Franz Schmidt's Symphony No. 4 in C major, played by the WDR Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Manfred Honeck. Recorded live on 16.12.2023 in the Kölner Philharmonie.
Franz Schmidt - Symphony No. 4 in C major
00:00:00 I. Allegro molto moderato
00:14:53 II. Adagio
00:29:42 III. molto vivace
00:36:55 IV. Allegro molto moderato
WDR Symphony Orchestra
Manfred Honeck, conductor
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Introduction to the work:
The interlude from "Notre Dame" was a frequently heard title in earlier radio request concerts. The composer of this sensuous orchestral piece is the Austrian Franz Schmidt. Born in what is now Bratislava, Schmidt studied composition and violoncello in Vienna. During his lifetime, he was held in high esteem above all as an instrumentalist: from 1896 to 1911, he was principal cellist of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and then of the Court Opera Orchestra until 1914. But Schmidt was also repeatedly successful as a composer - most notably the opera "Notre Dame". The premiere of his large-scale oratorio "The Book with Seven Seals" in 1938 was celebrated with enthusiastic ovations. During this time, he wrote the cantata "Deutsche Auferstehung" (German Resurrection), the title of which already gives an idea of what it sings about. Franz Schmidt died over this work in 1939, and the sketches for this aberration were kept under lock and key.
Of Schmidt's symphonies, the fourth (and last) is considered his most successful. By his own admission, he composed it as a "requiem for my daughter", who died in childbirth after the birth of his granddaughter. When the work was premiered in Vienna in 1934, the audience was deeply impressed - not only by the rich late-romantic tonal language, but also by the compelling formal structure. The symphony is divided into the usual four movements, which merge seamlessly into one another. The opening in the solo trumpet is already captivating. Schmidt himself wrote about it: "It is, so to speak, the last music that one takes over into the hereafter after having been born and lived life under its auspices." The Adagio is carried by great intensity, a funeral march in which the composer, not coincidentally, has his instrument, the cello, sing a sweeping lament. In the Scherzo (Molto vivace), moments from the first part return, to which Schmidt then draws a bow in the final section. According to the composer, everything now appears "more mature and transfigured". In tones, Schmidt paints "a dying in beauty, with the whole of life passing by once again".
Text: Otto Hagedorn