Franz Schmidt (composer)

Franz Schmidt, also Ferenc Schmidt (, 22 December 1874 – 11 February 1939) was an Austro-Hungarian composer, cellist and pianist. Life Schmidt was born in Pozsony/Pressburg, in the Hungarian part of Austria-Hungary (today Bratislava, Slovakia) to a half-Hungarian father – with the same name, born in the same city – and to a Hungarian mother, Mária Ravasz. He studied piano briefly with Theodor Leschetizky, with whom he clashed. He moved to Vienna with his family in 1888, and studied at the Vienna Conservatory (composition with Robert Fuchs, cello with Ferdinand Hellmesberger, and, for a few lessons, counterpoint with Anton Bruckner, who was already seriously ill at that time ), graduating “with excellence” in 1896. He obtained a post as cellist with the Vienna Court Opera Orchestra, where he played until 1914, often under Gustav Mahler. Mahler habitually had Schmidt play all the cello solos, even though Friedrich Buxbaum was the principal cellist. Schmidt was also in demand as a chamber musician. Schmidt and Arnold Schoenberg maintained cordial relations despite their vast differences in eventual outlook and style (Schmidt certainly shows a perceptible influence from Schoenberg’s ea