1849–1918 · Romantic
Gustav Schreck (1849–1918) was a German composer, teacher and choirmaster. From 1893 until the end of his life he served as Thomaskantor in Leipzig, leading the choir of St. Thomas School, and from 1887 he taught music theory and composition at the conservatory. The site has one of his choral pieces, at intermediate level.
Gustav Ernst Schreck was born on 8 September 1849 in Zeulenroda. His father was a hosier, an ordinary trade in the Vogtland region where the family lived. The children helped to keep the household going, and singing made the monotonous work in the Schreck home easier. The boy's musical gifts were nurtured by early piano lessons.
He studied at the teacher training college in Greiz from 1863 to 1867 and sang in the students' choir. Afterwards he spent a time as a village teacher in Gommla and Remptendorf. In 1868 he went to Leipzig, studying music and other subjects at the conservatory with the Thomaskantor Ernst Friedrich Richter.
In 1870 Schreck joined his brother in Vyborg, Finland, and spent four years teaching music at the German School. In 1874 he returned to Leipzig and settled there as an independent composer and musician. Soon afterwards he married the poet Emmy Krohn.
In this period he wrote chamber music and some separate choral works. He also produced two oratorios: Christ, the Risen One, whose words were by his wife, and King Fjalar, set to an original poem by Johan Ludvig Runeberg. Their first Gewandhaus performances met with a very warm reception.
In 1887 Schreck was invited to teach music theory and composition at the conservatory that Felix Mendelssohn had founded; he stayed on the staff until retiring in 1917. His students included F. Melius Christiansen, Anna Diller Starbuck, Erhard Mauersberger and Oskar Merikanto.
Wilhelm Rust, the Thomaskantor, died in May 1892, and Schreck succeeded him in 1893. He directed the St. Thomas School choir in Leipzig from 1893 to 1918. Aware of what the office demanded, he set to work diligently, using his experience as a teacher, his theoretical grounding and his knowledge of Leipzig's musical scene.
With Schreck in charge, the churches of St. Thomas and St. Nicholas heard more music by Johann Sebastian Bach and by other earlier Thomaskantors. He launched a series of choir books. In 1912, for the school's 700th anniversary, a concert was held that consisted solely of works by Thomaskantors, going back as far as Georg Rhau. The choir took part in Gewandhaus performances of choral symphonic pieces, and its New Year concerts became a fixture of every Gewandhaus season.
Schreck disliked seeing historical instruments swapped for modern ones. He arranged for an oboe d'amore, clarino trumpets and other instruments of Bach's orchestra to be bought or reproduced. He performed the cantatas complete and, as Rust had before him, assigned the soprano and alto solos to choir members.
Performances improved under Schreck. In 1898 he received the title of professor, and in 1909 Leipzig University gave him an honorary doctorate. In 1906 he marked Rector Jungmann's 25 years of service with a dedication: the motet The Lord is my shepherd. Schreck was commissioned to write the festival cantatas for the university's 500th anniversary (1909) and for the school's 700th; his wife supplied the words. She also painted portraits of earlier Thomaskantors, which can still be seen in the rehearsal hall.
In 1900 Schreck was among the founders of the New Bach Society, and from 1901 he acted as its secretary. The St. Thomas choir has regularly taken part in the society's Bach festivals ever since. In 1906 a Volksliederbuch of folksongs for male chorus appeared, with Schreck as arranger. He held the Albert Order as a Knight First Class.
Schreck stopped teaching at the conservatory in 1917 and died in Leipzig on 22 January 1918. He is buried at the South Cemetery in Leipzig. The grave has survived to this day and can be visited.
Counterpoint dominates Schreck's writing, and his vocal lines are made to be sung. For the most part he kept clear of Wagner's influence and, later, Reger's. His output includes chamber music, separate choral pieces, two oratorios, and later festival cantatas and a motet.
His choral works include Psalm 13; Psalm 23, scored for solo alto and a choir in seven parts; a piece to words from Psalm 25 for soloists and a four-part choir; Psalm 85 (verses 5-8) for a solo quartet with four-part choir; and God with us for a choir in four to five parts. The site currently has one of his pieces, Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten, for mixed choir, at intermediate level.
He also left chamber works with piano: the Sonata op. 9 for bassoon and piano and the Sonata op. 13 for oboe and piano.