Well known as a conductor, Max von Schillings was appointed Intendant of the Berlin Opera in 1918 and during the following seven years, before his resignation, was responsible for the first performances of important operas by Pfitzner, Schreker, Busoni and Richard Strauss. Strauss, in particular, had an important influence on his career.

Vocal, Stage and Instrumental Music
Compositions by Schillings consist of cantatas and songs, melodramas, operas and incidental music, and orchestral and chamber music. His incidental music includes a Symphonic Prologue to König Oedipus (‘Oedipus Rex’), and his operas the three-act tragedy Moloch. He wrote two melodramas for speaker and orchestra on texts by Schiller: Kassandra and Das Eleusische Fest (‘The Eleusinian Festival’).