Schoeck Othmar (01. 09. 1886 - 08. 03. 1957)
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Schoeck Othmar
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Biographie
Othmar Schoeck was born on September 1, 1886, in Brunnen (Schwyz) and died on March 8, 1957, in Zurich. He spent his childhood, as the son of the painter Alfred Schoeck and wife Agathe Schoeck-Fassbind, together with his three brothers; Paul (1882-1952), Ralph (1884-1969) and Walter (1885-1953) in Brunnen. Schoeck was initially educated by a Sister from the Ingenbohl Convent and later attended secondary school in Brunnen and Zurich. In 1901 he attended a vocational school but left before receiving any qualifications. After a short period enrolled at an art school in Zurich and his first private lessons in harmonics and counterpoint from Lothar Kempter junior Schoeck enrolled at Zurich Conservatory in the Autumn of 1904. From 1904 until 1907 he studied composition under Friedrich Hegar (1841-1927), conducting under Carl Attenhofer (1837-1914), piano under Robert Freund (1852-1936), voice under Hans Häusermann (1868-1922) and theory under Lothar Kempter senior (1844-1918). It was during this education that Schoeck became acquainted with contemporary music as well as with the works of Hugo Wolf. Schoeck was invited by Max Reger (1873-1916) to attend his composition course between Spring 1907 and spring 1908 at the Leipzig Conservatory where he also studied piano under Robert Teichmüller (1863-1939). His time in education saw the first public performances and publication (for example by the music publishers Hug in Zurich) of his works.
Following his return to Switzerland Schoeck made a living conducting male choirs: From 1909 until 1915 he was the conductor of the 'Harmonie' male choir, between 1909 and 1915 conductor of the 'Männerchors Aussersihl' and from 1911 until 1917 conductor of the 'Lehrergesangsvereins' in Zurich. In 1908/1909 he befriended the Hungarian violinist Stefi Geyer, to whom he dedicated the violin sonata op. 16 and the violin concerto op. 21. The break out of the First World War brought heavy financial loss to Schoeck, eased only in 1916 by a stipend allotted by the sponsor and the clarinettist Werner Reinhart (1884-1951) from Winterthur. Schoeck dedicated his lieder sequence 'Gaselen' op. 38, after poems by Gottfried Keller, to his patron Werner Reinhart; one of the few signs of gratitude he exhibited.
After several trial concerts Schoeck became the musical director of the St Gallen Symphony Orchestra in 1916/1917, a position which he held until 1944. In addition to this he was guest conductor of the 'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande' in 1920 and the 'Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala' in 1941. In 1923 Schoeck took part in the International Society of Contemporary Music's (ISCM) chamber music festival in Salzburg. Schoeck experimented in musical dissonance under the influence of works by Schönberg, Berg, Hindemith and others. His one-act opera 'Penthesilea', first performed in Dresden in 1927, is considered to be the chief work resulting from this stylistic turnabout. The rejection of the bass clarinet sonata op. 41 for the ISCM festival in 1928 came as a great disappointment to Schoeck and marked the close of his 'modern' phase. Schoeck was conferred the academic title of Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Zurich in the same year. In 1925 he married the German singer Hilde Bartscher (1898-1990) whom he accepted, albeit relatively late, as an interpreter of his works. Their daughter Gisela was born on May 29, 1932. Schoeck's popularity in Germany increased following 1933 and, although he was fundamentally opposed to National Socialism, he accepted the Erwin von Steinbach Prize on March 1, 1937, without objection. This led to bad press coverage back in Switzerland as the bestowal had obvious political motives; Schoeck, however, saw the prize as a tribute to his musical work. Schoeck relied on the larger German stages, for example for the world premiere of 'Massimilla Doni', 1937 in Dresden, or in Berlin, 1943, for the performance of 'Das Schloss Dürande'.
Hilde Schoeck first appeared together with Othmar as a singer during a series on Swiss radio in 1941, she was to become the most important interpreter of his lieder. In addition to the operas his almost 400 lieder, written on the basis of texts by Heinrich Heine, Hermann Hesse, Joseph von Eichendorff, Ludwig Uhland, Gottfried Keller and others, form the backbone of his artistic work. Schoeck spent the last years of his life in Zurich. He was awarded the City of Zurich Music Prize on November 21, 1943. He complained ever increasingly of health problems and, during a concert in St. Gallen in March 1944, suffered a heart attack putting an end to his conducting career. Later success, for example that which came with the performance of his Concert for Violoncello op. 61 (1947) by Pierre Fournier or revivals of his operas in Zurich, could not ease Schoeck's unhappiness. Numerous events to commemorate his 70th birthday and distinctions, including becoming a corresponding member of the 'Bayerischen Akademie der Schönen Künste' in 1953, receiving the 'Hans-Georg-Nägeli-Medaille' in 1956 and, in the same year, being awarded the Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, all bear witness to the significant impression Schoeck left upon the twentieth century musical world.
Lukas Näf
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