Franz Schmidt - Schmidt and Nazism

Schmidt and Nazism

Schmidt's premiere of Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln was made much of by the Nazis (who had annexed Austria shortly before in the Anschluss), and Schmidt was seen (according to a report by Georg Tintner) to give the Nazi salute. His conductor Oswald Kabasta was apparently an enthusiastic Nazi who, being prohibited from conducting in 1946 during de-nazification, committed suicide. These facts long placed Schmidt's posthumous reputation under a cloud. His lifelong friend and colleague Oskar Adler, who fled the Nazis in 1938, wrote afterwards that Schmidt was never a Nazi and never anti-semitic but was extremely naïve about politics. Hans Keller gave similar endorsement. Regarding Schmidt's political naivety, Michael Steinberg, in his magisterial book, The Symphony, tells of Schmidt's recommending Variations on a Hebrew Theme by his student Israel Brandmann to a musical group associated with the proto-Nazi German National Party. Most of Schmidt's principal musical friends were Jews, and they benefited from his generosity.

Schmidt's last work, the cantata "German Resurrection," was composed to a Nazi text. As one of the most famous living Austrian composers, Schmidt was well-known to Hitler and received this commission after the Anschluss. He left it partially completed, to be completed later by Robert Wagner. Already seriously ill, Schmidt worked instead on other compositions such as a piano quintet. His failure to complete the cantata may be a further indication that he was not committed to the Nazi cause.