Schulhoff: Suite for Chamber Orchestra — Full Score

Erwin Schulhoff: Suite for Chamber Orchestra, WV 58, Op. 37 – composed in 1921 ∙

Tritonus Wimares ∙
Walter Hilgers, conductor ∙
Peter Badstübner, recitation ∙

Prologue 00:00
I. Ragtime 01:54
II. Valse Boston 03:45
III. Tango 08:36
IV. Shimmy 13:58
V. Step 16:25
VI. Jazz 17:32

Erwin Schulhoff (1894–1942) was an Austro-Czech composer and pianist. He was one of the figures in the generation of European musicians whose successful careers were prematurely terminated by the rise of the Nazi regime in Germany and whose works have been rarely noted or performed. At the time of the German invasion, he had been at the high point of his career, well-established and respected by the artists and composers of his day. He was a radical artist, influenced by Dadaism, and one of the first European composers to begin experimenting with jazz by integrating it into traditional musical forms such as symphonies and concertos. By the early 1930s, Schulhoff had become committed to Soviet Communism: in light of the increasing threat of right wing radicalism, he became convinced of the need for a radical people’s revolution. Even after being imprisoned in jail and then being sent to a Bavarian concentration camp, Schulhoff continued to work on his compositions. To the very end he remained true to his political and aesthetic ideals: a commitment that cost him his life.

In 1921, amid the sweeping jazz craze in Europe, Schulhoff composed what he originally titled “Suite in the New Style”. This suite was a fusion of stylized dances reminiscent of a baroque instrumental suite, but it was infused with the spirit of jazz and its stylistic relatives. The movement titles clearly reflect these styles: Ragtime, Valse Boston, Tango, Shimmy, Step, and Jazz. During this period, Schulhoff was also drawn to Dadaism, the movement espousing accidental and incongruous effects to challenge traditional views of beauty in art. Although his interest in the movement eventually waned, he did preface this suite with a Dadaist nonsense poem:

Prologue (English translation)
Beer house sickness is my soul / and my teeth are chattering in shimmy beat / Big city resonances swipe my brains and roar: / Hail to thee in victor’s crown … / oh my dear, you can’t go / in the corridor (the cold) / sleeping I am carried, to my home … to my home! / Because I’m drunk as a skunk and thinking German! / Do you know my colors? – ? !!! ? !! / I enjoy champagne and the woman enjoys sperm. / grammophones are sighing, sobbing patriotic songs – and, / where there is singing, you can safely stay, – because, / wicked people have no songs (you’ll see) / sweet cacophonies are rippling in my guts … / screaming for life, … long for manoli cigs and absinthe. / Filthy gang!!! / Sh…heads!!!!! – grant me unheard-of-powers, / I want to eat you all, / into the sausage machine with you / wretched swine!!! / Then, – Then comes the cosmic moment, / then I will transform myself / into “BAYER Aspirin”! –

Recording: © 2000 Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm
Recording Producer: Holger Schlegel
Score: Mainz: Schott, 1992. — IMSLP: https://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Schulhoff,...

Alternative Titles: Suite in the New Style / Jazz Suite for Orchestra / Suite für Kammerorchester