![Grave Salmhofer Franz](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Grave_Salmhofer_Franz.jpg)
Franz Salmhofer (22 January 1900 – 22 September 1975) was an Austrian
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and Defi ...
,
clarinetist and
conductor. He studied the clarinet, composition and musicology in Vienna. Salmhofer served successively as
Kapellmeister
(, also , ) from German ''Kapelle'' (chapel) and ''Meister'' (master)'','' literally "master of the chapel choir" designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term ha ...
of the
Burgtheater
The Burgtheater (literally:"Castle Theater" but alternatively translated as "(Imperial) Court Theater"), originally known as '' K.K. Theater an der Burg'', then until 1918 as the ''K.K. Hofburgtheater'', is the national theater of Austria in Vi ...
, Director of the
Vienna State Opera and Director of the
Vienna Volksoper and composed a number of works, few of which are played today.
Biography
Born in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
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, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
,
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
, Salmhofer came from a modest background, his father being a pianist and his mother a cook. His father became an invalid following service in the First World War and his son had to use his musical talent to assist in providing for the family. Salmhofer was educated at the
Admont Abbey in the province of
Styria
Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered to ...
from 1909-1914, where he was a choirboy, and in 1916 went on to study musicology, clarinet and composition at the Institute for Musicology at the University of Vienna where he was a pupil of
Franz Schreker
Franz Schreker (originally ''Schrecker''; 23 March 1878 – 21 March 1934) was an Austrian composer, conductor, teacher and administrator. Primarily a composer of operas, Schreker developed a style characterized by aesthetic plurality (a mixture ...
,
Franz Schmidt and
Guido Adler
Guido Adler (1 November 1855, Ivančice (Eibenschütz), Moravia – 15 February 1941, Vienna) was a Bohemian-Austrian musicologist and writer.
Biography
Early life and education
Adler was born at Eibenschütz in Moravia in 1855. He moved ...
. He was part of a class that included
Ernst Krenek,
Wilhelm Grosz,
Karol Rathaus
Karol Rathaus (Karl Leonhard Bruno Rathaus; also Leonhard Bruno; 16 September 1895 — 21 November 1954) was a German-Austrian Jewish composer who immigrated to the United States via Berlin, Paris, and London, escaping the rise of Nazism in German ...
,
Joseph Rosenstock, , ,
Paul Pisk
Paul Amadeus Pisk (May 16, 1893, Vienna – January 12, 1990, Los Angeles) was an Austrian-born composer and musicologist. A prize named in his honor is the highest award for a graduate student paper at the annual meeting of the American Musicolo ...
and
Jascha Horenstein
Jascha Horenstein (russian: Яша Горенштейн; – 2 April 1973) was an American conductor.
Biography
Horenstein was born in Kiev, Russian Empire (now Ukraine), into a well-to-do Jewish family; his mother (Marie Ettinger) came fr ...
. Thereafter he worked as a choir conductor and organist. In 1929 he was appointed Kapellmeister of the
Burgtheater
The Burgtheater (literally:"Castle Theater" but alternatively translated as "(Imperial) Court Theater"), originally known as '' K.K. Theater an der Burg'', then until 1918 as the ''K.K. Hofburgtheater'', is the national theater of Austria in Vi ...
where he served until 1945 when he became the first post-war Director of the
Vienna State Opera, a post he filled until 1953. In this position he worked at several temporary locations until the war-damaged Opera House could be restored. Thereafter he was Director of the
Vienna Volksoper until his retirement in 1963.
Director of the State Opera
Salmhofer's appointment as the post-War Director of the Vienna State Opera in 1945 came as somewhat of a surprise, but can be attributed to several factors. His predecessor, Karl Böhm, a friend of
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazi politician who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 19 ...
, had been removed due to his Nazi sympathies. Salmhofer had not been a nazi sympathiser and his works had come close to being banned during that period. In addition he had had to protect his first wife whose background did not comply with the nazi race laws. His time at the Burgteater had also given him wide experience in managing a theatre and he had a considerable reputation as a composer and musician and was known for his fervent love of Austria, an advantage during the period of revival of national identity.
The first post-war performance of the Staatsoper, Mozart's Figaro, took place at the Volksoper under the baton of Salmhofer and at the request of the Russian occupying forces on 1 May 1945.
As director he was an astute and wily diplomat who was quickly able to revive the theatre that had been badly damaged during allied bombing of Vienna and which was temporarily relocated to the
Theater an der Wien
The is a historic theatre in Vienna located on the Left Wienzeile in the Mariahilf district. Completed in 1801, the theatre has hosted the premieres of many celebrated works of theatre, opera, and symphonic music. Since 2006, it has served prima ...
, where it remained for the following decade.
Personal life
In 1923 he married the pianist Margit Gál and, after her death in March 1954, was married to Margarethe Arndt from 1955 until his death in 1975.
Music
During his lifetime Salmhofer wrote over 300 works for stage, working mainly in the genres of ballet and opera. He could be termed a 'late romantic' as he took romanticism as a starting point and frequently drew inspiration from folk traditions. Some also regarded him as a 'progressive', but he was careful to avoid controversial themes that in the political mood of the 1930s and 1940s could have led to sanction of his works and, like many others of his generation, immigration or exile from his home country. He was one of the most widely performed composers of his generation.
His 1951 setting of 's poems, ''Heiteres Herbarium'', as songs is said to stand out among his works, but are 'a largely unknown masterpiece' of which the 1956 recording by
Julius Patzak
Julius Patzak (9 April 189826 January 1974) was an Austrian tenor distinguished in operatic and concert work. He was particularly noted in Mozart, Beethoven and in early 20th-century German repertoire.
Biography
Julius Patzak was born in Vienn ...
, with Salmhofer accompanying him on the piano, is the best known recording.
List of major compositions
* Opera: Faust (1927)
* Ballet: Das Lockende Phantom (1927)
* Ballet: Der Taugenichts in Wien (1930)
* Ballet: Das Weihnachtsmärchen (1931)
* Ballet: Österreichische Bauernhochzeit (1933)
* Opera: Dame im Traum (1935)
* Film Score:
Last Love (1935)
* Opera: Iwan Tarassenko - Version 1 (1938)
* Opera: Das Werbekleid Salzburg (1943)
* Film Score: Das andere Leben (1948)
* Opera: Iwan Tarassenko - Version 2 (1948)
* Film Score: Das Siegel Gottes (1949)
* Film Score: Der Wallnerbub (1950)
* Songs: Heiteres Herbarium (1951)
* Opera: Dreikönig (1970)
[Stokes R., The Book of Lieder - The original texts of over 1000 songs, Faber & Faber]
Honours and awards
* City of Vienna Music Prize (1926 & 1960)
* Austrian State Prize for Composition (1937)
*
Karl Renner Prize The Karl Renner Prize, established on the occasion of the Austrian Federal President Karl Renner’s 80th birthday by the city of Vienna, is awarded to individuals or groups in recognition of merits for Vienna and Austria in cultural, social as we ...
(1954)
* Silver Decoration of the state of Vienna (1960)
* Honorary Member of the Austrian Federal Theatre (1963)
* Federal Capital of Vienna Medal of Honour in gold (1965)
* Ring of Honour of the City of Vienna (1970)
Eponyms
Two places in Vienna bear Salmhofer's name:
* Salmhoferstraße (Inzersdorf area south of the city centre)
* Franz-Salmhofer-Platz (The square in front of the Volksoper).
References
Bibliography
*Sadie S (ed), Wiesmann Sigrid: ''The
New Grove Dictionary of Opera
''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera, considered to be one of the best general reference sources on the subject. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volu ...
'', London: Macmillan Reference (1992), and
*Stokes R, "The Book of Lieder - The original texts of over 1000 songs", Faber & Faber (2005),
*Warrack J & West E, ''The Oxford Dictionary of Opera'', New York: Oxford University Press (1992),
*Hedwig & EH Mueller von Asow (eds), Deutscher Musiker-Kalender 1954, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co, 1954, p. 1106
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Salmhofer, Franz
1900 births
1975 deaths
20th-century classical composers
Austrian classical composers
Male conductors (music)
Opera managers
Austrian opera composers
Male opera composers
Ballet composers
Musicians from Vienna
Recipients of the Austrian State Prize
20th-century Austrian conductors (music)
20th-century Austrian male musicians
Austrian male classical composers