From Alamy.com
In Jane Magrath’s book, The pianist’s Guide to Standard Teaching and Performance Literature, she references Fuchs’ Op. 32 and 47, his two albums for children. She states that these pieces are charming in their simplicity and unashamed Romanticism. They parallel the intermediate pieces from Schumann’s Album for the Young Op. 68. They are generally one page long and they are suitable for teaching Romantic phrasing and voicing. According to a spreadsheet of ABRSM piano exam pieces over several decades, there have been eight Fuchs’ pieces. Sad at Heart, op. 47 no. 5 has been in the syllabus twice, in Grade 1 in 2007 – 8 and Grade 2 in 1994. In 1993 Smiles after Tears op. 47 no. 10 was in the Grade 2 syllabus in 1993 and Cradle Song op. 47 no. 14 was in the same grade in 2007 – 8. There have been three pieces of Fuchs’ in the Grade 3 syllabus – Proud Horseman op. 47 no. 2 in 2001 – 2, Romance op. 47 no. 13 in 1993 and Soldiers’ March op. 47 no. 14 in 1989. And lastly in 2015 – 16, Morning Song op. 32 no 1 was in the Grade 4 syllabus. The footnotes at the bottom of the ABRSM 2007 – 8 Grade 1 exam book state that the piece is taken from Fuchs’ Schmanesque Album for the Young. His op. 32, Youthful Sounds was published in Leipzig in the early 1880’s and his Children’s Album op. 47 was published by Simrock, Berlin in 1890.
Grave of the composer and music teacher Robert Fuchs (1847–1927) and his sons Robert Fuchs (painter; 1872–1952) and Hans Fuchs (professor, philologist; 1880–1919) at the Vienna Central Cemetery (33E/3/5)
By Papergirl - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=71719288
Robert Fuchs was born on the 15th February 1847 in Frauental, a province of Styria in Austria. Robert was the last of thirteen children in the family. His father, Patritz was an organist and was the composer of several sacred works. One of his older brothers, Johann Nepomuk Fuchs (1842 – 1899) was a noted composer, conductor, administrator and music editor. Johann Fuchs organized the first complete edition of Schubert’s works. In 1880 he joined the teaching staff of the Vienna Conservatory and became the director in 1893. Robert Fuchs married on the 10th November 1869 to Amalia Francisca Koop. Robert Fuchs is buried in the Central Cemetery in Vienna, grave 33E-3-5.
Unveiling of Robert Fuch’s tombstone Vienna Central Cemetery, from Alamy.com
At an early age Robert Fuchs learned the flute, violin, piano and organ and also thoroughbass with a brother-in-law. He moved to Vienna in 1865 after spending a brief time in Graz. In Vienna he worked as a repetiteur and private music teacher and was appointed as the organist at the Piaristenkirche in 1866. He then enrolled at the Vienna Conservatoire where he studied violin and composition.
Possibly Fuch’s most lasting legacy is his teaching as many of his pupils became composers – Sibelius, Mahler, Schmidt, Wolf, Korngold and Zemlinsky are some of those he taught. As a result of his teaching, he influenced two generations of late Romantic composers. He taught harmony and music theory at the Vienna Conservatory for 35 years and became Professor of Harmony from 1875 - 1912. In 1886 he won the Beethoven prize for his composition, the Symphony in C major. (There is conflicting information regarding this on the internet as a few sources quote that he won the Beethoven prize in 1881 for his Piano Concerto in B flat major).
He held other roles too, he was the organist at the Vienna Hofkapelle (Court Chapel) from 1894 – 1905 and was also the Kapellmaister in Bratislava.
During his lifetime he was a noted teacher, conductor, organist and composer however he did little to promote his work. He was highly regarded in Vienna in his lifetime. His opus numbers cover up to 116 and they embrace all the major musical genres – song, choral, opera, orchestral, solo instrumental and chamber music. His five serenades are possibly his finest and most successful works. He became known as “Serenaden-Fuchs” (serenade fox) which captures a musical personality that is quite tame and slyly charming. Also, his clarinet quintet is well-known.
His music shares a connection with Brahms’ work. Brahms said of him “Fuchs is a splendid musician. What a pleasure it is to look at his music – so elegant, so skillful, so charmingly invented that one is always pleased”. Brahms did not often bestow this kind of praise. He was not a musical progressive of his time, he believed that music should have a melodic and rhythmic appeal rather than containing the expressive symbolism of the late Romantic period. The Daily Telegraph and Courier (London) of Tuesday 3rd April 1877 claims that Fuchs is a “Wiener Kind, a pupil of the Conservatoria and the musical heir of Frans Schubert, whose mantle of melody has fallen quite naturally upon the gifted young composer’s shoulder”. It goes on to state that his Serenade no. 2 in C major that parts of it are simply fascinating and it worked its charm on the audience who demanded that the work be played a second time. However, a later article in The Era 20th June 1885 is critical of his Symphony in C, Op. 37 as is says “it is irritating to English composers to see men the calibre of Robert Fuchs pushed forward and their mechanical compositions so finely interpreted. For in truth, there is nothing in this symphony that has not been heard before. The article does concede that he writes well for the orchestra and his ideas are graceful enough however there is little divine fire. It was like listening to the inspired utterance of a gifted speaker after the chattering of a parrot to compare the great overture of Beethoven, with which the concert closed, to the conventional strains of Robert Fuchs. It does though compliment Fuchs on some of the details in the symphony, there is praise for the third movement, a minuet which shows the influence of Mozart.
In the British newspapers there are a few references to Robert Fuchs, not all complimentary. According to the London Evening Standard Monday 6th June 1898 it states “Robert Fuchs, whose music cannot be said, as yet to be popular in England, for he is scarcely known, though one or tow of his works have been performed at the Richter concerts. Fuchs has held a Professorship of Harmony, Counterpoint and Composition at the Vienna Conservatorium. In another reference in the Graphic on Saturday 20th June 1885, a recently published symphony of his was performed in England. The article goes on to say “There is nothing in this symphony likely to excite the anger of one party still strong in musical life, nor to warrant the admiration of the other. Herr Fuchs does not depart widely from the classical form. Poverty of matter rather than offensiveness of manner is the principal fault of Herr Fuchs’ Symphony. It is essentially of a class happily described by Wagner as ‘Kapellmeister-musik’. It seems a mere truism to repeat that we have in England composers capable of turning out far better work than these modest importations from the continent”.
References
www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Fuchs
www.naxos.com/person/Robert_Fuchs/27186.htm
www.allmusic.com>robert-fuchs-mm0001433113
www.jarmandi.eu/Composer/Fuchs,-Robert
www.prestomusic.com/classical/composer/700--fuchs-robert
www.npr.org
British Library Newpaper Collection