Othmar Schoeck (September 1 1886 – March 8 1957) was a Swiss composer who studied briefly with Max Reger [1]. He was known mainly for his considerable output of art songs and song cycles, though he also wrote a number of operas and instrumental compositions including two string quartets and concertos for violin (for Stefi Geyer , dedicatee also of Béla Bartók's first concerto), cello and horn.

His father, Alfred Schoeck was a landscape painter, and as a young man, Othmar seriously considered following in his father's footsteps and attended classes an art school in Zürich before dropping out to go to the Zürich Conservatory. He studied with Reger at the Leipzig Conservatory for a year.

Schoeck spent World War I in Zürich, where he had an affair with the pianist Mary de Senger. After hearing the music of Les Six in Paris, Schoeck abandoned his tonal style in favor of serialism with the music of Alban Berg as a model. Alignment with Nazi artists led Schoeck to perceived as a traitor by his Swiss compatriots, and he never recovered.

External link

Othmar Schoeck Site