{{Short description|German composer (1932–2025)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Christfried Schmidt | image = Christfried Schmidt Komponist 2021 RK01.jpg | alt = Colour Press headshot of a smiling, elderly man with long white hair and beard, wearing a tweed suit and plaid scarf | caption = Schmidt in 2021 | birth_date = {{birth date|1932|11|26|df=y}} | birth_place = Markersdorf, Saxony, Germany | death_date = {{death date and age|2025|4|26|1932|11|26|df=y}} | death_place = Berlin, Germany | occupation = {{hlist|Composer|teacher}} | website = {{Official URL}} }}
'''Christfried Schmidt''' ({{IPA|de|ˈkʁɪstfʁiːt ˈʃmɪt}}; 26 November 1932 – 29 April 2025) was a German composer who worked as a church musician and piano teacher. In composition, he felt mostly self-taught. Some of his works for large choirs and orchestras were not performed during the period of East Germany, but were premiered decades after he wrote them, such as his 1975 ''St Mark Passion'' in Berlin in 2019 and his 1968 Second Symphony in memory of Martin Luther King in Dresden in 2021.
== Life and career == Schmidt was born in Markersdorf in Upper Lusatia on 26 November 1932,<ref name="Thein" /><ref name="Munzinger" /> the son of a miller.<ref name="Felber" /><ref name="Herzfeld" /> He attended the grammar school In Görlitz and received piano and organ lessons from Humperdinck's pupil Emil Kühnel. From 1951 to 1954, he studied church music at the {{Ill|Hochschule für Kirchenmusik der Evangelischen Kirche der schlesischen Oberlausitz|de|lt=Kirchenmusikschule Görlitz}} (B exam) and from 1955 to 1959 at the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig (A exam), organ with Werner Buschnakowski and composition with Johannes Weyrauch.<ref name="Thein" /><ref name="Munzinger" /><ref name="Herzfeld" /> In Leipzig, he familiarised himself with contemporary music with Hermann Heyer. He discovered compositions by 20th-century composers of the Second Viennese School on radio, music that was rarely performed in East Germany, being regarded as not suitable to socialist realism.<ref name="Herzfeld" />
From 1960 to 1962, Schmidt was a church musician in Forst.<ref name="Thein" /><ref name="Munzinger" /> From 1963 to 1964, he worked as kapellmeister at the theatre of Quedlinburg. From 1965 to 1980, he was a freelance piano teacher and choir director in Quedlinburg.<ref name="Thein" /><ref name="Munzinger" /> He began to focus on composition which was mostly self-taught,<ref name="Neuner 2019" /> teaching on three days per week and composing the rest of the time.<ref name="Felber 2014" /> In Warsaw, he met the Japanese musicologist Ichirō Tamura, who enabled him to perform his works in Japan, including the first premiere of one of his pieces in 1970.<ref name="Neuner 2019" />
[[File:Christfried Schmidt Komponist 1976 RK01.jpg|thumb|Schmidt (right) and musicologist Frank Schneider in 1976]]
From 1980 until his death, Schmidt lived as a freelance composer in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg.<ref name="Thein" /><ref name="Munzinger" /><ref name="Neuner 2019" /><ref name="Felber 2014" /> Lacking commissions or a publisher, he composed major works for choir and orchestra. He was inspired by Bach, Anton Bruckner and Max Reger, and Alban Berg in the 20th century whose expressiveness based on formal construction was a model for his works.<ref name="Neuner 2019" /> He preferred early works by Schoenberg to later more formal compositions, and felt close to the music of Bernd Alois Zimmermann. He travelled to the Warsaw Autumn festival several times where he was impressed by the free aleatoric music of Witold Lutosławski.<ref name="Herzfeld" /> Schmidt composed ''Lieder'' setting texts by Friedrich Hölderlin and Heiner Müller, and a cycle of orchestral works inspired by graphic art of Edvard Munch.<ref name="Neuner 2019" /> Schmidt's artistic breakthrough came with the premiere of his Oboe Concerto performed by Burkhard Glaetzner at the DDR-Musiktage 1984.<ref name="SAdK" /> He remained an outsider in East Germany where his major works were not performed.<ref name="Felber" /> He was a member of the Akademie der Künste der DDR from 1990 to 1991.<ref name="Thein" />
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, performances of Schmidt's compositions for large choirs and orchestra remained rare. He was a member of the Sächsische Akademie der Künste from 1998;<ref name="Thein" /> the institution holds his archive.<ref name="SAdK" /> His new orchestral work ''Memento'' was premiered in 2002 in the Leipzig Gewandhaus by the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Fabio Luisi.<ref name="Kalliope" /><ref name="Sindermann" /> The work is memorial of the composer's mother.<ref name="Sindermann" /> In 2009 his ''Munch-Musik'' was played, and a reviewer from ''Die Zeit'' described its "unheard colours, magical and sometimes intoxicating, a music about love".<ref name="Felber 2014" /> In 2019, the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin conducted by {{ill|Kai-Uwe Jirka|de}} premiered his ''St Mark Passion'' from 1974 after 45 years.<ref name="Herzfeld" /> The highly expressive, headstrong work combines aleatoric compositional procedures with a polyphonic way of thinking in the wake of Bach and the Viennese School.<ref name="Singakademie" /><ref name="Neuner 2019" /> It ends with a Kyrie described as humble.<ref name="Felber 2019" /> Schmidt's Second Symphony "In memoriam Martin Luther King" was produced for radio on 3 October 2021 by Deutschlandfunk, live from the Kulturpalast in Dresden with the Dresden Philharmonic conducted by Jonathan Stockhammer.<ref name="JZ" /> His Horn Concerto, which includes an episode in memory of Nelson Mandela, and his opera have remained unperformed.<ref name="Felber 2014" />
=== Personal life and death === Schmidt lived in Berlin from 1980,<ref name="SAdK" /> first in a basement apartment that he shared with a colleague.<ref name="Felber 2014" /> He was married; his wife also worked as an artist, and the couple had a daughter. They moved within Prenzlau.<ref name="Felber 2014" />
Schmidt died in Berlin on 29 April 2025, at the age of 92.<ref name="Felber" /><ref name="Neuner" />
== Awards and memberships == Schmidt's awards included:<ref name="SAdK" /><ref name="Thein" />
* 1971: Composition prize in Nürnberg * 1973: Composition prize in Stettin * 1976: Composition prize in Trieste * 1976: Composition prize in Nürnberg for Psalm 21 * 1978: Composition prize in Boswil * 1987: Kunstpreis der DDR * 1990: Member of the Academy of Arts, Berlin (until 1991)<ref name="h377">{{cite web | title=Schmidt | website=Akademie der Künste, Berlin | url=https://www.adk.de/de/akademie/mitglieder/index.htm?we_objectID=52503 | language=de | access-date=8 May 2025}}</ref> * 1991: {{ill|Johann-Wenzel-Stamitz-Preis|de}} of Künstlergilde Esslingen * 1991: Composition prize of Mannheim * 1998: Member of the Sächsische Akademie der Künste * 1999: Berliner Kunstpreis
== Work == {| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! scope="col" | Year ! scope="col" | Title<ref name="SAdK" /><ref name="Ricordi" /> ! scope="col" | Premiere year ! scope="col" | Premiere location |- | 1965 | Motet ''{{lang|de|Landnahme}}'' after Hans Magnus Enzensberger for 8-part choir<ref name="Thein" /> | 1994 | Berlin |- | 1965 | Motet ''{{lang|de|An die Sonne}}'' after Ingeborg Bachmann for 6-part choir<ref name="Thein" /> | | |- | 1967 | Symphony No. 1 "Hamlet" | | |- | 1968 | Symphony No. 2 "Martin Luther King" || 2021 || Dresden |- | 1969 | Piano Concerto | 1974 | Berlin |- | 1969/1995 | {{langr|de|Kammermusik I}} ‒ "{{langr|de|Von Menschen und Vögeln}}", for flute, oboe, trumpet and strings | 1998 | Görlitz |- | 1970 | ''{{lang|fr|Petite Suite}}'' | 1970 | Tokyo |- | 1970 | Psalm 21 | 1971 | Nürnberg |- | 1971 | Wind Quintet | 1974 | Berlin |- | 1971 | ''{{lang|de|Geistliches Konzert}}'' (Psalm 60) | | |- | 1971 | {{langr|de|Kammermusik II}} for flute (also Cor Anglais), clarinet in B (also bass clarinet), percusion and piano | 1998 | Görlitz |- | 1971 | ''{{lang|la|Cantiones sacrae}}'' | | |- | 1972 | ''{{lang|la|Musica per i DueBoemi}}'', for bass clarinet and piano | | |- | 1973 | {{langr|de|Kammermusik VI}} | 1983 | Berlin |- | 1973 | ''{{lang|de|Tonsetzers Alptraum}}'' | 1976 | Dresden |- | 1974 | Violin Concerto | 1991 | Berlin |- | 1974 | Cello Concerto | 1976 | Leipzig |- | 1974 | ''St Mark's Passion'' | 2019 | Berlin |- | 1974 | {{langr|de|Kammermusik VII}} "{{langr|de|Epitaph auf einen Bohemien}}", for wind quintet and Klavier | 1983 | Berlin |- | 1975 | ''{{lang|de|Die Niemandsrose und das Unsichtbare}}'' | 2007 | Nürnberg |- | 1975 | ''Aulodie'', episodes for oboe | 2001 | Berlin |- | 1976 | ''{{lang|fr|Moments musicaux, pour piano}}'' | | |- | 1977 | Flute Concerto | 1978 | Berlin |- | 1978 | ''{{lang|de|Ein Märchen – kein Märchen}}'', after texts by Harry Martinson, Eduard Mörike and Hugo von Hofmannsthal | 1981 | Berlin |- | 1979 | ''{{lang|de|Ich, so voll Hoffnung}}'', after texts by Hölderlin, for choir | | |- | 1979 | ''{{lang|de|Zwoller Schnitgerei}}'', for organ | | |- | 1980 | ''{{lang|de|Munch-Musik}}'' (''{{lang|de|Sieben Orchesterstücke nach Graphiken von Edvard Munch}}'') inspired by graphic art of Edvard Munch | 1981 | Leipzig |- | 1980 | String Quartet No. 2 | | |- | 1981 | {{langr|de|Kammermusik VIII}}, for flute (also alto flute), oboe (also Cor Anglais), clarinet in B, percussion, piano, violin, viola and cello | | |- | 1981 | {{langr|de|Kammermusik IX}} | | |- | 1982 | ''{{lang|de|Die Zeit und die Zeit danach}}'', after texts by Giuseppe Ungaretti, Cesare Pavese, Salvatore Quasimodo and Bachmann | 1985 | Berlin |- | 1983 | Oboe Concerto | 1984 | Berlin |- | 1985 | {{langr|de|Orchestermusik I}} | 1988 | Berlin |- | 1986 | {{langr|de|Kammermusik X}}, for trombone, piano and percussion |- | 1989 | ''{{lang|de|Das Herz}}'', Opera after Heinrich Mann | <!--1996--> | |- | 1990 | {{langr|de|Orchestermusik II}}, for oboe, cello and piano | | |- | 1996 | Clarinet Quintet | 1997 | Berlin |- | 1996/2000 | ''{{lang|de|Drei späte Lieder}}'', for tenor und piano, after texts by Heinz Czechowski, Günter Kunert and Heiner Müller | | |- | 1996 | Clarinet Quintet | 1997 | Berlin |- | 1999 | {{langr|de|Orchestermusik V}} "Memento" 1 | 2000 | Leipzig |- | 2004 | {{langr|de|Orchestermusik VI}} "Memento" 2 | | |- | 2006 | ''{{lang|fr|Pièce de flûte}}'' | 2007 | Berlin |- | 2013 | Horn Concerto, in memory of Nelson Mandela<ref name="Felber 2014" /> | | |- | 2015 | ''{{lang|la|Canto funebre}}'', in memory of Georg Elser, for piano | 2017<ref name="f937">{{cite web | title=17 Künstler*innen erinnern Revolutionen | website=Achim Freyer Stiftung | date=1 February 2018 | url=https://www.achimfreyer.com/project/192017/ | language=de | access-date=8 May 2025}}</ref> | Berlin |}
==Discography== * {{Cite AV media | last1=Entreß | first1=Matthias R. | last2=Schmidt | first2=Christfried | title=Christfried Schmidt – Komponistenportrait | publisher=DRK | publication-place= | year=2010 | oclc=707194110 | language=}} * {{Cite AV media | last1=Schmidt | first1=Christfried | last2=Munch | first2=Edvard | last3=Kluttig | first3=Christian | last4=Pommer | first4=Max | author5=Clementi-Trio | author6=Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Leipzig | title=Munch-Musik : Orchesterstücke nach Graphiken von Edvard Munch : (1980) | publisher=WERGO | publication-place=Mainz, Germany | year=1994 | oclc=163113218 | language=}} * {{Cite AV media | last1=Schmidt | first1=Christfried | last2=Hartmann | first2=Andreas | author3=Leipziger Schlagzeugensemble | author4=Leipziger Hornquartett | title=Leipziger Schlagzeugensemble | publisher=Kamprad | publication-place=Altenburg (Leipzig) | year=2008 | oclc=723752643 | language=de}} * {{Cite AV media | last1=Eisler | first1=Hanns | last2=Kochan | first2=Günter | last3=Thiele | first3=Siegfried | last4=Matthus | first4=Siegfried | last5=Dessau | first5=Paul | last6=Bredemeyer | first6=Reiner | last7=Schubert | first7=Manfred | last8=Goldmann | first8=Friedrich | last9=Mauersberger | first9=Rudolf | last10=Weismann | first10=Wilhelm | last11=Asriel | first11=André | last12=Schmidt | first12=Christfried | last13=Schenker | first13=Friedrich | title=Musik in der DDR. Vol. II : Vokalmusik | publisher=Berlin Classics | publication-place=[Germany] | year=1995 | oclc=811450660 | language=de}} * {{Cite AV media | last1=Schmidt | first1=Christfried | last2=Zechlin | first2=Ruth | last3=Thiele | first3=Siegfried | last4=Friedrich | first4=Felix | title=Die Jehmlichorgel der Stadthalle Karl-Marx-Stadt (Chemnitz)| publisher=Dt. Schallplatten | publication-place=Berlin | year=1989 | oclc=1281567655 | language=}} * {{Cite AV media | last1=Glaetzner | first1=Burkhard | last2=Kegel | first2=Herbert | last3=Schmidt | first3=Christfried | author4=Dresdner Philharmonie | title=Oboenkonzert | publisher=Dt. Schallpl. | publication-place=Berlin | year=1986 | oclc=257358865 | language=}} * {{Cite AV media | last1=Hindemith | first1=Paul | last2=Blacher | first2=Boris | last3=Domhardt | first3=Gerd | last4=Koerppen | first4=Alfred | last5=Schmidt | first5=Christfried | last6=Hölszky | first6=Adriana | last7=Schwehr | first7=Cornelius | last8=Huber | first8=Klaus | title=Musik in Deutschland 1950–2000 / Konzertmusik d, Vokale Kammermusik Kammerchor Serie. (1,d,31,50), 1950–2000 | publisher=BMG Ariola Classics | publication-place=Munich | year=2001 | oclc=314167526 | language=de}} * {{Cite AV media | last1=Otte | first1=Hans | last2=Schnebel | first2=Dieter | last3=Schmidt | first3=Christfried | last4=Finkbeiner | first4=Reinhold | last5=Hespos | first5=Hans-Joachim | last6=Wallmann | first6=Johannes | last7=Zacher | first7=Gerd | last8=Seiler | first8=Erich | last9=Gottwald | first9=Clytus | last10=Mai | first10=Ludger | last11=Schwarz | first11=Peter | last12=Darmstadt | first12=Hans | last13=Schumann | first13=Peter | last14=Rickenbacher | first14=Karl Anton | author15=Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin | author16=Vocalensemble (Kassel) | author17=Schola Cantorum (Stuttgart) | author18=Ars-Nova-Ensemble (Berlin, West) | title=Alpha – Omega II | publisher=BMG Classics | publication-place=[S.l.] | year=2001 | oclc=163139701 | language=}}
== References == <references>
<ref name="Felber">{{cite news | last = Felber | first = Gerald | url = https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/musik-und-buehne/zum-tod-des-komponisten-christfried-schmidt-110446044.html | title = Jenseits vom Geschwätz | newspaper = FAZ | date = 29 April 2025 | language = de | access-date = 4 May 2025 }}</ref>
<ref name="Felber 2014">{{cite web | first = Gerald | last = Felber | title = Vom Harzer Dorf in den Berliner Kiez | website = Deutschlandfunk Kultur | date = 25 March 2014 | url = https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/kuenstlerportraet-vom-harzer-dorf-in-den-berliner-kiez-100.html | language = de | access-date = 4 May 2025 }}</ref>
<ref name="Felber 2019">{{cite web | first = Gerald | last = Felber | title = Mut zu hoffnungsloser Vereinzelung | website = FAZ | date = 25 April 2019 | url = https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/musik-und-buehne/christfried-schmidt-in-berlin-mut-zu-hoffnungsloser-vereinzelung-16155687.html | language = de | access-date = 8 May 2025 }}</ref>
<ref name="Herzfeld">{{cite news | last = Herzfeld | first = Isabel | url = https://www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/nach-45-jahren-christfried-schmidts-markuspassion-wird-uraufgefuehrt/24232086.html | title = Nach 45 Jahren: Christfried Schmidts „Markuspassion“ wird uraufgeführt | newspaper = Der Tagesspiegel | date = 18 April 2019 | language = de | access-date = 15 November 2020 }}</ref>
<ref name="Neuner">{{cite news | last = Neuner | first = Florian | url = https://www.jungewelt.de/artikel/499265.neue-musik-nicht-integrierbar.html | title = Nicht integrierbar. Zum Tod des Komponisten Christfried Schmidt. | newspaper = Junge Welt | date = 3 May 2025 | language = de | access-date = 3 May 2025 }}</ref>
<ref name="Neuner 2019">{{cite news | last = Neuner | first = Florian | url = https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/komponist-christfried-schmidt-der-eigensinnige-modernist.3819.de.html?dram:article_id=443424 | title = Komponist Christfried Schmidt – Der eigensinnige Modernist | newspaper = Deutschlandfunk | date = 19 March 2025 | language = de | access-date = 15 November 2020 }}</ref>
<ref name="Sindermann">{{cite web | last = Sindermann | first = Frank | url = https://www.leipzig-almanach.de/2002/10/27/preisend-die-goettlichkeit-schweigt-das-gedicht/ | title = "Preisend die Göttlichkeit schweigt das Gedicht!" | website = Leipzig Almanach | date = 27 October 2002 | language = de | access-date = 4 May 2025 }}</ref>
<ref name="Thein">{{cite encyclopedia | last = Thein | first = Annette | entry-url = https://www.mgg-online.com/articles/mgg11588/1.0/mgg11588 | entry = Schmidt, Christfried | encyclopedia = MGG | date = 2016 | language = de | access-date = 8 May 2025 }}</ref>
<ref name="JZ">{{cite web | url = https://www.jazzzeitung.de/cms/stichwort/hugo-siegmeth/ | title = Die Radiowoche vom 27.09.21–03.10.2021 | work = Jazzzeitung | date = 27 September 2021 | language = de | access-date = 8 May 2025 }}</ref>
<ref name="Kalliope">{{cite web | url = https://kalliope-verbund.info/de/ead?ead.id=DE-611-BF-77603 | title = Christfried Schmidt | work = Archiv Zeitgenössischer Komponisten | publisher = Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden | date = 3 May 2025 | language = de | access-date = 4 May 2025 }}</ref>
<ref name="Munzinger">{{cite web | url = https://www.munzinger.de/search/go/document.jsp?id=00000020462 | title = Christfried Schmidt | work = Munzinger Archiv | date = 29 March 1993 | language = de | access-date = 3 March 2025 | oclc = 1482436830 }}</ref>
<ref name="Ricordi">{{cite web | url = https://www.ricordi.com/en-US/Composers/S/Schmidt-Christfried.aspx | title = Christfried Schmidt | work = Casa Ricordi | date = 2025 }}</ref>
<ref name="SAdK">{{cite web | url = https://www.sadk.de/mitglieder/klasse-musik/schmidt-christfried | title = Christfried Schmidt | work = Sächsische Akademie der Künste | date = 29 March 1993 | language = de | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130321092344/http://www.sadk.de/ch_schmidt.html | archive-date = 21 March 2013 | url-status = live }}</ref>
<ref name="Singakademie">{{cite web | url = https://www.sing-akademie.de/69-0-Konzerte.html?detail=markuspassion&did=1578 | title = O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden! | work = Sing-Akademie zu Berlin | date = 2019 | language = de | access-date = 15 November 2020 }}</ref>
</references>
== Further reading == * Ursula Stürzbecher: ''Komponisten in der DDR. 17 Gespräche.'' Hildesheim 1979, {{ISBN|3-8067-0803-7}}. * Georg-Friedrich Kühn: ''Unbefangen, ungebärdig. Die Extreme des Ausdrucks. Glied der musikalischen Gesellschaft: Christfried Schmidt.'' In ''Musik-Texte'' 4/1984 * Frank Schneider: ''Klang-Bilder. Ein alter Aspekt in neuer Musik der DDR.'' In Bildende Kunst 6/1984 * Frank Schneider: ''Christfried Schmidt.'' In Prospekt Deutscher Verlag für Musik. Leipzig 1987 * Gerald Felber: ''Verletzbare Leidenschaftlichkeit. Der Komponist Christfried Schmidt.'' In ''Sonntag'' 36/1987 * Habakuk Traber: ''Notizen. Christfried Schmidt zum 60. Geburtstag.''In ''Neue Zeitschrift für Musik'' 12/1992. * Beate Schröder-Nauenburg: ''Christfried Schmidt''. In ''Komponisten der Gegenwart'' (KDG). Edition Text & Kritik, Munich 1996, {{ISBN|978-3-86916-164-8}}
== External links == {{Sister project auto}} * {{Official website}} * {{Discogs artist}} * {{Youtube|3ZiZjpz67Tg|Komponistenporträt Christfried Schmidt, 2010}}
{{Portal bar|Biography|Germany|Music}} {{Authority control|state=collapsed}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmidt, Christfried}} Category:1932 births Category:2025 deaths Category:20th-century German classical composers Category:German composers Category:German male composers Category:German music arrangers Category:People from Görlitz (district) Category:20th-century German male composers