Reznicek Emil von Reznicek

Emil Nikolaus Joseph, Freiherr von Reznicek (4 May 1860, Vienna – 2 August 1945, Berlin) was an Austrian composer of Czech ancestry.

Biography

Emil von Řezníček studied law and music simultaneously in Graz. He did not finish his law degree, but continued to study music, his teacher being Wilhelm Mayer (also known as W. A. Rémy). Subsequently, he conducted at the theater in Graz, in Berlin and a few other places. From 1886 to 1894 he was Kapellmeister of the 88th Infantry of Prague, and it was here that he saw his greatest triumph with the premiere of Donna Diana (16 December 1894). In the spring of 1902 he settled in Berlin, touring to Russia and England from time to time. When the Nazi Party came to power in 1933, Reznicek tried not to become involved to avoid putting into risk his daughter, Felicitas who was working for Britain's MI-6. Reznicek was a personal friend of Richard Strauss. However, the relation between the two seems to have been an ambivalent one. Reznicek's symphonic poem Schlemihl (1912) can be seen as a direct parody of Strauss' A Hero's Life. The use of (often sarcastic) humor is a feature of much of Reznicek's music, from the jibbering Blaubart in the opera Ritter Blaubart through the sardonic Dance around the Golden Calf from Der Sieger (1913) to the expressionist Tarantella last movement of his Dance Symphony (No. 5, 1925). This Eulenspiegelei (a reference to the literary prankster Till Eulenspiegel) frequently got him into trouble in a world that was unaccustomed to the use of humour in music and art.

Ferdinand von Řezníček was his half-brother.

Reputation

Today, Reznicek is mainly remembered for the overture to his opera Donna Diana, composed in 1894. The overture is a popular stand-alone piece at symphonic concerts and it served as the theme for the American radio (1947–1955) series Challenge of the Yukon, which later migrated to the TV series (1955–1958) Sergeant Preston of the Yukon. It was also used in the 1950s on the BBC's Children's Hour by Stephen King-Hall for his talks on current affairs.

Reznicek's works include orchestral works (five symphonies, suites, serenades, overtures), a violin concerto (1922), operas (Till Eulenspiegel (1902), Ritter Blaubart – A Fairy-Tale Opera in Three Acts (composed 1915–1917 and recorded by the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2002), Spiel oder Ernst (1930)) and chamber music.

The first of his four string quartets (composed in 1921) received its world premiere recording from the Franz Schubert Quartet of Vienna in 1996. The German label CPO has started a project to record all of Reznicek's orchestral output. In this series, the symphonic poems Der Sieger (1913) and Schlemihl (1912), along with some symphonies (No. 2 "Ironische" and No. 5 "Tanzsinfonie") and the overture Raskolnikoff (1931) were released in November, 2006; symphony No. 1 in D minor "Tragic" was released by CPO in 2008.

Works

Symphonies

• Symphony No. 1, "Tragic" in D minor (composed 1902)
• Symphony No. 2, "Ironic" in B-flat (composed 1904)
• Symphony No. 3, "Im alten Stil" in D major (composed 1918)
• Symphony No. 4 in F minor (composed 1919)
• Symphony No. 5, "Tanz-Symphonie" (composed 1924)

Orchestral and vocal works

• Hexenszene aus Macbeth (composed 1877) [Witches scene from Macbeth]
• Symphonische Suite in E major (composed 1883)
• Probszt-Marsch für Militärmusik (composed 1892)
• Eine Lustspielouvertüre (composed 1895)
• Symphonische Suite in D major (composed 1896)
• Wie Till Eulenspiegel lebte, Overture (composed 1900) [As Till Eulenspiegel lived]
• Frühlings-ouvertüre (composed 1903)
• Nachtstück for cello and orchestra (composed 1903)
• Serenade for Strings No. 1 in G major (composed 1905)
• Orchesterfuge (composed 1906)
• Introduktion und Valse Caprice for violin and orchestra (composed 1906)
• Prelude and Fugue (composed 1912)
• Schlemihl (ein Symphonisches Lebensbild) for tenor and orchestra (composed 1912)
• Der Sieger for alto, chorus, and orchestra (composed 1913)
• Frieden for chorus and orchestra (composed 1914, lost except for the choral score of the 3rd of 4 movements)
• Traumspiel-Suite based on incidental music for Strindberg's play A Dream Play (composed 1915)
• Nach Damaskus III incidental music for Strindberg's play To Damascus, Part 3 (composed 1916)
• Konzertstück for violin and orchestra (composed 1918)
• Violin Concerto (composed 1918)
• Serenade for Strings No. 2 in G major (composed 1920)
• Thema und Variationen nach Chamissos Tragische Geschichte for baritone and orchestra (composed 1921)
• Die wunderliche Geschichte des Kapellmeisters Kreisler, incidental music to the play by Carl Meinhardt and Rudolf Bernauer (composed 1922)
• Raskolnikoff, Overture-fantasy No. 1 (composed 1925; lost) [Raskolnikov]
• Festouvertüre, "Dem befreiten Köln" (composed 1926)
• Polizei, incidental music to the play by Herbert Eulenberg (composed 1926)
• Symfonische Variationen über das "Kol Nidrei" (composed 1929)
• Raskolnikoff, Overture-fantasy No. 2 (composed 1929)
• Raskolnikoff, Overture-fantasy No. 3 (composed 1930; lost)
• Goldpirol-Ouvertüre, "Im deutschen Wald" (composed 1930)
• Valse Pathétique (composed 1931)

Stage works

• Die Jungfrau von Orleans, opera in 3 acts after Friedrich Schiller (composed 1886)
• Satanella, opera in 2 acts on a libretto by Řezníček (composed 1887)
• Emerich Fortunat, opera in 2 acts on a libretto by Řezníček (composed 1888)
• Donna Diana, opera in 3 acts after Agustín Moreto's El desdén con el desdén (composed 1894, revised 1933)
• Till Eulenspiegel, opera in 2 acts after Johann Fischart's Eulenspiegel Reimensweiss (composed 1900, revised 1939)
• Die verlorene Braut, operetta (composed 1910)
• Die Angst vor der Ehe, operetta after Taufstein and Urban (composed 1913)
• Ritter Blaubart, opera in 2 acts on a libretto by H. Eulenberg (composed 1917)
• Holofernes, opera in 2 acts after Friedrich Hebbel's Judith und Holofernes (composed 1922)
• Satuala, opera in 3 acts on a libretto by R. Laukner (composed 1927)
• Benzin, opera in 2 acts on a libretto by Calderón de la Barca (composed 1929)
• Spiel oder Ernst?, opera in 1 act on a libretto by Poul Knudsen (composed 1930)
• Der Gondoliere des Dogen, opera in 1 act on a libretto by Poul Knudsen (composed 1931) [The Doge's Gondolier]
• Das Opfer, opera in 1 act on a libretto by Poul Knudsen (composed 1932)
• Das goldene Kalb, ballet (composed 1935) [The Golden Calf]

Chamber music

• String Quartet (unnumbered) in C minor (composed 1882)
• Nachtstück for piano, violin and cello (composed 1905)
• String Quartet No. 1 in C♯ minor (composed 1906, revised 1921) - possibly 2 distinct works (1906 & 1921 quartets)
• String Quartet No. 2 in D minor (composed 1921, revised 1922)
• Für unseren Kleinen for piano, violin and cello (composed 1921)
• Kol Nidrey, Vorspiel zu "Holofernes", for piano, violin and cello (composed 1926)
• String Quartet in E minor (unfinished fragments, composed 1925–1930)
• String Quartet No. 3 in B♭ major (composed 1932)
• Walzerlied for piano trio (composed 1932)

Piano

• Die Gedanken des Selbstmörders for piano (composed 1880) [The Thoughts of the Suicide]
• Vier Klavierstücke (composed 1882)
• Grünnemarsch (composed 1890)
• Eine Lustspiel-Ouvertüre, reduction for four-hands piano (composed 1895)
• Zwei Phantasie-Stücke (composed 1896)
• Traumspiel-Suite, reduction for piano (composed 1921)
• Ernster Walzer (composed 1924)
• Valse Pathétique (composed 1924, orchestrated 1924)
• Vier sinfonische Tänze, piano reduction of Symphony No. 5 (composed 1924)
• Menuett, piano reduction from the opera Polizei (composed 1926)
• Liebeserklärung (composed 1943)

Organ

• Präludium und chromatische Fuge in C minor (composed 1912)
• Präludium und Fuge in C minor (composed 1918)
• Fantasie "Kommt Menschenkinder, rühmt und preist" (composed 1930)