# Richard Wetz really is...



## Klassic (Dec 19, 2015)

superb! High romantic style. Perfect to fill the gap for those wanting more like Sibelius or Bruckner. 

"Although his family owned a piano, no family member was particularly interested in music. The young Richard, who felt drawn to music early on, did not receive regular piano lessons until the age of eight years, but quickly taught himself by composing smaller piano and song pieces. He later stated that he resolved to dedicate his life to music by the age of 13."

"After passing his final examinations in 1897, he went to Leipzig to study at the conservatoire under such tutors as Carl Reinecke and Salomon Jadassohn. After only 6 weeks, however, he discontinued his studies after suffering from disillusionment regarding what he considered overly academic lessons. He instead took private lessons from Richard Hofmann, then leader of the Leipzig music academy, for half a year. At the same time, he took up studies at Leipzig University, including philosophy, psychology and literature. He studied poets such as Friedrich Hölderlin, Heinrich von Kleist and particularly Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who had great influence on his later work as a composer. Likewise, he became a follower of the philosophical ideas of Arthur Schopenhauer." 

"My music is strange: where it rings out, it seizes upon the deepest; but it is rarely given the opportunity again.” Richard Wetz, 1932

1st and 2nd Symphonies are most excellent. (I need to give more time to his third).


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Don't forget his requiem and Weihnachtsoratorium, splendid works!


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## Nevum (Nov 28, 2013)

He was the "continuation of Bruckner". Very Brucknerian music. Really excellent. He would have been much more known and recognized, but unfortunately he had somehow become a member of the nazi party. Such a shame.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

^^^ "somehow", heh.
From my understanding of the Wikipedia article on him, his music was never well known, and he hoped that joining the Nazis would help promote his music, though he also seems to have been at least some way politically aligned with them.
Whatever the Nazi connection, Wetz is one of many late-Romantic composers who have been mostly forgotten. The label CPO is of course a great source of this music.


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