Schnyder von Wartensee?

[Double-A]

Having grown up in Switzerland I searched his name on the forum, not expecting any mention and found several hits.  This rather surprised me as my fondness for him is mainly motivated by patriotic nostalgia.  I was more surprised that I encountered quite positive judgements about his music.  What I have heard of his compositions (the third symphony and the piece for two clarinets and orchestra on LP and some other things on the radio) struck me as sometimes original (the Adagio introduction to the symphony), but overall I found the musical material stretched too thin and the music became uninteresting on repeated listening.
Schnyder was a multitalent who also published verses (mostly written for a specific occasion if I remember correctly).  He was a virtuoso on the glass harmonica.  He did not play it too often in public though because--as he says--it touched the nerves of the gentle ladies too much and made them cry.
More memorable than his music is certainly his autobiography, one of the most entertaining autobiographies I have read.  It is not in print as far as I am aware; if you are German speaking and get a chance, I recommend you try it!  The Zentralbibliothek in Zurich has a copy and other Swiss libraries may have one too.  Schnyder appears in the book as a person with an extraordinary talent for happiness, charming and easygoing.  He went to Vienna to finish his studies and and claims to have befriended Beethoven.  His anecdotes remind us sometimes of "Jägerlatein" though.

[adriano]

During my Naxos-Marco Polo times, I had proposed to record his Symphonies - no chance.
My idea of a Swiss Music CD Series comes from thiose times (end 1980s - early 1990s), a project which I could - in part - realize on Sterling. On Marco Polo, only a CD with music by Albert Fäsy could be done, thanks to some extra sponsoring.

Sterling recorded SvW's 3rd Symphony with another conductor - after they rejected my proposal to use the Moscow Symphony Orchestra (too expensive). I could do other CDs with the MSO on Sterling because of extra sponsorings -  which I could not get for the SvW disc.

Guild recorded his Grand Sonata:
http://www.amazon.de/Beethoven-Sonata-Schnyder-Wartensee-Grande/dp/B00V3D0OUY/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1441948541&sr=8-8&keywords=schnyder+von+wartensee

Tudor recorded his Concerto for 2 clarinets:
http://www.amazon.de/Sinfonia-ConcertoOp-80-Concerto2-Klarinetten/dp/B000025QNC/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1441948602&sr=8-11&keywords=schnyder+von+wartensee

Gallo recorded his 9 Scherzi for piano:
http://www.amazon.de/24-Preludes-Piano-Op-Allegretto/dp/B00P1XIOXG/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&qid=1441948650&sr=8-17&keywords=schnyder+von+wartensee

SvW's autobiography is in print (on demand facsimile edition):
http://www.amazon.de/Lebenserinnerungen-Xaver-Schnyder-Wartensee-Gesammtverzeichniss/dp/1270935143/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1441948920&sr=8-6&keywords=schnyder+von+wartensee

Here some more info:
http://www.amazon.de/Schnyder-Von-Wartensee-Sinf-3/dp/B0011DZN84/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1441948443&sr=8-1&keywords=schnyder+von+wartensee
http://www.musinfo.ch/index.php?content=maske_personen&pers_id=255&action=open_it
http://www.musinfo.ch/index.php?content=maske_werke&pers_id=255&name=Schnyder%20von%20Wartensee&vorname=Franz%20Xaver
http://www.zb.uzh.ch/spezialsammlungen/musikabteilung/nachlaesse/einzelne-nachlaesse/003862/index.html.de
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Xaver_Schnyder_von_Wartensee

Hope this also helps :-)

[Double-A]

Thanks for all the info.  I admit I did the post from memory (the recording of the third symphony I had was with the Swiss "Radio-orchester" under--if memory serves--Peter Lukas Graf.  It was technically not very good, meaning there were flaws in execution not usually heard from professional musicians.  It also featured four or five wonderful Lieder by Theodor Fröhlich, these in an excellent interpretation).

I am glad that the autobiography is now available.  I do recommend it.  And since we are straying into literature:  I used to own a book published during or shortly after the Second World War (when all things Swiss were en vogue in CH) containing excerpts from the autobiography and an appendix:  Part of Gottfried Keller's eulogy on Schnyder, three anecdotes that Keller himself witnessed (or participated in).  The picture of Schnyder that emerges tallies nicely with the autobiography.  I recommend it though because it is so masterfully written, it is a pure pleasure to read it.

I have been thinking though that among the unsungs Schnyder is one who rather deserves to be unsung--except for the autobiography (this is an invitation to contradict with good evidence).  Indeed I posted because Schnyder is quite well represented on the forum while I did not find a single mention of Theodor Fröhlich who--IMHO--is quite a bit more deserving.  I want to make a post on Fröhlich when I have assembled a bit more information.

P.S.  The second symphony is presently on Youtube (Radiosinfonieorchester under Räto Tschupp).

[mikehopf]

It broke my heart when I had to sell my huge LP collection earlier this year.

The few that I kept ( mainly for nostalgic reasons) include the following Schnyder von Wartensee recordings:

Zeit und Ewigkeit - Oratorio ( Ex Libris)
Zweite Sinfonie in c-moll ( Ex Libris)
Symphony No.3 ( Swiss Composers )
Concerto for 2 Clarinets & Orchestra ( Swiss Composers)

There also was an LP of works for Alpenhorn which included a work by Schnyder.

[Double-A]

I want to add a little to this topic as I have listened twice now to the second symphony on Youtube.  It seems more impressive than what I remember of the third.  Especially the slow movement--extremely long as it is--struck me as inspired.  It is in variation form using a very long theme and rather free variations.  In the other movements there is still a tendency to overuse the musical material--too many sequences of too simple motifs for example--which I remember is even more of a problem in the third, especially in the slow movement.  In the last movement Schnyder features Haydn's Emperor-hymn in a way that reminds me of Mendelssohn (Psalmensymphonie or c-minor piano trio) and therefor calls the work "Erinnerung an Joseph Haydn".

[adriano]

Whilst searching something in my Lieder score's archive, I stumbled over a 1940 edition of Wartensee's 6 Lieder on poems by Ludwig Uhland, selected from a collection of 17 Lieder (1821). Schnyder von Wartensee wrote about 60 songs, and the ones in question are very beautiful. This special edition was prepared by the Swiss musicologist Willi Schuh, who has written various essays on this composer, including a comparative one entitled "Xaver Schnyder von Wartensee and Theodor Fröhlich as song composers (Zürich, 1940)".

[Double-A]

Thanks for this information.  What struck me at the time I read the autobiography is that Fröhlich isn't mentioned even once in the book.