Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek

Emil Nikolaus Joseph, Freiherr von Reznicek (4 May 1860, in Vienna – 2 August 1945, in Berlin) was an Austrian composer of Romanian-Czech ancestry.

Life

Reznicek's grandfather, Josef Resnitschek (1787–1848), was a trumpet virtuoso and band leader in the Imperial regiments Nos. 32 (Esterhazy), based in Budapest, and 60 (Gustav Wasa), based in Vienna where he played music with Johann Strauss Sr. and Joseph Lanner. Reznicek's father Josef Resnitschek/Reznicek (1812–1887) entered the army as a cadet and eventually became Feldmarschall-Lieutenant, the second-highest rank in the Austrian army, gaining an ordinary diploma of nobility in 1851 and the rank as a Baron (Freiherr) in 1859. His mother, Clarisse Fürstin Ghika Budești (1837–1864), belonged to the influential Ghika family of Romania. Emil Nikolaus was the half-brother of the artist, Ferdinand von Řezníček (1868–1909). His daughter Felicitas (1904–1997) became a journalist, writer, and pioneer of female mountain climbing. During the Nazi era she joined the German resistance movement and informed for MI6.^[1] His son Fritz (February 22, 1887 - February 7, 1983) was a lieutenant in the Austrian Army.

Reznicek passed his childhood in Vienna, until the family moved to Graz in 1874. He began piano lessons in 1871; his first compositions date from 1876–78, when he was a student in Graz and at the Staatsgymnasium in Marburg an der Drau (Maribor).^[2] He studied law and music in Graz from 1878–80. He never finished his law degree, but continued to study music with Wilhelm Mayer (also known as W. A. Rémy). Finally, he went to Leipzig to study with Carl Reinecke and Salomon Jadassohn. He gained his diploma as a composer on 9 June 1882.

Subsequently, he apprenticed as a conductor at various theaters in Graz, Zürich, Stettin, Jena, Bochum, Berlin, and Mainz.^[3] and then moved to Prague in 1886 Neues Deutsches Landestheater. In 1890 Reznicek became Kapellmeister of the 88th Infantry in Prague,^[4] but was dismissed in 1892 after fighting a duel. After that he would see his greatest triumph with the premiere of Donna Diana (16 December 1894). That success opened up his career as conductor; he briefly ran for the succession of Eduard Lassen at Weimar and was Hofkapellmeister at Manheim in 1896–1899.

In June 1897 his first wife Milka Thurn-Valsassina (1864–1897) died and two years later he married Berta Juillerat-Chasseur (1874–1939). From 1899 to 1902 the couple settled at Wiesbaden, where Reznicek wrote his fifth opera Till Eulenspiegel, which premiered in 1902 at Karlsruhe under the direction of Felix Mottl. In the autumn of 1902, Reznicek moved to Charlottenburg, then a wealthy suburb of Berlin, where he remained for the remainder of his life.

In Berlin, Reznicek enjoyed a good start with the premiere of his first symphony and a revival of Till Eulenspiegel at the Court-opera. But he subsequently distanced himself from the circle of Emperor Wilhelm II. In 1905 he composed some songs with obvious left-wing tendencies. For economic reasons, he was forced to accept the position of chief conductor of the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra (1906–08) and Warsaw Opera (1907/08), where he introduced Salome by Richard Strauss and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg by Richard Wagner. In 1909–11 Reznicek assumed the position of chief conductor at Hans Gregor's Komische Oper an der Weidendammbrücke at Berlin (not related to the modern Komische Oper of Berlin). Today, Gregor is considered to be the founder of modern Regietheater; Reznicek's experience there registers in his operas beginning with Ritter Blaubart (1915–1917). Gregor closed his enterprise upon becoming Intendant at the Court Opera in Vienna in 1911.

1911 proved to be a decisive year. Reznicek's wife Berta fell seriously ill and was in critical condition for a month, and the composer's autobiography of 1940 indicates that he seriously considered suicide at the time. Instead, he condensed his feelings in the confessional tone poem Schlemihl (1912). Schlemihl met with immediate success and launched a new phase in Reznicek's career as a composer, becoming the first instalment of a trilogy that also included Der Sieger (1913) and Frieden - Eine Vision (1914). In 1914–15 he wrote In memoriam, a requiem for the fallen soldiers of all nations. In 1915/16 came his next opera, Ritter Blaubart, which premiered at Darmstadt in 1920 due to wartime censorship. With the Weimar Republic came public recognition: Reznicek was nominated for a professorship at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin and for a seat in the Prussian Academy of Fine Arts. Reznicek himself responded with a continuous flow of new music until the spring of 1935.

When the Nazi Party came to power in 1933, Reznicek (who was not interested in politics) had a problem:^[5] his wife Berta was of Jewish origin (although she had been raised as a Calvinist).^[6] Soon there were threats to blackmail the family. Berta only in the very last moment was prevented from suicide. She retired completely from public life and died early in 1939 of a heart attack. Reznicek's daughter Felicitas attempted to leave Germany for Switzerland, but received no permit to work there. Therefore, she remained in Berlin, where she entered the German resistance movement as early as 1934. Later, she also collaborated with the British MI6, becoming one of its most important informants. (Winston Churchill bestowed on her British citizenship in 1951). She had a personal relationship with Hitler's Adjudant Fritz Wiedemann and therefore access to the innermost circles of the Nazi regime. On the other hand, Emil-Ludwig (1898–1940), Reznicek's youngest son, was a fervent Nazi sympathiser even before 1933, joining the party and the SS. When he appeared in Nazi uniform in 1933, Reznicek was outraged and a complete split of the family was prevented only with the promise never to discuss politics. In 1934, Reznicek accepted Strauss's invitation to become the German delegate at the ständige Rat für die Internationale Zusammenarbeit der Komponisten.^[7] Contrary to the opinion promulgated by Ernst Krenek, this was not a Nazi-organisation but an invention of Richard Strauss tolerated by the Nazi-Propaganda. With some restrictions the Rat operated rather independently (at least up to 1941); organising festivals and concerts with modern music in all its member states. Reznicek organised these concerts in Germany and in due course he was able to present compositions which were not particularly in-line with the Nazi-ideology (e.g. the music of Jewish composers such as Dukas and Wladigeroff or jazz-inspired works like The Rio Grande by Constant Lambert. When the Nazi party tightened the grip on the Rat in 1942, Reznicek tried to resist and eventually resigned. Already in 1940 he had raised some suspicion at the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda with his autobiography, which was destined for publication but prohibited by censorship. During his final years, the performance of his works in Germany diminished considerably. In 1943 he was evacuated from Berlin to Baden (near Vienna). There he suffered a stroke on Christmas Day 1943, from which he never fully recovered. Becoming more and more demented he was allowed to come back to Berlin in February 1945. He died on 2 August 1945 from hunger-typhus.

Reznicek was a friend of Richard Strauss, but relations between the two were ambivalent. Reznicek's symphonic poem Schlemihl (1912) has been seen as a parody of Strauss' A Hero's Life, though in his autobiography Reznicek rejected this interpretation. By his own account, his greatest influence was, in fact, Gustav Mahler. Sardonic humour features in much of Reznicek's music, from the prankster Till Eulenspiegel and the jibbering Blaubart of Ritter Blaubart to the Dance around the Golden Calf in Der Sieger and the expressionist Tarantella movement of the Dance Symphony (No. 5, 1925).

Reputation

Today, Reznicek is mainly remembered for the overture to his opera Donna Diana, composed in 1894. The overture is a popular stand-alone piece at symphonic concerts, and it served as the theme for the American radio (1947–1955) series Challenge of the Yukon, which later migrated to the TV series (1955–1958) Sergeant Preston of the Yukon. It was also used in the 1950s on the BBC's Children's Hour by Stephen King-Hall for his talks on current affairs.

Reznicek's break-through as a composer came with Donna Diana in 1894. This opera differs considerably from his first three operas written for Prague. Historically Donna Diana (written exactly at the same time as Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel opera) marks the decisive step away from Wagner-imitation to Wagner-reception in the way of going beyond Wagner. (Strauss, with his Guntram failed to achieve this aim.) Reznicek's next opera Till Eulenspiegel goes further in exploiting the concept of a Volksoper including older music styles. In the 1908 revision of Donna Diana he eliminated further hints of Wagner. Nevertheless, in the years after Donna Diana he did not fulfill the expectations Donna Diana had raised. It was only with his experience at the Komische Oper Berlin and the illness of his second wife that Reznicek found a new and very personal style, one that can be described as a sort of musical expressionism. In a letter to Ernst Déczy in 1921, he claimed to have modernized his style considerably. He never left the realm of tonal composition, but he often made use of bi-tonal constructions. And in the dramaturgy of his operas he was clearly influenced by silent-movie aesthetics. Reznicek was skeptical about the Schoenberg concept of twelve-tone composition, but not against atonalism per se. He greatly admired Alban Bergs Wozzeck and Lulu. Reznicek also was open to all types of music as possible sources for his own compositions; old music from the pre-Bach era, but also modern dance music and Jazz. (He made use of a Jazz-band in his operas Satuala, Benzin, Das Oper and even the ballet Das goldene Kalb. All this he amalgamated into his own post-Wagnerian style, creating an early example of Polystylistic Composition. The critics of his time did not understand this concept and often accused him of Eulenspiegelei.

In the late 1920s, he was respected as one of the most important German composers of the 1860s generation. But even then his fame began to be surpassed by the modern music of younger composers. Like so many composers who had adhered to tonal music in the 20th century, and being still active after WW I, his music fell into oblivion after WW II with the rise of modernism. In the case of Reznicek, the situation was also aggravated by the false accusation that he had been a Nazi sympathizer. In the 1970s, the only conductor who tried to give Reznicek's music some exposure to modern audiences was the late Gordon Wright. Together with Felicitas von Reznicek he founded the Reznicek society with such prominent members as Maurice Abravanel, Max Burle-Marx and Igor Kipnis. But with the passing of Gordon Wright this society stopped all activities. In 2012, Reznicek's great-grandson founded the Reznicek-Archiv at Wedemark^[8] which is now the central point for all Reznicek research. The archive also digitized all printed Reznicek scores and inserted them in the International Music Score Library Project. In 2013, the Editio Reznicek also began, with the aim to publish the numerous scores of Reznicek^[9] which had remained in manuscript.

Works

Selected discography

• Theme and Variations after the poem "Tragische Geschichte (Tragic Story)" by Adelbert von Chamisso for large orchestra and baritone. Performed by Barry McDaniel (baritone) and the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Carl Schuricht (Schuricht-Edition Vol. 14, combined with works by Richard Strauss, Hans Pfitzner, and Max Reger) (Hänssler).
• Symphony No. 1 in D minor "Tragische (Tragic)", Vier Bet- und Bußgesänge (Four Songs of Prayer and Repentance). Performed by Marina Prudenskaya (mezzo-soprano) and the Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt (Oder) conducted by Frank Beermann. CPO 777 223-2
• Symphony No. 2 in B flat major "Ironische (Ironic)" and No. 5 "Tanz-Symphonie (Dance Symphony)". Performed by the Bern Symphony Orchestra conducted by Frank Beermann. CPO 777 056-2
• Symphony No. 3 in D major "Im alten Stil (In an Old Style)" and No. 4 in F minor. Performed by the Robert Schumann Philharmonic of the Theater Chemnitz. conducted by Frank Beermann. CPO 777 637-2
• Symphony No. 3 in D major and Symphony No. 4 in F minor. Performed by the Philharmonia Hungarica conducted by Gordon Wright. Koch Schwann CD11091. (1984/85)
• Der Sieger (The Victor) for alto and orchestra. Performed by Beate Koepp (alto) and the WDR Symphony Orchestra and Choir (Cologne) conducted by Michail Jurowski. CPO 999 898-2
• Schlemihl, Symphonic Life Story for tenor and orchestra and Fantasy Overture No. 2 'Raskolnikoff'. Performed by Nobuaki Yamamasu (tenor) and the WDR Symphony Orchestra conducted by Michail Jurowski. CPO 999 795-2
• A Comedy Overture, Theme and Variations after the poem "Tragische Geschichte" by Adelbert von Chamisso for large orchestra and baritone and Symphonic Variations on 'Kol Nidrey'. Performed by Alexander Vassiliev (bass) and the WDR Symphony Orchestra conducted by Michail Jurowski. CPO 999 795-2
• Idyllic Overture "Goldpirol (Golden Oreole)", Symphonic Entr'acte in form an overture "Wie Till Eulenspiegel lebte (How Till Eulenspiegel Lived)", Konzertstück for violin and orchestra in E major, Prelude and Fugue in C minor and Nachtstück (Night Piece) for violin, horns, harp and string orchestra. Performed by Sophie Jaffé (violin) and the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marcus Bosch. CPO 777 983-2
• Carnival Suite in an Old Style, Dream Play Suite and Symphonic Suite No. 1 in E minor. Performed by the Staatskapelle Weimar conducted by Stefan Solyom. CPO 555 056-2
• Donna Diana (opera, 1894). Performed by Max Wittges (bass), Manuela Uhl (soprano) and others, Kiel Opera Chorus and Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Ulrich Windfuhr. CPO 999 991-2
• Ritter Blaubart (opera, 1918). Performed by David Pittman-Jennings (baritone), Arutjun Kotchinian (tenor) and others, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin conducted by Michail Jurowski. CPO 999 899-2
• Benzin(opera, 1928). Prformed by Kouta Räsänen, Johanna Stojkovic, Guibee Yang, Susanne Thielemann, Matthias Winter, Chor der Oper Chemnitz, Robert-Schumann-Philharmonie, Frank Beermann. CPO 777 653-2
• String Quartet No. 3 in C-sharp minor (1921). Performed by the Franz Schubert String Quartet (Combined with Erich Wolfgang Korngold's String Quartet No. 1 in A major, Op. 16). Nimbus 5506-2

References

Further reading

• Sigfrid Karg-Elert: "Freiherr E. N. von Rezniček", Die Musik-Woche, 27 and 28 (1904), pp. 210f. and 218f.
• Otto Taubmann, "Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek", in: Monographien moderner Musiker II, C. F. Kahnt Nachfolger, Leipzig 1907, pp. 215–230.
• Max Chop: E. N. v. Reznicek, sein Leben und seine Werke. Eine biographische Studie, Wien u. a.: Universal-Edition o. J. [um 1920].
• Richard Specht: E. N. v. Reznicek. Eine vorläufige Studie, Leipzig u. a.: E. P. Tal & Co. Verlag 1923.
• Wilhelm Altmann, E. N. Von Reznicek, Neue Zeitschrift für Musik 97 (1930) pp. 525–535.
• Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek, Tagebuch (Lebenserinnerungen), Manuskript, 1940.
• Felicitas von Reznicek/Leopold Nowak: Gegen den Strom. Leben und Werk von E. N. von Reznicek, Zürich among others: Amalthea-Verlag 1960. (Based on Rezniceks unpublished autobiography of 1940).
• Thomas Leibnitz, Österreichische Spätromantiker: Studien zu Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek, Joseph Marx, Franz Schmidt und Egon Kornauth; mit einer Dokumentation der handschriftlichen Quellen in der Musiksammlung der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek, Tutzing 1986.
• Michael Wittmann: "Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek and the Permanent Council for the International Cooperation of Composers", Reznicek Studien 1, Musikverlag H. M. Fehrmann, Wedemark 2015.
• Michael Wittmann, "Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek. Ein Forschungsbericht", Reznicek-Studien 2, Musikverlag H. M. Fehrmann, Wedemark 2015.
• Michael Wittmann, "Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek. Bausteine zu seiner Biographie, Reznicek-Studien 3, Musikverlag H. M. Fehrmann, Wedemark 2018.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Emil von Reznicek.

• Works by or about Emil von Reznicek at Internet Archive
• Free scores by Emil von Reznicek at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
• Reznicek research, MW-Musikverlag (in German)
• Newspaper clippings about Emil von Reznicek in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW