Schmidt / Brahms
Bratislava-born Franz Schmidt is a prominent composer of late German-Austrian Romantic symphonism, whose poetics were influenced by the works of Richard Wagner, Anton Bruckner and Richard Strauss. Schmidt composed the first of his four symphonies between 1896 and 1899 and dedicated it to the Archduchess Isabella. The work was premiered on 25 January 1902 in Vienna by the Wiener Concertverein Orchestra under the baton of conductor Ferdinand Löwe. The work was extremely well received by the public and critics. In 1900 the composer was awarded the prestigious Beethoven Prize by the Vienna Society of Friends of Music for this symphony. The popular Intermezzo from the opera Notre Dame, based on Victor Hugo's novel The Temple of the Mother of God in Paris, is one of the gems of Romantic musical literature. The conductor Herbert von Karajan was particularly fond of the work with its distinctive Hungarian melodicism. The iconic pair of concertante works by Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Johannes Brahms are a permanent part of the core concert repertoire.
