1847–1927 · Austria · Romantic
Robert Fuchs (1847–1927) was an Austrian composer and teacher from Styria who spent many years teaching music theory at the Vienna Conservatory. Mahler, Sibelius, Wolf and Zemlinsky were among his pupils. As a composer he became known for his serenades for string orchestra and earned the nickname Serenaden-Fuchs. The site offers his choral piece Des Kindleins Wiegenlied.
Robert Fuchs was born on 15 February 1847 in Frauental an der Laßnitz, in Styria, Austria. He was the youngest child in the large family of Patriz Fuchs, a teacher at the school attached to a brass factory. His father was also active in music, was well regarded as a musician and founded a music society in Frauental. His mother, Maria, was the daughter of the innkeeper Bernhart Rothleitner.
Robert's brother Johann Nepomuk Fuchs, five years older than him, also became a composer and an opera conductor. He served as court Kapellmeister in Vienna and directed the conservatory of the Society of the Friends of Music, and during their lifetimes he was better known than his younger brother.
Robert attended elementary school in Zeierling, now part of Frauental, and in St. Peter im Sulmtal, then went on to the main school in Marburg and the lower secondary school in Graz. From the age of eight he had his first music lessons, in piano, violin and organ, with Martin Bischof, an uncle of Hans Kloepfer. Bischof was married to Robert's sister Maria Antonia, who was known as the Sulmtal Nightingale. Fuchs wrote his first piano piece at fifteen.
At his father's wish Robert completed training at the teachers' seminary in Graz. It was in that city that he first performed in public as an organist. He passed the examination for elementary school teachers but did not want to work in that profession.
In 1865, supported by Wilhelm Gericke and W. A. Rémy, he went to Vienna to study composition with Felix Otto Dessoff at the conservatory of the Society of the Friends of Music. His musical preparation allowed him to skip the theory courses. Joseph Hellmesberger was also among his teachers at the conservatory.
In 1866 Fuchs worked as organist at the Piarist church and then became organist of the court chapel. In gratitude for that post he composed a mass every year, performed in turn in the court chapel, in St Stephen's Cathedral and in the Michaelerkirche. In 1867 he presented a symphony as his graduation work.
After graduating, Fuchs stayed on to teach at the conservatory. He held a professorship in music theory at the Vienna Conservatory from 1875 to 1912. His pupils are said to include Gustav Mahler, Hugo Wolf, Jean Sibelius, Alexander von Zemlinsky, Erich Korngold, George Enescu and many others.
Franz Schreker, Franz Schmidt and Robert Stolz are also named among Fuchs's pupils. In the years 1894–1905 he also served as organist of the court music chapel in Vienna.
Besides the serenades, Fuchs wrote for the orchestra and the stage. In 1867 he presented a symphony in B minor, which served as his graduation work, and his first symphony, in C major, Op. 37, was published in Berlin by Fritz Simrock in 1885. Besides the student symphony he wrote three symphonies, and his orchestral works also include an overture to Franz Grillparzer's drama Des Meeres und der Liebe Wellen, Op. 59, and an Andante grazioso and Capriccio for string orchestra, Op. 63.
Fuchs's operas, Die Königsbraut (libretto by Ignaz Schnitzer, premiered in Vienna) and Die Teufelsglocke (libretto by Bernhard Buchbinder), met with far less success than his symphonies.
Fuchs became famous through the first of his serenades for string orchestra, written in 1874. Later he composed four more works with the same title. The serenades were so popular that the composer was nicknamed Serenaden-Fuchs.
In 1881 Fuchs was awarded the Beethoven Prize for his piano concerto. The jury consisted of Johannes Brahms, Hans Richter, Karl Goldmark and Eduard Hanslick, and they preferred Fuchs to Gustav Mahler, who had entered his first mature work, Das klagende Lied. In 1880 and 1884 Fuchs also won the composition competition of the Society of the Friends of Music.
Johannes Brahms praised and supported Fuchs, and Fuchs dedicated his first piano trio to Brahms. Brahms almost never praised other composers' works, but he described Fuchs as a splendid musician whose music was finely and skilfully made and always gave pleasure. The conductors Arthur Nikisch, Felix Weingartner and Hans Richter performed his works whenever they had the chance. One critic pointed to Fuchsisms in Mahler's Second Symphony.
His works did not become widely known largely because he hardly promoted them himself: he lived quietly in Vienna and declined to organise concerts, even when the opportunity arose. By nature he was shy and modest. The Vienna Philharmonic also gave concerts devoted to him.
In 1869 Fuchs married Amalia, and the couple had two sons and a daughter. His wife died in 1898, and he suffered a severe depression after her death. In the following years he spent his summers in Hirtenberg, his wife's home region, where his wife's niece Hermine Böck kept house for him.
From 1901 until the end of his life Fuchs spent the summer months in Admont, in the villa of his friend Anton Mayr. Mayr wrote a personal biography of him. Fuchs dedicated his Mass in G major, Op. 108, to the abbot of Admont, Oswin Schlammadinger.
Fuchs liked to go hiking. The New Vienna Tourist Club, which he founded, was renamed the Robert Fuchs Guild for his eightieth birthday.
Robert Fuchs died in Vienna on 19 February 1927. He is buried in an honorary grave at the Central Cemetery.
In 1934 a street, the Robert-Fuchs-Gasse, was named after him in the Vienna district of Penzing. In Admont there is a memorial plaque with a text by Hans Kloepfer, who also wrote texts for Fuchs's songs. Frauental has a Robert Fuchs choir and a park named after him. From 1932 to 1939 a Robert Fuchs Society existed in Vienna.
After Fuchs's death his music was soon forgotten. Some regarded him as an imitator of Brahms. The first recording of his piano concerto appeared only in 2003. The composer's great-granddaughter is the well-known Austrian stage and film actress Katja Weitzenböck.
Fuchs wrote in a wide range of genres. He composed two operas, Die Königsbraut and Die Teufelsglocke, three symphonies, five orchestral serenades and a piano concerto. Chamber music takes up a very large part of his output: four string quartets, several piano and string trios, six violin sonatas, two for cello and one each for viola and double bass. He also wrote organ pieces, songs and church music.
Fuchs's chamber works include a Quintet for clarinet and string quartet in E-flat major, Op. 102, a Trio in F-sharp minor for violin, viola and piano, Op. 115, a Terzett for two violins and viola in C-sharp minor, Op. 107, and a series of pieces with piano for various instruments: ten fantasy pieces for violin, Op. 74, seven intermezzi for violin, Op. 82, seven fantasy pieces for cello, Op. 78, six fantasy pieces for viola, Op. 117, and three pieces for double bass, Op. 96. Fuchs also composed vocal music: songs, masses and other church music.
For pianists Fuchs left three sonatas (from 1877, 1910 and 1919), the collection Tautropfen (Dewdrops), Op. 112, of thirteen pieces, and a cycle of ten sketches, In der Dämmerstunde (At Twilight), Op. 38. In his lifetime his best-known works were the five serenades for string orchestra, while his piano concerto in B-flat minor, Op. 27, won him the Beethoven Prize. His chamber music was regarded as the finest part of his output. The first sonata is in G-flat major, Op. 19, the second in G minor, Op. 88 and the third in D-flat major, Op. 109.
Among Fuchs's orchestral works are the five serenades: No. 1 in D major, Op. 9, No. 2 in C major, Op. 14, No. 3 in E minor, Op. 21, No. 4 in G minor, Op. 51 (for string orchestra and two horns) and No. 5 in D major, Op. 53 (for small orchestra). Christian Ludwig conducted the Cologne Chamber Orchestra in a recording of the serenades. His piano concerto reached record or CD only in 2003.
The site offers Fuchs's choral piece Des Kindleins Wiegenlied (A Little Child's Lullaby) for mixed choir (SATB), at intermediate level.