othmar schoeck (1 september 1886 &ndash; 8 march 1957) was a swiss composer and conductor. he was known mainly for his considerable output of art songs and song cycles, though he also wrote a number of operas, notably his one-act penthesilea, which was premiered in dresden in 1927 and revived at the lucerne festival in 1999. he wrote a handful of instrumental compositions, including two string quartets and concertos for violin (for stefi geyer, dedicatee also of bÃ©la bartÃ³k's first concerto), cello and horn. ==biography== ===early life and career=== schoeck was born in brunnen, studied briefly at the leipzig conservatory with max reger in 1907/08, but otherwise spent his whole career in zÃ¼rich. 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 zÃ¼rich before dropping out to go to the zÃ¼rich conservatory. schoeck was left destitute at the start of world war i. his appointment as conductor of the st gall symphony orchestra (with special permission to remain resident in zÃ¼rich), combined with the annuity which his patron werner reinhart gave him from 1916 onwards, allowed schoeck to give up his jobs as chorus director and to compose more or less undisturbed.the schoeck home page ===influence of busoni=== in 1916 schoeck became acquainted with ferruccio busoni, who had moved to zurich from berlin to escape the adverse effects of the war. busoni was not alone in coming to zurich. the war had turned "provincial" zurich, in neutral switzerland, into an international metropolis. schoeck was a great admirer of the songs of hugo wolf; busoni disliked them, and he said so. despite their differences, their relationship quickly developed into one of mutual respect, and even one with a bit of affection. in fact, it was busoni's suggestion that schoeck use ludvig holberg's don ranudo de colibrados as the subject of an opera.walton, pp. 3-4. on 19 june 1917 philipp jarnach, a french composer who was also a refugee in zurich, and an assistant of busoni, gave busoni a copy of martin buber's book chinesische geister- und liebesgeschichten [chinese ghost and love stories] (frankfurt, 1911). jarnach ssuggested that one of these short stories might be suitable for an opera. busoni immediately wrote a libretto, das wandbild [the picture on the wall], a short scene and pantomime, which he finished eight days later. jarnach composed a prelude and the first scene, but lost interest and dropped the project.beaumont, p. 262n. undaunted, in june 1918 busoni offered it to schoeck. schoeck, who appears to have taken the offer as a sort of challenge, imm
1886_births 1957_deaths 20th-century_classical_composers Commanders_Crosses_of_the_Order_of_Merit_of_the_Federal_Republic_of_Germany Opera_composers People_from_the_canton_of_Schwyz Romantic_composers Swiss_composers Swiss_conductors_(music) Zurich_University_of_the_Arts_alumni