Richard Stöhr (born Stern) was born in Vienna in 1874. His Jewish parents had come from Hungary. His father, Samuel Stern, was a professor of medicine at the University of Vienna, while his mother Mathilde was a member of the Porges family (her brother was Heinrich Porges, a close associate of Richard Wagner). Stöhr had one sibling, a sister named Hedwig (birth date unknown) who would later perish in Modliborzyce in the custody of the Nazis on January 2, 1942.
Study in Vienna
He began composing at the age of six and kept a daily diary from the age of 15. Stöhr first obtained an M.D. degree (1898) but immediately entered the Vienna Academy of Music as a composition student of Robert Fuchs. At this time, he also changed his name from Stern to Stöhr and converted to Christianity. In the annual summary of his diary from 1898 he wrote:
This was the year the big change occurred. Herewith I have sealed the fate of my future life. Now I am a musician and I carry this responsibility seriously, consciously and without regret. At the same time came the actual change of my name to "Stöhr", on which I had decided already in the summer.[1]
He was also encouraged in his musical activities by Heinrich Porges, who helped him get around in Viennese musical circles, and who introduced him to Gustav Mahler, among others.[2]
Career in Austria
After completing his studies with Fuchs and earning a PhD in music (1903), he worked at the Academy as a rehearsal pianist and choir director. Soon he was teaching courses in theory, composition, and the history of music, as well as coaching chamber music. When Fuchs retired in 1911, Stöhr took over his most advanced courses and became a professor of music theory at the Academy in 1915. That same year he was called up to serve as a doctor by the Austrian army. He served in a hospital in the suburbs of Vienna and was able to live at home and continue teaching at the Academy. The length of his service is unknown. The extent of his success as an author and composer is summed up by his diary summary of 1909: "Of even greater importance for me was the success of my "Harmonielehre", of which the first edition was already sold out in June and has therefore already appeared in the second edition. The critiques of this work were extremely positive from all sides. The performances of my compositions reached such frequency this season that some newspapers even commented that this was inappropriate."[3]
Stöhr was married to his first wife in 1904, a marriage which only lasted three years. In 1909 he met his second wife Marie (Mitzi). As he was unable to obtain a divorce from his first wife, Richard and Marie lived together from 1909 until 1923, when they were finally able to marry. Their children Richard and Hedwig (Hedi) were born in the 1920s. During this decade, he solidified his status as a leading musical theorist, and published treatises and textbooks on counterpoint and musical form. Additionally, he performed frequently as a pianist, and he was able to have virtually all of his compositions published. Prior to his exile, there were hundreds of performances of his works annually in Europe.
Around 1930, Austria's dismal economy and growing antisemitism prompted Stöhr to begin learning English. It is unknown exactly why, though it may have been part of a plan to emigrate, or simply as preparation in case he had to emigrate. A candid picture of Stöhr's life in the 1920s comes from the following reminiscence by a former student, Hedy Kempny, written in 1954 on the occasion of Stöhr's 80th birthday:
Stöhr lived in a typical "old Vienna" home with two pianos in the huge music room. On the walls, there were photos of composers and famous people he knew in various countries, as well as snapshots of students and friends. Every two weeks he had an "open house" to which anyone who wanted to come was invited. We would gather at about seven o'clock and bring along friends who wanted to meet Dr. Stöhr. It was quite informal, and sometimes he came later and found the apartment crowded with thirty or more people.
...
Many times all kinds of famous people attended these gatherings without fanfare. For instance Bruno Walter, Felix Weingartner, Korngold and other musicians. Sometimes Stöhr's beautiful Lieder were interpreted by opera singers.
National socialist takeover and dismissal
After German troops marched into Austria as part of the Anschluss on 13 March 1938, an SS intelligence unit was housed in the state Academy. Over the next few days, the interim director suspended eleven teachers who, under the Nuremberg Race Laws, did not have the "right" to swear allegiance to Hitler due to their Jewish extraction. A list of cuts dated May 1938 contains the names of 23 teachers who were no longer to be employed on the grounds of their "race." Stöhr was one of those affected. Several of the teachers were allowed to emigrate. The fate of several other teachers is unknown.
Emigration to the USA
In February 1939 Richard Stöhr emigrated to the United States. From this time until the end of his life, he used the alternate spelling of his name: Stoehr. He was hired by the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, initially as music librarian and subsequently to teach courses in theory and composition. Leonard Bernstein was among his students at Curtis. Stoehr was also hired to translate part of the Burrell Collection of the Letters of Richard Wagner. Curtis downsized their faculty in 1941 due to the war and Stoehr was let go from his position there. He quickly found another position at Saint Michael's College, then in Winooski Park, and later in Colchester, Vermont. There, he taught German language as well as music courses. The college was not able to pay a full-time salary, so Stöhr was assisted by at least one refugee aid organization[which?]. Stoehr continued to compose prolifically during his years in the US in all major classical genres except opera. None of the numerous compositions from his time in the US were ever published.
Richard Stöhr died in December 1967 in Montpelier, Vermont and is buried in Merrill Cemetery in Colchester.
Legacy
Richard Stoehr's diary spanning more than six decades is stored in the Austrian National Library along with his published compositions. Copies of most of his published compositions as well as their manuscripts of his compositions from the post-emigration years are available at the Saint Michael's College Archive. His work encompasses choral music, chamber music, seven symphonies,[4] symphonic poems, two operas, an oratorio, and two cantatas. While Schoenberg and others of the Second Viennese School were creating a new 20th Century style of composition, Stoehr seemed hardly influenced by them. Contemporary critics respected his music which maintained the tonal tradition of the 19th Century.
In 2003, the City of Vienna dedicated a plaque at the site of his former residence at Karolinengasse 14. In 2010 ORF (Austrian National Radio) released a Richard Stöhr compact disc recording (CD 3093) of his String Quartet in D minor, Opus 22 from 1903 amongst other pieces. His flute sonata is available on an David Shostac CD entitled Masterpieces Remembered. Stöhr's cello works are available on a CD released by Toccata Classics. In February 2010 his String Quartet was performed in Vancouver, Canada by the Vancouver Chamber Players for Rediscovered Treasures on the Out For Lunch concert series.
Bibliography
By Richard Stöhr (selection)
(1906). Praktischer Leitfaden der Harmonielehre. Vienna: Universal Edition; Japanese Edition, 1954, Tokyo.
(1911). Formenlehre der Musik. Leipzig: Kistner und Siegel.
(1911). Praktischer Leitfaden des Kontrapunktes. Hamburg: Benjamin.
(1915). Praktische Modulationslehre. Leipzig: Kistner und Siegel.
(1917). Anhang zu der praktischen Modulationslehre. Leipzig: Kistner und Siegel.
(1921). "Erfahrungen im Theorieunterricht", Musikpädagogische Zeitschrift (Wien) Xl/6.
(1931). Fragen und Aufgaben zur Harmonielehre. Vienna: Universal Edition.
(1954). Über den Ursprung der modernen Musik (Japanese), Tokyo.
As translator
Richard Wagner (1950). Letters of Richard Wagner. The Burrell Collection. New York: The Macmillan Company.
About Richard Stöhr
Hans Sittner (1965). Richard Stöhr. Mensch/Musiker/Lehrer. Vienna: Doblinger.
Musical compositions
The following is a list of Dr. Stoehr's musical compositions, arranged by genre. In general, Opus numbers 70 and lower were assigned by Stoehr's publishers in Europe and represent items printed and sold in the sheet music trade in Europe up to 1938. Opus numbers 71 and above were assigned by Stoehr himself and represent completed but unpublished works composed in the United States after 1938. The list has been adapted from Appendix 4 of Dr. Hans Sittner's biography of Stöhr.[5]
Operas
Ilse, Romantic opera in three acts, Op. 31 (Text by Richard Batka) (Universal Edition, Wien)
Die Gürtelspanner, in three acts, Op. 59 (Text by Beatrice Dovsky) (Ms)
Oratorios
Der verlorene Sohn, Biblical oratorio in four parts (Text by Viktoria Schotteck), Op. 14 (Ms)
Notturno sinfonico, Cantata for choir, solos, and orchestra, Op. 67 (Ms)
Christmas Cantata for mixed chorus, soli, orchestra, and organ on a text by Longfellow Higgins, Op. 84 (Ms)
