Franz Schreker was an Austrian composer who taught at the Prussian Academy in Berlin with Arnold Schoenberg. Schreker died in 1934 of a nervous condition brought on by the Nazi proclaimation that Jews could not work in any civil service position. Schreker is mostly known for his operas, written in a late-romantic idiom highlighting the tonal beauty of the orchestra. Schreker also wrote a ballet based on Oscar Wilde’s “The Birthday of the Infanta” for a Seccesionist exhibition in Vienna, a Chamber Symphony, and a number of lieder.

(Contribution by Wayne Jonas Bealer <103070.1502@compuserve.com>.)

Schreker was director at the Berlin Hochschule Fur Musik. He “resigned” from there in 1932 (he was Jewish). He died of a heart attack. There was a lot of that going around during the Nazi Regime. At the time he had just been dismissed from the Prussian Academy of Arts.

(Contribution by Colin Wright <colin.wright530@ntlworld.com>.)