Franz Schmidt: Organ Works Vol. 1

Featuring

Andreas Jetter
Franz Schmidt

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Instruments

The Behmann organ of St. Martin Dornbirn, built in 1927/28 with 72 registers, was influenced by Albert Schweitzer's Alsatian organ reform, favoring a clear, transparent, and differentiated sound ideal suited for Schmidt's organ music.

Composer Biography

Franz Schmidt was a universal genius, excelling as a cellist (with the Vienna Philharmonic), pianist, organist, conductor, and composer.

Composition History

The Variations and Fugue on an Original Theme in D major (King's Fanfare from Fredigundis) was initially composed by Schmidt as a study for his second opera, Fredigundis, demonstrating his unique approach of using the organ to develop complex symphonic structures.

Performer Biography

Andreas Jetter, the organist on this recording, is the cathedral director of music at Chur Cathedral in Switzerland and has recorded complete piano concertos by Rachmaninov, Brahms, Schumann, and Stanford.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Schmidt held the organ in such high esteem, calling it the 'queen of instruments', that he explicitly condemned attempts to make it imitate an orchestra, demanding performers turn off 'tasteless' fads like swell shutters or chimes.

Composer Biography

Franz Schmidt's private life was marked by tragedy; his first wife suffered from severe mental illness, and his daughter Emma died unexpectedly after childbirth, leading him to compose his Fourth Symphony as a 'requiem for my daughter'.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Schmidt only composed when he had a captivating vision, resulting in a versatile and high-quality oeuvre of 44 works, including two operas, an oratorio, four symphonies, and 16 organ compositions.