Martin Scherber
Encyclopedia
Martin Scherber
was a German composer and the creator of metamorphosis symphonies.
, where his father was First Bassist in the orchestra of the State Opera House. Martin was a quiet child, both alert and dreamy, alway full of questions. With his great gift for everything technical, it was generally assumed he would become an engineer and for this reason he attended the secondary modern Hight School (Oberrealschule, today: Hans Sachs Gymnasium). But already early, at about five years of age, he began to play everything on the piano by heart. He had the absolute hearing. He didn't want to learn any notes, but after conflicts with his father he accepted them as a mean of the representation of music. Later his strength lay in improvising
. He seemed to be immediately at home in music. At the age of thirteen he made his first compositions. At this time he was having advanced piano lessons with the Nuremberg opera conductor, Karl Winkler. He made his first public appearances as a pianist in 1922. In composing and improvising he felt enwrapped in a sheath of music. He could step out of his everyday consciousness into an independent, more awake consciousness. He stepped behind the walls, as he called it. From then on he tried to find a more accurate foundation for these experiences which were at first puzzling for him.
for which he received a stipendium. At the same time he was studying philosophy. Here he also occupied himself with basic theoretical questions of knowledge, that is, the integration of an active selfconsciousness within a consciousness for the world. In accordance with his nature, this process merged totally with his artistic life. Under this double aspect his biography appears in a special light. In September 1929 he took a position as répétiteur
in Aussig on the River Elbe and after a short time he became conductor and choir leader.
He withdrew from the public scene in May 1933. From then on he lived as free-lance composer and music teacher again in the city of his birth.
There he created the Symphony
No.1 in d minor (written in 1938). Years of experience as a soldier (1940-46 military service: anti-aircraft-artillery on railway, music corps, medical service, prison camp 'Munsterlager') in World War II stirred him for a long time. So one can see the 2. Symphony in f minor (1951–1952), and the 3. Symphony in b minor (1952–1955), which followed this directly, as a more important continuation of his musical path which began with the d-minor-Symphony. The composer called them 'Metamorphosis-Symphonies'
. These symphonies are his main work.
He also composed instrumental music, works for the choir, songs and pieces for the piano. To this belonged the "ABC", a piano cycle in which he attempts to catch the mood of German sounds of speech.
who were composing in the fifties. The latter experimented with technical and electronic media, which led to serial an chance compositions. They wanted to replace all the usual rules for the build up of music with own ways of treatment. Beyond this, they strove to create a world-music through taking in musical elements from as many cultures as possible, appropriate for the scientific-technical-industrial civilization of the whole world. Next to this, many composers continued in the style of composition usual until now.
For Scherber, each tone was an inner act, a free deed - and no intellectual, emotional or instinktive action connected it with other tones. He moved in the world of tone which he opened up as a discoverer does with a new continent, with all its happenings. He loved music and lived it. Music which, he sometimes said, would be inscribed in each human being, even when, in our present time, it is not yet in our personal consciousness. To his F-minor symphony he wrote in 1962 to Peter von Siemens: "I may perhaps suggest, that just this 2nd symphony is not a composition but a Mysterium - also for me! ... Like a prospective mother I experienced the process of bringing it forth, only not so unconsciously; experienced, how those world powers which create mankind, wanted to reveal themselves in an audible way." Here it showed that he was on a spiritual path as a learner. He spoke, as also others of his generation, from an active, new beginning in music which had to be consciously formed and which would lead far above the present classical heights. It was a matter of entering a New World - a source of everything creative, which - not only for music - could be reached under certain conditions. From this comes the consequence, stringency and intelligence of his symphonic language.
which centralize everything with their weaving metamorphoses http://www.metamorphosen-symphonien and strict rhythms, as also the dissonances and harmonies.
For Scherber, the symphony in its universality matured through the centuries, was the historic resoundig of human striving to consciously partake in the processes of world creation. Consistently, Scherber's symphonies show a relationship with the works and intentions of the great pacemakers of symphonic tone. Could one not hear ever and again from composers, not only from Ludwig van Beethoven
: "It belongs to the rhythm of spirit, to grasp music in its beinghood. It gives a presentiment, an inspiration of heavenly knowledge."
And this has only sense in our day, when it can produce 'content' through experience.
consequences of the accident.
was a German composer and the creator of metamorphosis symphonies.
Childhood and Youth
Martin Scherber was born as the third child of Marie and Bernhard Scherber in NurembergNuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
, where his father was First Bassist in the orchestra of the State Opera House. Martin was a quiet child, both alert and dreamy, alway full of questions. With his great gift for everything technical, it was generally assumed he would become an engineer and for this reason he attended the secondary modern Hight School (Oberrealschule, today: Hans Sachs Gymnasium). But already early, at about five years of age, he began to play everything on the piano by heart. He had the absolute hearing. He didn't want to learn any notes, but after conflicts with his father he accepted them as a mean of the representation of music. Later his strength lay in improvising
Musical improvisation
Musical improvisation is the creative activity of immediate musical composition, which combines performance with communication of emotions and instrumental technique as well as spontaneous response to other musicians...
. He seemed to be immediately at home in music. At the age of thirteen he made his first compositions. At this time he was having advanced piano lessons with the Nuremberg opera conductor, Karl Winkler. He made his first public appearances as a pianist in 1922. In composing and improvising he felt enwrapped in a sheath of music. He could step out of his everyday consciousness into an independent, more awake consciousness. He stepped behind the walls, as he called it. From then on he tried to find a more accurate foundation for these experiences which were at first puzzling for him.
His Course of Study
Since September 1925 he attended the State Academy of Music in MunichHochschule für Musik und Theater München
The Hochschule für Musik und Theater München is one of the most respected traditional vocational universities in Germany specialising in music and the performing arts. The seat of the Hochschule is the former Führerbau of the NSDAP, located at Arcisstraße 12, on the eastern side of the Königsplatz...
for which he received a stipendium. At the same time he was studying philosophy. Here he also occupied himself with basic theoretical questions of knowledge, that is, the integration of an active selfconsciousness within a consciousness for the world. In accordance with his nature, this process merged totally with his artistic life. Under this double aspect his biography appears in a special light. In September 1929 he took a position as répétiteur
Répétiteur
Répétiteur , repetitore , or Korrepetitor / Repetitor , originally from the French verb répéter meaning "to repeat, to go over, to learn, to rehearse"....
in Aussig on the River Elbe and after a short time he became conductor and choir leader.
He withdrew from the public scene in May 1933. From then on he lived as free-lance composer and music teacher again in the city of his birth.
The Metamorphosis Symphonies
Symphony
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...
No.1 in d minor (written in 1938). Years of experience as a soldier (1940-46 military service: anti-aircraft-artillery on railway, music corps, medical service, prison camp 'Munsterlager') in World War II stirred him for a long time. So one can see the 2. Symphony in f minor (1951–1952), and the 3. Symphony in b minor (1952–1955), which followed this directly, as a more important continuation of his musical path which began with the d-minor-Symphony. The composer called them 'Metamorphosis-Symphonies'
Metamorphosis-Symphonies
Metamorphosis Symphonies is the collective name for three symphonies by German composer, Martin Scherber. The first was composed before the outbreak of World War II in Nuremberg. After the war Scherber continued his musical path with the Second Symphony in f-minor and the Third Symphony in b-minor,...
. These symphonies are his main work.
He also composed instrumental music, works for the choir, songs and pieces for the piano. To this belonged the "ABC", a piano cycle in which he attempts to catch the mood of German sounds of speech.
Contemporaries
Scherber moved in a different spiritual sphere from the AvantgardeAvant-garde music
Avant-garde music is a term used to characterize music which is thought to be ahead of its time, i.e. containing innovative elements or fusing different genres....
who were composing in the fifties. The latter experimented with technical and electronic media, which led to serial an chance compositions. They wanted to replace all the usual rules for the build up of music with own ways of treatment. Beyond this, they strove to create a world-music through taking in musical elements from as many cultures as possible, appropriate for the scientific-technical-industrial civilization of the whole world. Next to this, many composers continued in the style of composition usual until now.
For Scherber, each tone was an inner act, a free deed - and no intellectual, emotional or instinktive action connected it with other tones. He moved in the world of tone which he opened up as a discoverer does with a new continent, with all its happenings. He loved music and lived it. Music which, he sometimes said, would be inscribed in each human being, even when, in our present time, it is not yet in our personal consciousness. To his F-minor symphony he wrote in 1962 to Peter von Siemens: "I may perhaps suggest, that just this 2nd symphony is not a composition but a Mysterium - also for me! ... Like a prospective mother I experienced the process of bringing it forth, only not so unconsciously; experienced, how those world powers which create mankind, wanted to reveal themselves in an audible way." Here it showed that he was on a spiritual path as a learner. He spoke, as also others of his generation, from an active, new beginning in music which had to be consciously formed and which would lead far above the present classical heights. It was a matter of entering a New World - a source of everything creative, which - not only for music - could be reached under certain conditions. From this comes the consequence, stringency and intelligence of his symphonic language.
Hidden Qualities
In the organic symphony forms conceived by Scherber live, rather hidden, new contents. Without wanting to go the inner way from 'Idea' or 'Emotion' and so on, to 'spiritual beinghood', the standarts are lacking. The musical moving force for the new qualities become the themesTheme (music)
In music, a theme is the material, usually a recognizable melody, upon which part or all of a composition is based.-Characteristics:A theme may be perceivable as a complete musical expression in itself, separate from the work in which it is found . In contrast to an idea or motif, a theme is...
which centralize everything with their weaving metamorphoses http://www.metamorphosen-symphonien and strict rhythms, as also the dissonances and harmonies.
For Scherber, the symphony in its universality matured through the centuries, was the historic resoundig of human striving to consciously partake in the processes of world creation. Consistently, Scherber's symphonies show a relationship with the works and intentions of the great pacemakers of symphonic tone. Could one not hear ever and again from composers, not only from Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
: "It belongs to the rhythm of spirit, to grasp music in its beinghood. It gives a presentiment, an inspiration of heavenly knowledge."
And this has only sense in our day, when it can produce 'content' through experience.
Criticism
- "This music should be forbidden." (Hans Börnsen, 1957, after the première of the 2nd symphony, Archive of Bruckner-Kreis Nuremberg: A-BRK-N)
- "...[Without] musical creative power." (Bruno WalterBruno WalterBruno Walter was a German-born conductor. He is considered one of the best known conductors of the 20th century. Walter was born in Berlin, but is known to have lived in several countries between 1933 and 1939, before finally settling in the United States in 1939...
, in a letter to the composer on April 25, 1957, about the 3rd symphony, A-BRK-N) - "Such music we don't want." (Alfons Dressel, GMD of Nuremberg in the fifties, A-BRK-N)
- "The music is too much outside our time. And that it uses no appropriate, conformist tone language, a language to be seriously understood today, seems to me its greatest mistake, indeed, may be a fatal one. It is an absolute anachronism." (Peter Huber, letter of May 5, 2005. A-BRK-N)
- "I find the piano pieces by Martin Scherber which I was sent, very good." (Edwin FischerEdwin FischerEdwin Fischer was a Swiss classical pianist and conductor. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century, particularly in the traditional Germanic repertoire of such composers as J. S. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert...
, on the 'ABC Piano Pieces') - "Thank you very much for your understanding comments on my book 'Talks about music' [...] Your piano arrangement seems to me to be true and sensible - and that is the best thing one can say of a piano arrangement." (Wilhelm FurtwänglerWilhelm FurtwänglerWilhelm Furtwängler was a German conductor and composer. He is widely considered to have been one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century. By the 1930s he had built a reputation as one of the leading conductors in Europe, and he was the leading conductor who remained...
- on the piano arrangement of Bruckner's Symphonies by Martin Scherber, A-BRK-N) - "That is real music again! Let it be performed!" (Siegfried Horvath, in the fifties, to the 1st symphony, A-BRK-N)
- "...broad as the Sea, nowhere fabricated, always interesting, never intellectual - and always alive..." (Karl Winkler, in the seventies, to the 3rd symphony, A-BRK-N)
- "The composer has radically renewed the form of the species and that in a way which by no means makes the perception more difficult"[...] "All the more astonishing were Scherber's symphony for me: it is modern and nonetheless not modern, it is timeless. Only a great spirit could ignore, in total command of the situation, the usual leading ways of 'modernizing' the musical language, and out of his own depths form a mode of expression which has nothing to do with the unmusical experiments of the century, and nonetheless sounds absolutely original." (George Balan, to the 3rd symphony, in 2004, A-BRK-N)
- "One feels one isn't any more listening music but taking part in cosmic events and the mysteries of Creation." (Lilo Hammann-Rauno, in the fifties)
The Publication of the Metamorphosis Symphonies
The composer had intended to publish his symphonies only after his death. But in 1969 the idea was brought to Scherber to do it sooner. In this way the symphonies appeared in Nuremberg as immediate contributions to Albrecht-Dürer-Year 1971 (500th Anniversary of birth).Accident
At the end of May 1970, during a walk, he was struck by a drunken driver and thrown through the air. In this way he was robbed of his physical faculties to continue with his musical work and confined over years to a wheel-chair. At the beginning of 1974 he died from theconsequences of the accident.
Selected works
- "Das ABC - Stücke für Klavier"; ABC - 31 Pieces for Piano (1938–63).
- "Hymne an die Nacht"; Hymn to the Night (1937) (NovalisNovalisNovalis was the pseudonym of Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg , an author and philosopher of early German Romanticism.-Biography:...
; song with piano). - Cycles of Children's Songs (1930/1937) (Clemens BrentanoClemens BrentanoClemens Brentano, or Klemens Brentano was a German poet and novelist.-Overview:He was born in Ehrenbreitstein, near Koblenz, Germany. His sister was Bettina von Arnim, Goethe's correspondent. His father's family was of Italian descent. He studied in Halle and Jena, afterwards residing at...
, Martin Scherber) - Fairytale music (1938, 1946)
- Symphony No. 1 in d-minor (1938), world premiere: March 11, 1952, Lüneburg; Conductor: Fred Thürmer
- Symphony No. 2 in f-minor (1951–52), WP: January 24, 1957, Lüneburg; Conductor: Fred Thürmer
- Symphony No. 3 in b-minor (1952–55), WP: not yet
- Lieder mit Klavier (1930–1950); Songs for piano (Wilhelm BuschWilhelm BuschWilhelm Busch was an influential German caricaturist, painter, and poet who is famed for his satirical picture stories with rhymed texts....
, J. W. von GoetheJohann Wolfgang von GoetheJohann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...
, Eduard MörikeEduard MörikeEduard Friedrich Mörike was a German Romantic poet.-Biography:Mörike was born in Ludwigsburg. His father was Karl Friedrich Mörike , a district medical councilor; his mother was Charlotte Bayer...
, Christian MorgensternChristian MorgensternChristian Otto Josef Wolfgang Morgenstern was a German author and poet from Munich. Morgenstern married Margareta Gosebruch von Liechtenstern on March 7, 1910...
) - Choirs a capella and choirs with piano or orchestra (1937/38)
Discography
- Symphony No. 3 in b-minor (3. Symphonie in h-moll durch Martin Scherber). German Philharmonic Orchestra Rhineland-Palatinate (Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz), Ludwigshafen. Conductor: Elmar Lampson. Publisher: Peermusic Classical, Hamburg. Label: col legno, Wien-Salzburg, Austria, www.col-legno.com; WWE 1CD 20078. World Premiere Recording - 2001.
- Symphony No. 2 in f-minor (2. Symphonie in f-moll durch Martin Scherber). Russian Philharmonic Orchestra Moscow. Conductor: Samuel Friedmann. Publisher: Bruckner-Kreis Nürnberg. Label: Cascade Media, Staufen im Breisgau, Germany www.cascade-medien.com, Order-No. 05116. World Pemiere Recording - 2010.
External links
- http://www.martin-scherber.de - Website: Martin Scherber - media to listen
- http://www.russiandvd.com/store/album_asx.asp?sku=39643 - Symphony No.3 (Metamorphosensinfonie in h-moll)
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