New sheet music: Complete Edition of Schreker's choral works

Franz Schreker: Choral works
edited by Christopher Hailey
Carus 4.103 / ISMN: M-007-07605-4

Franz Schreker had a long and close association with choral music. As founder and director of Vienna's Philharmonic Chorus he led world premieres and first performances of works by contemporary composers. It is surprising, therefore, that Schreker wrote relatively few independent choral works; only three of these works (with various scorings) were published in his lifetime. Now, for the first time this critical edition, prepared by Christopher Hailey, director of the Franz Schreker Foundation, makes available a body of works that sheds new light on Schreker’s musical evolution and, in its own right, constitutes a notable addition to twentieth-century choral literature.

– Auf dem Gottesacker / Coro SATB
– Gesang der Armen im Winter / Coro SATB
– Vergangenheit / Coro SATB
– Schlehenblüte / Coro TTBB
– Versunken / Coro TTBB, Pfte
– Der Holdestein / Soli SB, Coro SATB, Pfte
– König Tejas Begräbnis / Coro TTBB, Orch
– Der 116. Psalm / Coro SSA, Orch, Org
– Schwanensang / Coro SSAATTBB, Orch
– Appendix: Meereswogen. Fragment / Coro TTBarBarB

New CD recording

In 1907 two sisters, Grete and Elsa Wiesenthal, left the ballet corps of the Vienna Court Opera to devote themselves to the new realm of interpretative dance known as Ausdruckstanz. By 1908 they had many enthusiastic admirers, including Gustav Klimt, who invited the sisters to appear at the Kunstschau of 1908. The principal work of the Wiesenthal's Kunstschau performances was a pantomime based on Oscar Wilde's "The Birthday of the Infanta" with music commissioned from the then little-known composer Franz Schreker. The premiere on 27 June 1908 was an immediate success. Between 1908 and 1910 Schreker created six dance works that were either commissioned or inspired by the Wiesenthal sisters. This CD presents the first integral recording fo the five works that survive.