Othmar Schoeck

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Othmar Schoeck (Brunnen, Switzerland, September 1, 1886 – March 8, 1957) was a Swiss composer. He studied briefly at the Leipzig Conservatory with Max Reger, in 1907/08, but overall spent his whole career in Zürich. His father, Alfred Schoeck was a landscape painter, and as a young man, Othmar seriously considered following in his father's footsteps and attended classes an art school in Zürich before dropping out to go to the Zürich Conservatory.

He was known mainly for his considerable output of art songs and song cycles, though he also wrote a number of operas (mosty notably his one-act Penthesilea, premiered in Dresden, 1927, and revived at the Lucerne Festival, 1999) and instrumental compositions including two string quartets and concertos for violin (for Stefi Geyer, dedicatee also of Béla Bartók's first concerto), cello and horn.

Schoeck spent World War I in Zürich, where he had an affair with the pianist Mary de Senger. After hearing the music of Les Six in Paris, Schoeck abandoned his tonal style in favor of serialism, with the music of Alban Berg as a model.

His work with the German poet Hermann Burte on the opera Das Schloss Dürande, for production at the Berlin State Opera, caused great controversy for Schoeck with the Swiss, because of his association with artists of Nazi Germany. The opera premiered in Berlin on 1 April 1943, with the composer in attendance. Schoeck himself did not harbor Nazi sympathies, but the angry Swiss reaction to Schoeck's actions damaged his reputation and put great strain on Schoeck. He suffered a heart attack in March 1944, but continued to compose.^[1]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Othmar Schoeck Site
• Karadar entry on Othmar Schoeck
• Othmar Schoeck String Quartet No.1 in D Major, Op.23-Sound-bites and short bio