# Richard Wetz



## Joachim Raff

Richard Wetz was born in Gleiwitz, Upper Silesia (Austria) on February 26th, 1875, and died in Erfurt on January 16th, 1935. He began by self-teaching, then enrolled in the Leipzig Conservatory but stayed for only six weeks. He took instruction privately from Richard Hofmann, director of the Choral Society of Leipzig. In 1899 he headed to Munich to study with Ludwig Thuille, an instructor/composer perhaps best-known today for a sextet, though it was Thuille's violin sonata overshadowed in the concert at which Reger's somewhat scandalous fourth sonata had its premiere....

Felix Weingartner, another composer/conductor of repute, arranged a theater conductor's post for Wetz in Stralsund the next year, which lasted only a few months; after another try in Barmen - what is today Wuppertal - Wetz returned to Leipzig. No work awaiting him there, he used the opportunity to do some listening instead, to classical composers, to Bruckner and to Liszt (on whom he was later, in 1925, to write a book.)

He then wrote two operas to his own librettos before receiving a post as the director of the Erfurt Music Society in 1906, and his career might be said then to have truly been launched.

The next few years saw both the failure, unfortunately, of the second of his two operas, but also the success of his Kleist Overture, op. 16, premiered in Berlin in 1908 under Nikisch in a concert with Elgar's Enigma Variations, and given this rather lukewarm review by Adolf Schultze in the Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik:

"Wetz's piece, clear and understandable at a glance, constructed with a skilful use of sound elements, left but few impressions, although it was interpreted resonantly and with passion. Serious, gloomy and passionate, but also light and soft is this music. Much in the way of inventive skills is not visible. At least the work shows some important qualities, as in the melancholic-pathetic introduction of the piece, the passionately moving main theme of the Allegro and the virile warm-blooded melody of the subsidiary theme."

With increasing success came, of course, further compositions - one singles out from the period before the 1917 premiere of his first symphony in particular, his Gesang des Lebens (op. 29, just recorded on cpo with the 3rd symphony,) Chorlied aus "Oedipus auf Colonos" (op. 31,) Hyperion (on texts by Hölderlin) for baritone, mixed chorus and orchestra (op. 32, 1912,) and his sonata for violin (op. 33).

Premiered by Liszt-scholar/archivist Peter Raabe, the first symphony op. 40, in c, begins over a quiet and expectant rhythmic pulse, out of which develops naturally the movement's long-breathed main theme. Particularly notable in this movement is a dissonant clash around fifteen minutes in, which leads to an expansive outburst of the second theme. After the recapitulation subsides into the more active coda, we are in a very different place. Frenetic downward scale fragments based on one of the subsidiary themes dispel any leisureliness from the forward motion of the work, and over them, increasingly urgent reminiscences of that same theme provoke first a collision, then two maestoso restatements, and ultimately resolution into several triumphant C major chords, and a pause... followed by repeated, insistent, and very final minor-third descents of Eb-C, the last C held unisono.

The scherzo, based on a theme reminiscent of the ostinato from the scherzo of Bruckner's 7th symphony, encloses a lyrical and chromatic trio, and has some wild moments. If it is too much of a cliche to say that the slow movement, in A-flat, is melodic and lyrical then it is at least worth remarking that the piece rises to some pointed and justified climaxes, is very fine and inspires affection and even perhaps love.

The c minor finale is an impressive creation, continuing the tragic atmosphere that has never really left the first movement and enhancing it. Structural use is made, as in some Bruckner symphonies and works by others as well, of the contrasting quantity of the chorale in this piece, and most effectively; likewise, cyclic quotes from earlier movements (which have not been lacking in the scherzo, for instance, either.) All leads from the somewhat un-Brucknerian opening through well-placed climaxes to a most memorable conclusion, as slowly gathering forces hit a dissonant nolle prosequi and descend to one last and most eloquent restatement of the first movement's main theme... after which four chords, long, long, long, short!!! (also loud-loud-loud-quiet) end this - I think stunning - symphony. There is an excellent recording on the cpo label with Roland Bader conducting the Cracow Philharmonic.

Between these first two of his symphonies Wetz published his "Romantic Variations on an Original Theme" for piano, op. 42. By then, a reviewer could write:

"Richard Wetz is no more the unknown; he has his apostle, who often and with cordial pressure stands up for him. And certainly this serious, striving composer has earned, that we do not shove him aside without reason. This is his first work of chamber music to have crossed our path [the op. 33 violin sonata apparently hadn't], and we may say with pleasure, that his craft is still in the ascent. This piece requires proficient pianistic skill, to be safe of its success. The simple, intimate theme (only the downturn in the third line seems to appear to us all too brusque) becomes, with the finest controlling technique, developed and reworked."

Also at this time he published his setting of the 3rd Psalm for baritone solo, mixed chorus and orchestra (op. 37) (reviewed, like the Variations, on page 340, 84th Jahrgang, NZM ; and, with its instrumentation perhaps a good coupling for his Hyperion?)

The second symphony, op. 47, finished in late 1919 (his next works were to be his third symphony, op. 48 and his second string quartet in e minor, op. 49,) is in A major, and separates into three movements- massig bewegt; langsam, mit klagendem Ausdruck; and Finale: Bewegt (Ruhige Halbe). The first movement begins I'd say deceptively calmly, though the storms within are, one comes to feel, natural in origin and not artificially imposed by the composer. There they are all the same. On brief acquaintance with this lovely movement perhaps I find somewhat more Brucknerian than anything in the first symphony, though perhaps those were those were my first impressions of the first symphony as well - and it is hard to say just what in Bruckner's canon it resembles. The slow movement of the symphony, in d minor, has a sad dignity. The finale has something, perhaps, of the tarantella about its minor-mode main theme. The second theme is also in minor, though rather less jolly in implication!

The third symphony, in B-flat and in four movements, has had a previous recording on Deutsche Harmonia Mundi which is now available on a Sterling CD, with Erich Peter conducting the Berlin Symphony. I have not heard that recording, regrettably, nor this new one on cpo, and cannot yet comment on the work.

After Wetz's death, the ADMV (Allgemeine Deutsche Musikverein) played the slow movement of the 3rd symphony in a church concert. (They had previously played "Hyperion" in their annual concerts back in 1913. See http://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~admv/1913.htm )

The f minor string quartet, op. 43 (score at Loeb Library at Harvard,) the first of Wetz's (at least?) two, earned these impressions from Otto Dorn after a 1920 concert: "with a touch of melancholy, warmly and naturally felt..."

The e minor string quartet's score is at New York Public Library; I recall from my one or two skims of the work, one of Wetz's late scores, that like the first symphony, it alternates the Romantic and the chorale-liturgical with effect. Both quartets should be worth hearing.

Those wishing to listen to Wetz's music are recommended first to the exemplary recording of the first symphony on cpo, an excellent recording of an astounding piece. The second symphony is very much growing on this listener, as is the accompanying Kleist-overture, both very fine music well-orchestrated- I cannot agree with the negatives in Schultze's review of the latter. The composer's output extends to at least 57 published opera, of which only five have been recorded, meanwhile, and if there is an audience for these now-three cpo CDs then perhaps their fans might hope for recordings of the string quartets, the (solo?) violin sonata, the Christmas Oratorio, the violin concerto, Hyperion and the Third Psalm, the Romantic Variations for piano and the Prelude and Fugue in d minor for organ, Trauersommernach for womens' chorus and orchestra, for example.

Those wondering at the sound of his music will find sometimes something of a mix, melodically, of Bruckner, Liszt, and Wagner, and structural and harmonic similarities from time to time as well. By no means, I think, will they find a particularly derivative composer, particularly in the first symphony; what gets said, how, in what order, why, and such questions... the composer seems to have developed answers that are at least partially his own. In the first symphony, though the mood is by no means uniformly bleak (one ought not in any event confuse tragedy in its classic sense, with bleakness,) the techniques are put to the service of an overall tragic goal; the second symphony has a quite different spirit, somewhat pastoral (as suggested by the booklet-notes to the cpo recording) perhaps, quite positive overall even in its largely minor-mode finale. I look forward to hearing the 3rd in Albert's new recording, and any further Wetz recordings cpo or other labels should release.

© Eric Schissel


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## Joachim Raff

Recommended listening:


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## rice

Just listened to all 3 symphonies. They're excellent! 
Atmospheric, melodic. Very enjoyable.


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## millionrainbows

Beavis & Butthead: "Ha ha, he said "Richard Wets."


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## MusicSybarite

The 3 symphonies have a strong accent to Bruckner, albeit they have more late-Romantic flavour. My favorite is the No. 2. To my ears (and brain) it's the most consistent and great. Nos. 1 and 3 tend to be prosaic and discursive, but not without their imposing moments.


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## millionrainbows

MusicSybarite said:


> The 3 symphonies have a strong accent to Bruckner, albeit they have more late-Romantic flavour. My favorite is the No. 2. To my ears (and brain) it's the most consistent and great. Nos. 1 and 3 tend to be prosaic and discursive, but not without their imposing moments.


What recording of No. 2 do you suggest? I ordered the one you pictured.


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## MusicSybarite

millionrainbows said:


> What recording of No. 2 do you suggest? I ordered the one you pictured.


I'm only aware of the CPO recording, and it's convincing overall.


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## flamencosketches

I dont always bite on these "unsung" late Romantics, but somehow I can picture myself getting into Wetz. I'm listening to and enjoying his second symphony now. Really good. Kind of Brucknerian, but with kind of a wider orchestral pallet.

There's this short biographical video about him I saw a couple of months ago:


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## Andante Largo

I have never heard of him before, although I live near Gleiwitz (or correctly Gliwice, because now it's Polish city). But after random hearing of his works on YouTube, I think it should be in my collection. So thank you for introducing me to this composer.


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## millionrainbows

I just received my Symphony Nr. 3 by mail, and am enjoying it. The liner notes are good.


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## RobertJTh

I spent an enjoyable half an hour with the violin concerto:






A delightful concerto that reminds me of the Reger violin concerto - though at only half of its length it's a much more accessible piece. Its style has some relationship to the concertante works of Franz Schmidt as well. It's more modern, neoclassical than the symphonies too, sign that Wetz' style was still developing late in his life, away from the Bruckner influences that are so noticable in the 3 symphonies. One wonders what his projected 4th symphony would have sounded like...


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## RobertJTh

Next: the 2nd String Quartet.






The primary associations are Schönberg's early quartets here, there's a expressionist spirit hovering over the music. It's predominantly modern music too, strident, at places dissonant and harmonically always very advanced. The more traditional sounding passages have an ironic, postmodern feel, one thinks of Mahler and again, Schönberg (his 2nd quartet is never far away).

The structures are clear but not too clear to make the music predictable; Wetz always is in for a surprise, be it with a weird sounding texture or a transformation of a familiar theme into something completely different. In fact, there's not a single page in this quartet without a special "effect" that makes you raise your eyebrows. Wetz' reputation of being an old-fashioned Bruckner imitator definitely needs correction!

Too bad there are only two YT videos with scores - its the best way to familiarize yourself with unknown music, listening to it with the score scrolling along conveniently!


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