
Carl Adolph Schuricht (; 3 July 18807 January 1967) was a German
conductor.
Life and career
Schuricht was born in Danzig (
Gdańsk
Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...
),
German Empire
The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...
; his father's family had been respected organ-builders. His mother, Amanda Wusinowska, a widow soon after her marriage (Carl's father Carl Conrad Schuricht drowned in the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...
while trying to save a friend, three weeks before he was born), brought up her son alone. His childhood was surrounded by music: "Every Sunday in summer we used to hire three large open carriages and go out into the country. After the picnic we would join in singing choral works by Bach, Handel and Mendelssohn." He showed a talent for music at an early age, studying piano and violin from the age of six. By eleven he was composing, and continued his academic and musical studies when his mother moved to Berlin, then to
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...
.
[Gavoty B. ''Carl Schuricht (Great Concert Artists series).'' Geneva, René Kister, 1956.]
At 20 he obtained the post of Korrepetitor at the Stadttheater in
Mainz
Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...
, and two years later won the Kuczynski Foundation prize for composition and a Felix Mendelssohn scholarship. He then returned to Berlin to study piano under
Ernst Rudorff and composition with
Engelbert Humperdinck, later working under
Max Reger in Leipzig, publishing chamber pieces, sonatas and lieder. Attracted by the profession of conductor he undertook tours in Germany conducting operettas, operas, choral societies and symphony concerts. During this time he had the chance to watch at rehearsal and in concert such legendary interpreters as
Arthur Nikisch,
Felix Weingartner,
Ernst von Schuch,
Felix Mottl,
Hans Richter,
Karl Muck and
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic music, Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and ...
.
On 24 May 1906 he heard
Frederick Delius
file:Fritz Delius (1907).jpg, Delius, photographed in 1907
Frederick Theodore Albert Delius (born Fritz Theodor Albert Delius; ; 29 January 1862 – 10 June 1934) was an English composer. Born in Bradford in the north of England to a prospero ...
's ''
Sea Drift'' in
Essen
Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...
with the composer present, and promised to Delius that when he had his own orchestra he would conduct it himself, which he did in Frankfurt with Delius again in the audience. More important was perhaps that at the same Festival in 1906 he heard the premiere of Mahler's Sixth Symphony, conducted by the composer. In 1909 he succeeded
Siegfried Ochs as director of the Rühlscher Oratorienverein in Frankfurt-am-Main and at 40 was appointed musical director of the municipal orchestra in
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...
; festivals of modern music (
Richard Strauss, Reger, Mahler, Delius and
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first Modernism (music), modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-centu ...
) made Wiesbaden an internationally renowned center for music. Schuricht said of this time, "The German public was no more avid than any other for the novelties I wanted to give it. I have to prepare it for them gently, convince without bludgeoning, cajole and seduce. I managed this by prefacing concerts of modern music by lectures, which I illustrated with extracts played by myself at the piano or by the orchestra."
His career was not exactly that of a star, but he was loved both by his orchestra players and audiences. As music director in Wiesbaden (1920-1944) he arranged the first German "Gustav Mahler-Festival" in April 1921, conducting Mahler's symphonies Nos. 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 and "Das Lied von der Erde" (cf. ''Signale für die musikalische Welt'', No. 14, 6 April 1921, p. 384); and a week later the Berlin Philharmonic invited him to Berlin, where he conducted Mahler's Sixth symphony on May 2, 1921. Mahler's works were very popular in Germany, Holland and Austria during the 1920s, but were eventually banned under the Nazis between 1933 and 1945 owing to the composer's Jewish origin. Schuricht continued to conduct Mahler outside Germany. On October 5, 1939, during the so-called
Phony War, his conducting with the
Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra of Mahler's ''
Das Lied von der Erde'' was disrupted by a woman heckler who called out "Deutschland über alles, Herr Schuricht!" (This performance is available on a CD.) Schuricht was the first recipient of the Gold Medal of the ''Internationale Gustav Mahler-Gesellschaft'' in Vienna in 1958. Schuricht worked at the Hague/
Scheveningen Festival from 1930 to 1939, and was guest conductor of the
Dresden Philharmonic from 1942 to 1944. He was expected to take over as director of the orchestra on October 1, 1944, but escalation of the war ended the orchestra's activities. Schuricht himself received a warning that he was about to be arrested, and fled to Switzerland. He settled in
Zürich
Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
, where he married Maria Martha Banz and conducted l'
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.
During the late 1940s and 1950s Schuricht conducted throughout Switzerland, at the re-opening of the Salzburg Festival in 1946, in Paris, and at the festivals of Holland, Lucerne, Aix-en-Provence and Montreux.
He regularly conducted the South German Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1950 to 1966. When the
Vienna Philharmonic first toured the US, in 1956, Schuricht replaced the recently deceased
Erich Kleiber, sharing the conducting during the six weeks with
André Cluytens
Augustin Zulma Alphonse "André" Cluytens (, ; 26 March 19053 June 1967)Baeck E. ''André Cluytens: Itinéraire d’un chef d’orchestre.'' Editions Mardaga, Wavre, 2009. was a Belgian-born French conducting, conductor who was active in the conce ...
.
He died at the age of 86 in his home at
Corseaux-sur-Vevey,
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
, and was buried in Wiesbaden, as an honorary citizen of that city.
[Scharlau U. Commentary to 'Carl Schuricht Collection'. Hänssler Classic, 2005.]
Recordings
*
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...
: Symphonies Nos. 1-9, recorded 1957 & 1958 with the
Paris Conservatory Orchestra (
EMI)
*
Anton Bruckner:
Symphony No. 5, with the
Vienna Philharmonic (
Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...
)
*
Anton Bruckner:
Symphony No. 7, with the
Berlin Philharmonic (
Polydor)
*
Anton Bruckner:
Symphony No. 8, with the
Vienna Philharmonic (
EMI)
*
Anton Bruckner:
Symphony No. 9, with the
Vienna Philharmonic (
EMI)
*
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...
:
Requiem, recorded 1962 with the
Vienna Philharmonic (Archiphon)
*
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic music, Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and ...
:
Symphony No. 3, with the
Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (Archiphon)
*
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period (music), Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, oft ...
:
Symphony No. 1, with the
Frankfurt Radio Symphony (Melodram)
*
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period (music), Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, oft ...
:
Symphony No. 4, recorded 1963 with the Bavarian State Radio Orchestra (Concert Hall)
*
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...
: Symphonies 2 & 3, Overture, Scherzo and Finale, recorded 1953 & 1954 with the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, Paris (Decca)
*
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions inc ...
: ''Overtures'' (The Hebrides, Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt, Die Schöne Melusine and Ruy Blas), with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, 1954 (Decca)
*
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: ''
Capriccio Italien'', ''
Suite No 3 'Theme and Variations, recorded 1952 with the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, Paris (Decca)
*
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...
: Orchestral excerpts, with the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra (1954, Decca), and SWR Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra
Awards and decorations
*
Order of the Phoenix (Greece, 1936)
* Commander of the
Order of Orange-Nassau (Netherlands, 1938)
*
War Merit Cross, 2nd class without Swords (1944)
* Dutch Bruckner Medal 1948
* Anton Bruckner Medal of the International Bruckner Society (1950)
*
Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (1953)
* Honorary Citizen of
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...
(1953)
*
Goethe Medal of the State of Hessen (1955)
* Nicolai Medal (
Vienna Philharmonic, 1956)
* Honorary Member of the
Bruckner Society of America (1957)
* Appointed Professor by the President of the Republic of Austria,
Adolf Schärf (1957)
* Honorary Member of the
Vienna Philharmonic (1960)
* Grand Cross of the
Order of Alfonso X, the Wise (1965)
References
External links
*
Carl Schuricht biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schuricht, Carl
1880 births
1967 deaths
20th-century German conductors (music)
German male conductors (music)
People from West Prussia
Musicians from Gdańsk
Pupils of Engelbert Humperdinck
Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Mendelssohn Prize winners
Recipients of the Order of the Phoenix (Greece)
Commanders of the Order of Orange-Nassau
Recipients of the Civil Order of Alfonso X, the Wise
20th-century German male musicians
Chief conductors of the Dresden Philharmonic