Heinrich Schülz-Beuthen

Heinrich Schülz-Beuthen

Heinrich Donatien Wilhelm Schulz-Beuthen (19 June 1838 in Beuthen, Upper Silesia (now Bytom, in Poland) - 12 March 1915 in Dresden) was a composer of the high Romantic era.

Life

His original surname was Schulz: it was not unusual for people with such common surnames to add the name of their home town to distinguish themselves from others, as Schulz-Beuthen did at some point early in his career. He was intended for the profession of a chemist, and studied chemistry at the University of Breslau, but his drive to write music was greater. From 1862 to 1865 he studied with Ignaz Moscheles and Carl Reinecke at the Leipzig Conservatory, where Grieg and Johan Svendsen were among his fellow students; he also studied privately with Karl Riedel. Finding Leipzig’s classicism uncongenial to his more romantic temperament, after his graduation Schulz-Beuthen left Germany for Switzerland, where he taught composition in Zurich from 1866 to 1880. In Switzerland he met Wagner, the novelist Gottfried Keller, and was befriended by Mathilde Wesendonck. He also became friends with the composer Theodor Kirchner, an important member of the Schumann-Brahms circle, and created an orchestral cycle out of arrangements of some of Kirchner’s piano pieces. Following a nervous breakdown (the details of which are not precisely known) Schulz-Beuthen returned to Germany; he was unable to compose for several years, but resumed his teaching activities in Dresden, where he lived – except for a short period spent in Vienna, 1893-95 – from 1881 until his death on 12 March 1915. His last years were spent in an asylum.

Works

Schulz-Beuthen was a copious composer: his works include five operas, of which the first, "Der Zauberschlaf", after a play by Mathilde Wesendonck, combined the stories of Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella and may well be the first example of the ‘fairy tale opera’ which became a popular genre in the late 19th century at the hands, most notably, of Humperdinck. Unfortunately the music is lost, as are many other of Schulz-Beuthen’s works. He wrote no less than ten symphonies (of which the first and last remained incomplete; No. 7 was inspired by Shakespeare’s "King Lear"), as well as symphonic poems founded on such subjects as Schiller’s "Wilhelm Tell", Grillparzer’s "Des Meeres und der Liebe Wellen", and Böcklin’s painting ‘The Isle of the Dead’. (Schulz-Beuthen’s treatment, one of his last works, is almost exactly contemporary with Rachmaninov’s well-known tone-poem on the same subject.) Other compositions included a Requiem, scenes from Goethe’s "Faust", a piano concerto, a wind octet, string quintet and trio; choral works, numerous songs, piano pieces and so on. He had some distinguished admirers, including Franz Liszt, and contemporary critics sometimes found his music daringly modern: however these judgements were passed mainly on works that are no longer available for examination. The bulk of Schulz-Beuthen’s music was never published, and it is believed that most of his manuscripts were destroyed in the fire-bombing of Dresden in 1945. Nevertheless enough was printed during his lifetime, or has come to light in recent years, to indicate a composer of considerable gifts.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Schulz [2] — Schulz (Schulz Beuthen), Heinrich, Komponist, geb. 19. Juni 1838 zu Beuthen, lebt in Wien; sechs Sinfonien, Ouvertüren, Orchesterwerke, Psalmen, Klaviersachen etc …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

  • Liste des musiques de scène —  Ne doivent pas être confondues avec les œuvres littéraires à l origine de livrets d opéras ou de ballets La liste qui suit est celle (incomplète) des pièces de théâtre pour lesquelles ont été écrites une ou plusieurs musiques de scène. Un… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Deutsche Komponisten — Siehe auch: Liste österreichischer Komponisten klassischer Musik Liste sorbischer Komponisten klassischer Musik Liste der Komponisten des deutschsprachigen Films Liste klassischer Komponisten in der DDR Liste von Blasmusik Komponisten A Ludwig… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Liste deutscher Komponisten klassischer Musik — Hier werden die deutschsprachigen Komponisten klassischer Musik aufgeführt, ohne dafür deren Herkunft in Gebieten heutiger Staaten zu hinterfragen. Siehe auch: Liste österreichischer Komponisten klassischer Musik Liste sorbischer Komponisten… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Isle of the Dead (painting) — Isle of the Dead: Basel version, 1880 …   Wikipedia

  • Die Toteninsel — Arnold Böcklin Urversion, 1880 Öl auf Leinwand, 111 cm × 115 cm Kunstmuseum Basel …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Otto Richter (Kirchenmusiker) — Rudolph Otto Richter (* 5. März 1865 in Ebersbach/Sa.; † 12. August 1936 in Dresden) war ein deutscher Kirchenmusiker und von 1906 bis 1930 der 24. evangelische Kreuzkantor in Dresden. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben und Wirken 2 Veröffentlichungen …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Der Gang nach dem Eisenhammer — Anfang der Ballade in Schillers Musen Almanach für das Jahr 1798 Der Gang nach dem Eisenhammer ist eine Ballade von Friedrich Schiller. Er verfasste sie im Herbst des Balladenjahres 1797. Inhaltsverzeichnis …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • 1915 in music — Events* Tom Brown s band from New Orleans goes to Chicago, Illinois and start advertising themselves as a Jass Band *Herbert Howells is given six months to live, and becomes the first person in the UK to receive radium treatment (he will live on… …   Wikipedia

  • Arnold Böcklin — Infobox Artist bgcolour = #6495ED name = Arnold Böcklin imagesize = caption = Self portrait Oil on canvas (1872) birthname = Arnold Böcklin birthdate = 16 October 1827 location = Basel deathdate = 16 January 1901 deathplace = San Domenico… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”