Accessible twelve-tone chamber music
Volume XII of the Erich Schmid Edition is the "Little House Concerto", in which the composer endeavored to "write music that was technically easier to perform".
The instrumentation of this "house concerto" is revealed right at the beginning: string quartet, soprano, piano, but never all at the same time, but in various combinations or alone. It is a cycle of twelve short pieces that were composed independently of each other in the late 1930s. Erich Schmid compiled them under this title in 1941 as his Opus 13. The premiere of the Small house concert on June 25, 1959 at Radio Beromünster. Another performance took place in Zurich in 1985, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of Pro Musica. This is the Zurich chapter of the IGNM; Erich Schmid was its president in the 1960s.
Conducting instead of composing
The lifetime achievements of this Swiss music pioneer are many and varied! As a conductor, he led the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich (1949-1956) and the Beromünster Radio Orchestra (1956-1970), as well as the Zurich Mixed Choir (1954-1975) and the Zurich Male Choir (1961-1964). Many contemporary Swiss works were premiered under his baton. His own composing increasingly faded into the background. Erich Schmid was a student of Arnold Schönberg in Berlin, a course of study that came to a premature end in 1933 for political reasons. Schmid initially moved to Glarus, where he was music director of two choirs and the Harmoniemusik. Through Werner Reinhart, he repeatedly made guest appearances with the Musikkollegium Winterthur, including performances of works from the New Viennese School.
Together or individually
Back to this Small house concertThe pieces are written in twelve-tone or related techniques. One is reminded of the tonal language of Anton Webern, the music is delicate and intimate, the cryptic order behind the tones can only be guessed at. The performers are not pushed to their technical limits; all that is required is experience in non-tonal ensemble playing. In view of their genesis, these aphoristic pieces can also be played separately in a different program context, for example as "sorbets" between larger works from any period. Number VIII for violin and piano is particularly beautiful!
The first edition published by Boosey & Hawkes/Bote & Bock contains a critical report and much information on the work and the composer, as well as the twelve-tone rows of the dodecaphonic pieces.
You can listen to the Small house concert in the 1959 recording in the Swiss Radio SRG SSR archive on Neo.Mx3. The recording of the 1985 concert is also available in the SRF archive under the call number MG 47126.
Erich Schmid: Kleines Hauskonzert, Zwölf Stücke für verschiedene Instrumente und Gesang op. 13, texts from "Des Knaben Wunderhorn", edited by Iris Eggenschwiler, score, BB 3554, € 55.00, Boosey & Hawkes/Bote & Bock, Berlin (Schott)
