable need "to see the Bachtel as a Vesuvius, in order to escape into a vision". For many artists, the only solution was inner withdrawal, combined with a need for certainty which led them more than ever to use the well-tried creative techniques of the past.
Between 1941 and I946 all that Schoeck composed was settings of poems by three nineteenth-century Swiss writers - Gottfried Keiler, Heinrich Leuthold and Conrad Ferdinand Meyer. "Das stille Leuchten" (The silent light) dates from 1946. The complete cycle contains 28 poems. This recording contains a selection of 16 songs, in a free order. Meyer's strongly symbolic lyricism has been magnified by Schoeck,' in the great tradition of the German Lied. It ranges from simple resonance ("Liederseelen") to quotation ("Der Reisebecher", "Requiem"). A few passages also undeniably show a concern for objectivity in musical interpretation. .At the same time there is nearly always in his music an intimity which touches us directly. Schoeck achieves effects of great intensity, and succeeds in finding the magic force of exorcizing formulas through the strict use of old methods of composition such as the sequence, imitation and rhythmic ostinato ("Ende des Festes", "Schwarzschattende Kastanie", "Requiem").
The problems of Schoeck's late works can only be mentioned briefly here. It is neither an isolated world nor a last flower of romanticism, but in its great moments a reminder of the past which it is difficult to imagine more intense or purer. -- Roland MOSER .
(1886-1957)
Niklaus TUELLER, baryton
Mario VENZAGO, piano
With the exception of Arthur Honegger, Othmar Schoeck (1886-1957) is certainly the most independent Swiss composer of the first half of this century. Honegger achieved his ends more easily, not only because he was able to live and work' in Paris, but also because of his thorough knowledge of every type of music - the theatre, oratorio, symphonic and chamber music, and music for films. Schoeck's importance, however, is based almost exclusively on vocal music, and is therefore more closely linked with the German language and the regions where it is spoken. In addition, the librettos of most of his operas are imperfect. Furthermore, understanding of Schoeck in Switzerland was unfortunately characterised for a long time by a typically provincial narrow-mindedness. Many of his friends took it upon themselves - in all good faith - to protect him against a so-called "Dadaist front against lyricism". They also tried to isolate him from the most important cultural currents of the twentieth century, though now, a few decades later, it is easy to see that he belonged to them significantly.
It is true that Schoeck started in a typically romantic tradition, composing more than a hundred lieder in his early years. Three of them can be heard in the "Postscript" to this album; in a historic recording with the composer at the piano. But during the first world war, when Zurich had briefly become a great cultural capital, an essential development came about in his musical language through new meetings, in particular with Ferruccio Busoni. During the twenties, when so many artists were experimenting, absolutely new fields of expression were revealed to Schoeck. Between the "ElegyJJ (1923) and the "Notturno" (1933) (Accord record No 140021 with Niklaus Tuller and the Berne quartet) he composed his most daring works. Most important were the opera '.'Penthesilea", based on Kleist's expressionist play, the cycle "Lebendig begraben" (Buried alive) and, towards the end of this' period, when Hindemith had returned to severe forms, the dramatic cantata "The fisherman and his wife", designed as a set of variations.
His subsequent development is difficult to understand because of the political situation in Switzerland in general and Schoeck's situation in particular. Nazism had struck a severe blow at German culture, and independent Swiss art has practically never existed, at least in the field of music. Restriction to a single region resulted in a narrowing of the horizon. In connection with the poet Albin Zollinger, Max Frisch spoke of .the inevitable need "to see the Bachtel as a Vesuvius, in order to escape into a vision". For many artists, the only solution was inner withdrawal, combined with a need for certainty which led them more than ever to use the well-tried creative techniques of the past.
Between 1941 and I946 all that Schoeck composed was settings of poems by three nineteenth-century Swiss writers - Gottfried Keiler, Heinrich Leuthold and Conrad Ferdinand Meyer. "Das stille Leuchten" (The silent light) dates from 1946. The complete cycle contains 28 poems. This recording contains a selection of 16 songs, in a free order. Meyer's strongly symbolic lyricism has been magnified by Schoeck,' in the great tradition of the German Lied. It ranges from simple resonance ("Liederseelen") to quotation ("Der Reisebecher", "Requiem"). A few passages also undeniably show a concern for objectivity in musical interpretation. .At the same time there is nearly always in his music an intimity which touches us directly. Schoeck achieves effects of great intensity, and succeeds in finding the magic force of exorcizing formulas through the strict use of old methods of composition such as the sequence, imitation and rhythmic ostinato ("Ende des Festes", "Schwarzschattende Kastanie", "Requiem").
The problems of Schoeck's late works can only be mentioned briefly here. It is neither an isolated world nor a last flower of romanticism, but in its great moments a reminder of the past which it is difficult to imagine more intense or purer. -- Roland MOSER .
Labels: Avant Garde Project, jodru, Othmar Schoeck
posted by jodru at 17:53
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