# SS 16.04.22 - Wetz #1



## Mika (Jul 24, 2009)

A continuation of the Saturday Symphonies Tradition:

Welcome to another weekend of symphonic listening!

For your listening pleasure this weekend:

*Richard Wetz (1875 – 1935 )*

*Symphony no. 1*

I. Ruhig bewegt - anfangs etwas gehalten 
II. Scherzo: Leicht bewegt, aber nicht zu schnell 
III. Sehr langsam und ausdrucksvoll
IV. Finale: Kraftig und entschieden bewegt

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Post what recording you are going to listen to giving details of Orchestra / Conductor / Chorus / Soloists etc - Enjoy!


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## Mika (Jul 24, 2009)

First ever Wetz symphony, so let's start from #1. You can definitely hear Bruckner in here. Richie wrote three symphonies. He was not popular in his life time and he still isn't so. He was also new for me until I gave him a spin. Hope you enjoy it and Happy Easter to everyone

Following might be the only recording:


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

I will go with the Bader performance streamed via Spotify 
Something new this week


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## cougarjuno (Jul 1, 2012)

Will also go with Bader on You Tube. Wetz is a composer that's always been on my radar, but have never given a serious listen to -- now's the time I suppose.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Same for me later.


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## RobertJTh (Sep 19, 2021)

I wish music lovers would take Wetz more seriously. His music deserves more attention - and if there was a successful revival of Franz Schmidt's works, with multiple recordings of his 4 symphonies, there could be one of Wetz' music too. I guess we need to be patient.
In the mean while, we'll have to do with those single recordings of his major works, the violin concerto (great) and his chamber music (the 2nd string quartet is a materpiece).
Just in the case of the 3rd symphony, we have the luxury of 2 recordings, both not perfect, I've got a slight preference for the older one by Erich Peter.
There was a time when the only way to get to know Schmidt's symphonies was the old Bratislava cycle by Rajter - a case of the spirit being willing but the flesh...


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

I love the three Wetz symphonies, even if I can't get the "Bruckner 10, 11, 12" thing out of my head! Bader gets a listen this weekend, precious little choice, but he seems to have served Wetz well....


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

RobertJTh said:


> I wish music lovers would take Wetz more seriously. His music deserves more attention - and if there was a successful revival of Franz Schmidt's works, with multiple recordings of his 4 symphonies, there could be one of Wetz' music too. I guess we need to be patient.


This is not the place to discuss politics and I am intruding on the symphony group here. But as a point of information, Wetz's politics during the 1930's have worked against his prospects for being recorded and performed beyond his home city of Erfurt.


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## RobertJTh (Sep 19, 2021)

Roger Knox said:


> This is not the place to discuss politics and I am intruding on the symphony group here. But as a point of information, Wetz's politics during the 1930's have worked against his prospects for being recorded and performed beyond his home city of Erfurt.


There's nothing in his music that even remotely resembles Nazi propaganda. Yes, he was a German nationalist, but there were probably more practical than ideological reasons for his association with the Nazi movement. Frustrated as he was by his lack of success, he hoped to be able to use his political contacts to promote his music.
And he was not alone. Pfitzner and Schmidt were tainted by the new regime as well. Those two composers even left us several unmistakable propaganda pieces - though they didn't seem to be as politically motivated as Wetz was. Though Wetz had the good sense of dying only a couple of months after Hitler's election - God knows how infamous he'd have become if he had lived through the entire 3rd Reich...
But again, his music is as absolute and free of any ideological taints as can be. People who want him banned, should sling a shot at Carl Orff too. And Richard Strauss.


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

RobertJTh said:


> But again, his music is as absolute and free of any ideological taints as can be.


I agree. I am anti-censorship and would like to hear Wetz's orchestral music live, especially Symphonies 2 and 3 and the Violin Concerto. But I haven't seen anything supporting that possibility. When contributing to the thread below I read up in some depth on the composers you mentioned (see post #57 on Wetz). Since then, we've changed to not including politics in the main forum, only in the Politics and Music Sub-Forum, and I've nothing more to say except that I'm glad Franz Schmidt's music came back on recordings and in live performances.

https://www.talkclassical.com/threa...d-works-of-the-late-romantic-era.50934/page-3


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