Martin Scherber

Martin Scherber (16 January 1907 – 10 January 1974) was a German composer and the creator of what he described as "metamorphosis symphonies".

Scherber in Aussig (Ústí nad Labem) - about 1932

Childhood and youth

Scherber was born as the third child of Marie and Bernhard Scherber in Nuremberg, where his father was First Bassist in the orchestra of the State Opera House. Martin was a quiet child, both alert and dreamy, always full of questions. With his great gift for everything technical, it was generally assumed he would become an engineer and for this reason he attended the secondary modern High School (Oberrealschule, today: Hans Sachs Gymnasium). But already early, at about five years of age, he began to play everything on the piano by heart. He had the absolute hearing. He didn't want to learn any notes, but after conflicts with his father he accepted them as a mean of the representation of music. Later his strength lay in improvising. He seemed to be immediately at home in music. At the age of thirteen he made his first compositions. At this time, he was having advanced piano lessons with the Nuremberg opera conductor, Karl Winkler. He made his first public appearances as a pianist in 1922. In composing and improvising he felt enwrapped in a sheet of music. He could step out of his everyday consciousness into an independent, more awake consciousness. He stepped behind the walls, as he called it. From then on he tried to find a more accurate foundation for these experiences which were at first puzzling for him.

Education

Since September 1925 he attended the State Academy of Music in Munich for which he received a stipendium. At the same time he was studying philosophy. Here he also occupied himself with basic theoretical questions of knowledge, that is, the integration of an active selfconsciousness within a consciousness for the world. In accordance with his nature, this process merged totally with his artistic life. Under this double aspect his biography appears in a special light. In September 1929 he took a position as répétiteur in Aussig on the River Elbe and after a short time he became conductor and choir leader. He withdrew from the public scene in May 1933. From then on he lived as free-lance composer and music teacher again in the city of his birth.

Metamorphosis-Symphonies

The composer of Metamorphosis-Symphonies, 1951–55.

There he created the Symphony No.1 in D minor (written in 1938). Years of experience as a soldier and prisoner of war (1940-46) in World War II affected him for a long time. Thus one may regard his 2nd Symphony in F minor (1951–1952), and 3rd Symphony in B minor (1952–1955), as a more weighty continuation of his musical path which began with the D minor Symphony. The composer called them 'Metamorphosis-Symphonies'. These symphonies are his most important compositions.

Scherber also composed instrumental music, choral works, songs and pieces for piano. Amongst these belong his "ABC" pieces, a piano cycle in which he attempts to catch the mood of German sounds of speech.

Criticism

Scherber’s main compositions, dating from the 1950s onwards, have to this day hardly ever been performed and have been widely criticised as being in a very conservative post-Bruckner tonal language, at a time when the likes of Boulez and Stockhausen were writing their first important modernist works.

Publication

The composer had intended to publish his symphonies only after his death. But in 1969 the idea was brought to Scherber to do it sooner. In this way the symphonies appeared in Nuremberg as immediate contributions to Albrecht-Dürer-Year 1971 (500th Anniversary of birth).

Accident

At the end of May 1970, during a walk, Scherber was hit by a drunken driver and thrown through the air. As a result, he was robbed of his physical faculties to continue with his musical work, and he was unable to walk for the rest of his days. He died in early 1974 from the consequences of the accident.

Selected works

Discography

References

  1. ↑ Faksimile score Sinfonie No. 1 in d-moll durch Martin Scherber, Hans Bosannek Nürnberg (1971)
  2. ↑ Faksimile score Sinfonie No. 2 in f-moll durch Martin Scherber, Hans Bosannek Nürnberg (1973)
  3. ↑ Faksimile score Sinfonie No. 3 in h-moll durch Martin Scherber, Hans Bosannek Nürnberg (1971)
  4. ↑ Henning Kunze: Booklet 3. Symphonie in h-moll durch Martin Scherber, p. 12, Peermusic Classical/col legno, Bad Wiessee, 2001
  5. ↑ Henning Kunze Die Metamorphose als Wesenselement der Musik, Periodical 'Die Drei' 9/1990, Publishers Freies Geistesleben, Stuttgart (1990) S. 676-687, refers to the 2nd symphony
  6. ↑ Abendzeitung, Nuremberg of 7 September 1973, S. 1 and 5 February 1974, S. 9