Scharwenka, Philipp

Philipp Scharwenka

(b. Szamotuly [Samter] near Poznan [Posen], 16 February 1847 – d. Bad Nauheim, 16 July 1917)

Violin Concerto in G major Op. 95

(ca. 1894)

I Allegro (p. 1)
II Andante tranquillo (p. 40)
III Allegro non tanto (p. 51)

During his lifetime Philipp Scharwenka stood a bit in the shadow of his more extrovert younger brother Xaver Scharwenka (1850-1924) who wrote in a more popular style and was prominent as a piano virtuoso, talented organizer and entertaining personality on the music scene. Nevertheless the more reserved and introvert Philipp Scharwenka was the more significant and – beyond passing fashion – more substantial composer. Their father was an architect of Czech descent, and from 1858 on the family lived in the then Prussian provincial capital Posen. The mother, of Polish extraction, was the first music teacher of the two highly gifted brothers. To support their further development adequately the family moved to Berlin in 1865, and Philipp and Xaver began studying at the Neue Akademie der Tonkunst (New Academy of the Musical Arts) that had been founded in 1855 by Theodor Kullak (1818-82). Philipp Scharwenka was taught in msuic theory and composition by Richard Wüerst (1824-81) and Heinrich Dorn (1804-92), and from 1868 on he was engaged as teacher in music theory and composition at the same institute. Now he also made his appearance as a composer and introduced himself to the public with his first symphony inb 1874. In 1881 Xaver Scharwenka founded the Scharwenka Conservatory in Berlin and appointed his brother als director of the theory and composition faculty. When Xaver Scharwenka opened his new conservatory in New York Philipp went with him to the US in the same function but returned one year later to Berlin and took over the direction of the Scharwenka Conservatory just to hand it over to Hugo Goldschmidt (1859-1920) after a short time to dedicate himself more intensely to composing his own music. In 1893 the Scharwenka Conservatory fused with the renowned piano school of Karl Klindworth (1830-1916) under the name Kindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory where Philipp Scharwenka stayed professor in music theory and composition until the end of his life. His best-known students were the future conductors Oskar Fried (1871-1941) and Otto Klemperer (1885-1973) for whom he – this cosmopolitan, progress-affirmative spirit amidst the reactionary scene of Berlin academicism –, among other vistas, pointed the way to the music of Gustav Mahler. The young Max Reger dedicated his 7 Fantasy Pieces Op. 26 for piano to Philipp Scharwenka in 1899, and Scharwenka returned the favour with the dedication of his Piano Quintet in B minor Op. 118 to Reger in 1911. Philipp Scharwenka won the most sustainable fame with his humorous illustrations to Alexander Moszkowski’s (1851-1934, brother of the composer Moritz Moszkowski) ’Satirical Poem in 4 Songs “Anton Notenquetscher“‘ (1875)

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