The Scharwenka heritage

[Mark Thomas]

Some time ago we debated, in ignorance of any facts it has to be said, just what the ethnic background was of the Scharwenka brothers, Xaver and Philipp. I can't now find that thread, but maybe it was in the old Raff Forum.

Anyway, on a recent trip I found a copy of an English translation of Xaver Scharwenka's autobiography. It is distressingly bereft of any insight into his compositional or performing craft, but in it he states: "As can be seen ... mixed blood flows in my veins ... of predominantly Slavic vein. Since I was born in the Prussian province of Posen and come from a family that cultivated German ways of acting and thinking and German culture from time immemorial, I consider myself to be totally a German Protestant Christian." He had earlier explained that his father's family had originated in Bohemia (in the modern Czech Republic) but had moved to Frankfurt an der Oder (Prussia) 150 years before his birth. His mother's family did have a more Polish element (his maternal grandmother was Polish) but once again, by the time of his birth they were thoroughly Germanised.  So there you have it: he regarded himself not a Catholic Pole but a Protestant German.

[mbhaub]

Very timely. Last evening I opened up the new Sterling release of orchestral music by Philipp Scharwenka. Very effective, extremely well scored, wonderful music. It was an hour very well spent. The Dramatische Phantasie is quite impressive. That's two fine disks from Sterling of P Scharwenka. I hope they keep them coming!

[Ilja]

I thought you might enjoy the autobiographical sketch by Philipp Scharwenka in a translation by Charles Medlam, who kindly provided permission to reproduce it. It is from the liner notes to the first Philipp Scharwenka CD:

"I was born on 16th February 1847 in Samter, a small town in the province of Posen. My father was an architect. He came from a Czech family, which had moved from Bohemia to Brandenburg about 200 years ago. My mother was Polish. Both my parents were talented and art-loving and aspired – as Nietzsche put it – to plant their aspirations and love of art in their two children, that is in Xaver and myself. My father was a hard-working and sought-after architect with a special talent for drawing and water colours. The musical talent which slumbered in us brothers probably came from our mother, who was responsible for obtaining a piano and engaging the organist of the local Lutheran church as our piano teacher.

Our general education was taken of by private teachers and we soon achieved the required level to go to grammar school. My parents decided therefore in 1858 to move to Posen, the provincial capital, to enhance our general and musical education. Here, in a larger town there was contact with the musicians who played in the orchestra as well as regular orchestral concerts. Gradually my brother and I decided to make music our chosen profession.
Encouraged by the judgments of professional colleagues about the talents of both brothers, my parents decided to move to Berlin, since at that time there was no opportunity to study music in Posen. This move took place in the autumn of 1865. Now we were on the right track. We became students at the 'New Academy of Music' recently founded by Theodor Kullak and then at its peak. My brother, without neglecting his composition, dedicated himself to the piano under Kullak's experienced direction. But I myself studied the piano privately and dedicated myself whole-heartedly to composition. My teachers were Richard Wüerst, known for his prize-winning symphony and for his opera The Star of Turan which was often given in Berlin at that time, and Court Music Director Heinrich Dorn. I have to thank both teachers for the fact that I was able to finish my studies in two and a half years. Theodor Kullak retained me as theory teacher at his institution. In 1874 I appeared for the first time in a concert with larger-scale compositions, including an overture and a symphony.

In 1880, my brother founded a new conservatory in Berlin (the Scharwenka Conservatory), as a result of which I gave up my post with Kullak and became head of the theory department in the new institution. In the same year, I married the violinist Marianne Stresow who also taught at the new conservatory.
I spent the season 1891/92 in New York at the request of my brother, who had moved there to found another conservatory. My compositions for orchestra, piano, violin and my songs were often performed there, many of them under the direction of Anton Seidl and Arthur Nikisch, who was then in charge of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. After my return from New York in July 1892, I took over the direction of the Berlin Conservatory together with the world-famous researcher and singing pedagogue Dr. Hugo Goldschmidt. My brother stayed in New York but returned seven years later to make his home in Berlin. After thirteen years' service, Dr. Goldschmidt resigned his post in order to spend time on his research. Robert Robitschek, a talented former pupil of Dvorák, took over and together we now direct the 'Klindworth-Scharwenka-Conservatory' which is the result of a merger with the Klindworth school, founded some years ago.

During all this time, I continually tried to keep up my composing. Amongst my works are a large number of songs, and piano pieces (some for didactic purposes); orchestral works include a four-movement Serenade, an Arcadian Suite*, a Festival Overture, the symphonic poems Waves of Spring* and Dream and Reality, a Symphony in D minor, a Dramatic Fantasy in three movements, a Violin Concerto, a Symphonia Brevis in E flat major and a number of smaller orchestral pieces such as the two Fantasy Pieces (Spirits of the Woods and the Mountains and Night of Love).
Amongst my chamber pieces are: two piano trios, two violin sonatas, three string quartets, a piano quintet, a cello sonata, a trio for violin, viola and piano, a duo for violin and viola with piano accompaniment, a sonata for the viola and piano and several different sorts of pieces for violin and piano.

I have composed two stage works: Sakuntala (a reworking of an earlier dramatic work) and Roland, an opera in four acts.
In 1901, I was made a member of the Royal Academy of the Arts and composed at their request an Ode to the King for the Emperor's birthday, for soprano, choir, orchestra and organ on a text by Klopstock. In 1911 I was called to the senate."