Hans Pfitzner Lieder
- 3 hours ago
- 2 min read
Hans Erich Pfitzner (5 May 1869 – 22 May 1949) was, by all accounts, a rather prickly character. Photographs of him resemble one of the smaller birds of prey in a particularly angry mood, and his uncompromising attitude to music, and life in general, alienated many with whom he came into contact, notable Thomas Mann (who admired his music) and Adolf Hitler (who very definitely did not).
Pfitzner eventually come to be regarded as an anti-modernist, although at the start of the twentieth century he was seen as something of a musical progressive. Crucially though, he was seriously out of sympathy with the atonal music of Schoenberg and his followers, a view he expressed very robustly in a series of articles and pamphlets. His conservatism has suggested to some commentators that he was a Nazi sympathiser, but the reality is rather more complex. Pfitzner and Hitler met as early as 1923, and Pfitzner annoyed the future German Chancellor by arguing with him about antisemitism. Hitler stormed off, later saying he ‘wanted nothing further to do with this Jewish rabbi!’ Pfitzner was not Jewish, but Hitler and his inner circle continued to believe he was and he was therefore passed over for several important musical positions. Pfitzner did not help his cause when he refused to write new incidental music to replace Mendelssohn’s for a new production of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, arguing he could not possibly write anything as good as the original. Pfitzner was outraged when he was subjected to ‘denazification’ after WW II, a clear indication he did not consider himself a Nazi, even if his position on this might be seen as rather naïve, as he expected Hitler to promote his work, and was disappointed when he did not.
Michael Raucheisen included a little under half of Pfitzner’s 101 songs in his ‘Lied der Welt’ project. Many of these are introspective in mood and slow moving. The harmonic language is attractive but rarely with much sense of individuality. Too often the effect is of deeply felt but uninspired illustration of over-earnest texts, but some songs are more distinguished, notably ‘Hast du von den Fischerkindern’ (tenderly sung by Hans Hotter), ‘Venus Mater’ (in two excellent performances by Maria Muller and Erna Berger) and, my personal favourites, ‘Leierkastenmann’, an organ grinder’s bitter monologue, and ‘An die Mark’, a genuinely moving meditation on love for the homeland, (both beautifully sung by Arno Schellenberg). Pfitzner sometimes gives his sopranos something a little livelier, notably ‘Gretel’, which I find quite charming. Erna Berger gives a definitive, suitably kittenish performance, as she encourages her boy friend Hans to come with her into the forest.
I might seem to have rather damned Pfitzner with faint praise, but his songs are worth exploring, particularly if you enjoy Hugo Wolf, the composer he most resembles in terms of harmony and style. As well as the Raucheisen selection, there are two complete editions and, of course, Fischer-Dieskau has recorded a good number.
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