(b Frauenthal, 15 Feb 1847; d Vienna, 19 Feb 1927). Austrian composer, teacher, organist and conductor. From 1875 he was conductor of the orchestral society of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde and professor at the Vienna Conservatory, where his pupils included Mahler, Sibelius, Schrecker, Wolf and Zemlinsky. Brahms thought highly of his compositions, especially the prize-winning First Symphony (1885). His brother Johann Nepomuk (1842-99), an opera conductor and editor, became director of the conservatory in 1893.
Robert Fuchs was a Austrian late-Romantic composer and important teacher. He was the brother of Johann Nepomuk Fuchs.
As a young boy, Robert studied organ, flute, violin, and realizing a figured bass. Before he was 20, he got a job as a répétiteur and teacher and, in 1866, served as organist of the Piaristenkirche in Vienna. He went to the Vienna Conservatory and studied composition with Dessof. He wrote a Symphony in G minor, an examination piece which had little success. His Serenade No. 1 (1874), however, was well-received, and it and four other serenades became his best-known works. In 1875, he became conductor of the orchestra of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde and professor at the Conservatory. His influence as a teacher would become his most lasting legacy. He taught a stellar list of composers, including Sibelius, Mahler, Franz Schmidt, Schreker, Wolf, and Zemlinsky. He became friends with Johannes Brahms, who encouraged him to continue as a composer and referred Fuchs to his own publisher, Simrock. In 1886, his later attempt at symphonic form, which he numbered his Symphony No. 1, won the Beethoven Prize in composition from the Gesellschaft der Musikfrende. His output includes three symphonies, a piano concerto, 50 songs, three masses, two operas, and a variety of chamber and piano works. ~ Joseph Stevenson, All Music Guide
As Professor of music theory at the Vienna Conservatory, Fuchs taught many notable composers, while he was himself a highly regarded composer in his lifetime.
"Unfailingly tuneful and enjoyable, Robert Fuchs’s piano trios are an easily accessible way to get to know a composer whom Brahms greatly admired," noted the magazine Gramophone. "In his time Fuchs was very highly regarded, with one critic famously pointing to Fuchsisms in Mahler’s Second Symphony."
That his compositions did not become better known was largely because he did little to promote them, living a quiet life in Vienna and refusing to arrange concerts, even when the opportunity arose, in other cities. He certainly had his admirers, among them Brahms, who almost never praised the works of other composers. But with regard to Fuchs, Brahms wrote, “Fuchs is a splendid musician, everything is so fine and so skillful, so charmingly invented, that one is always pleased.” Rarely, if ever, did another composer receive this kind of an accolade from Brahms. Famous contemporary conductors, including Arthur Nikisch, Felix Weingartner and Hans Richter, championed his works when they had the opportunity but with few exceptions, it was his chamber music which was considered his finest work.
In his lifetime, his best known works were his five serenades; their popularity was so great that Fuchs acquired the nickname "Serenaden-Fuchs" (roughly, "Serenading Fox").
Johannes Moser and Paul Rivinius recorded his Sonata No.2 in E♭ Minor, Op. 83 for Violoncello and Piano in 2006 for Hanssler Classic.
List of compositions
Orchestral
Symphonies
Symphony No.1 in C major, Op.37
Symphony No.2 in E♭ major, Op.45
Symphony No.3 in E major, Op.79
Serenades
Serenade for string orchestra No.1 in D major, Op.9
Serenade for string orchestra No.2 in C major, Op.14
Serenade for string orchestra No.3 in E minor, Op.21
Serenade for string orchestra and 2 horns in G minor, Op.51
Serenade for small orchestra in D major, Op. 53
Andante grazioso & Capriccio for string orchestra, Op.63
Piano Concerto in B♭ minor, Op.27
Vocal
Operas
Die Königsbraut, in 3 acts, Op.46 (1889) (librettist: Ignaz Schnitzer) premiered in Vienna[1]
Die Teufelsglocke, in 3 acts (w/o Op.) (1891) (librettist: Bernhard Buchbinder)
Choral works
Mass in G, Op. 108
Mass in D minor, Op. 116
Mass in F, without Opus number
Chamber
Quintets
Quintet for clarinet and string quartet in E♭ major, Op.102
Quartets
String Quartet No.1 in E major, Op.58
String Quartet No.2 in A minor, Op.62
String Quartet No.3 in C major, Op.71
String Quartet No.4 in A major, Op.106
Piano Quartet No.1 in G minor, Op.15
Piano Quartet No.2 in B minor, Op.75
Trios
Trio in F♯ minor for violin, viola, and piano, Op.115
Seven Fantasy Pieces for violin, viola and piano, Op.57
String Trio in A major, Op.94
Piano Trio in C major, Op.22
Piano Trio in B♭ major, Op.72
Terzetti (trios for two violins and viola) Opp. 61 nos. 1 in E minor, 2 in D minor
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