Othmar Schoeck

Swiss composer, conductor and pianist Othmar Schoeck was born in Brunnen on 1 September 1886 into an artistic family - his father was the landscape painter Alfred Schoeck. He studied at the Zürich Conservatory and apart from a brief period of study with Max Reger at the Leipzig Conservatory, his career was based in Zürich.

Schoeck is known mainly for his more than four hundred songs and for his five operas. He wrote in a Romantic, tonal style which later became less tonal.

Schoeck became friends with and was influenced by Ferruccio Busoni, whose suggestion resulted in Schoeck writing his first opera, Don Ranudo de Colibrados.

Later he fell out of favour with the musical establishment and slipped into obscurity, largely because he authorised performances of his music in Nazi Germany, stating only that he was neutral.

Othmar Schoeck died in Zürich on 8 March 1957, aged seventy.

 

A selection of articles about Othmar Schoeck

Resounding Echoes with Robert McCarney - 1945

Echoes of Oblivion by Robert McCarney - A short night at the opera

CD Spotlight. Beautifully Crafted - Geoff Pearce listens to Lieder by Swiss composers Hans Schaeuble, Frank Martin, Peter Mieg, Othmar Schoeck and Arthur Honegger. '... one of the loveliest discs I have ever heard.'

CD Spotlight. Impeccable - Music by Szymanowski, Webern and Schoeck, recommended by Ron Bierman. 'The quartet plays with authority throughout ...'

Ensemble. Expertly Structured - Mike Wheeler was at a song recital by Richard Roddis and Philip Robinson