Scharwenka, Philipp

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Scharwenka, Philipp

Frühlingswogen Op. 87, symphonic poem

SKU: 4494 Category:

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Philipp Scharwenka – Frühlingswogen, Op. 87

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

 

Philipp Scharwenka was born on February 16, 1847 in Samter, at that time a small town in Prussia, today part of Poland and named Szamotuly. The family was well off, eager to educate their young children in the sciences and the arts. Father was an architect and his mother sought out the cantor at the local church as a piano teacher for Philipp and his younger brother Xaver. Encouraged by their parents, both brothers progressed rapidly in their musical studies, eventually ending up in Berlin (1865) studying at the Neue Akademie der Tonkunst. Philipp concentrated on theory and composition while his brother aimed for a career as a virtuoso pianist. Such were Philipp’s talent and achievements as a student, that only three years later he was hired by that same institution to teach theory and composition. 1874 featured his first successful public concert of large-scale symphonic works, an overture and symphony. His brother Xaver opened his own music school (Schwarenka-Konservatorium) in 1880; Phillip was initially named the head of the theory/composition department and later took over as head of the entire Conservatory. His large-scale choral work Sakuntala was premiered in 1885 to extraordinary critical and public approbation. In 1893 he merged the conservatory with the piano school of Karl Klindworth renaming it the Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory. He remained as a teacher of theory and composition at this renowned music school until his death in 1917. His most famous students were the eminent conductors Oskar Fried and Otto Klemperer. A renowned and respective teacher his entire career, he was also an excellent graphic illustrator (see below) and an important composer, authoring more than 120 works including an opera, chamber music, songs, orchestral music, choral works and a concerto. In all facets of his musical career Scharwenka was among the most respected musicians of his time, having been bestowed with many commissions, awards and honors.

As the östereichische Musik und Theaterzeitung wrote on Nov. 1, 1895: “Phillip Schwarwenka has made a great name for himself in the musical world as a composer not only through the unusually large number of his works, most of which belong to the more serious genre, but also through their intrinsic value. One can see with what artistic seriousness the master is at his work.”

And the Berliner Signale wrote on Feb. 16, 1896: “…. he, who has acquired a well-known and highly respected name in the art world. We hardly find a field in which his solid ability has not been active…. through artistic seriousness, as well as through noble invention and artful design of his thoughts, which, in true German fashion, strive to work more through the intimacy of the expression of feeling than through external glimmer….”

He had a tremendous influence on musical education, and his works were esteemed and performed by first rate musicians. After he passed away his music fell out of fashion and performances to this day are quite rare.

Frühlingswogen [Waves of Spring], Symphonic Poem, Op. 87, dates from 1891 and is loosely based on Turgenev’s 1871 novella Spring Torrents. The music, by late 19th century standards, was already quite conservative, vaguely echoing the romantic classicists such as Schubert, Schumann and Brahms. It does not indulge in the chromaticism and orchestral voluptuousness of Richard Strauss, a favorite of the time. Compared to the typical large orchestra romantics such as Wagner, Strauss and Mahler employed, Scharwenka’s orchestra is on the Brahms model. He is however an expert orchestrator, divining some exquisite and colorful moments in this score. Performances of Frühlingswogen even made their way to America, with performances in both Boston and Chicago in 1892.

During a brief stay in New York (1891/92) a number of his compositions for orchestra, piano, violin and voice were premiered. Frühlingswogen was given its US Premiere on Jan. 29,1892 by the Chicago Symphony conducted by Theodore Thomas. It was subsequently performed twice in October of the same year by the Boston Symphony under Arthur Nikisch.

The BSO program book offered the following apt description: “In this Frühlingswogen the composer has taken not a dramatic action, a poetic story, or series of events to illustrate, but a single, simple idea, the general upheaving or billowing of animate nature at the arrival of spring. It is a spring poem in tones. It is scored for full modern orchestra, and its development is freely fanciful and picturesque.”

Karl Hinterbichler, University of New Mexico, 2021

 

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