SCHOECK, OTHMAR  

The Swiss composer Othmar Schoeck, son of the painter Alfred Schoeck, contributed extensively to vocal and choral repertoire. Briefly a pupil of Max Reger, he became one of the leading composers of his generation in Switzerland, writing music that is melodic and in vocal settings shows a marked understanding of and respect for the text.

Operas

Operas by Schoeck include Massimilia Doni, based on Balzac, and Penthesilea, based on Kleist.

Orchestral Music

Schoeck's orchestral music includes a cello concerto, a Concerto quasi una fantasia for violin and orchestra and a concerto for French horn.

Vocal and Choral Music

Schoeck's contribution to vocal and choral repertoire is considerable and ranges from a perceptive setting of Walt Whitman in Trommelschläge, for chorus and orchestra, to song-cycles such as Der Wandsbecker Liederbuch, a setting of seventeen poems by the Wandsbeck poet Matthias Claudius, and Das holde Bescheiden, settings of Eduard Mörike.