Alexander Moyzes

Alexander Moyzes

Alexander Moyzes (born September 4, 1906 in Kláštor pod Znievom , northwestern Slovakia, † November 20, 1984 in Bratislava ) was a Slovak composer .

Life

Alexander Moyzes received his first music lessons from his father, the composer Mikuláš Moyzes . After attending the secondary school in Prešov , Moyzes began studying music at the Prague Conservatory in 1925 (composition, conducting and organ). Otakar Ostrčil and Rudolf Karel were among his teachers . As a diploma thesis, Moyzes presented the first movement of his First Symphony in 1928 , at the same time the first symphony in Slovak music history and a great success at the world premiere a year later. He then attended the master class of Vítězslav Novák (until 1930).

Moyzes made a name for himself particularly through his many years of educational activity; numerous Slovak composers were taught by him. As early as 1928 he got a job as a composition teacher at the Bratislava Music Academy (until 1948). In 1941 he was also appointed professor of composition at the Bratislava Conservatory. From 1949 he worked as a professor of composition at the newly founded College of Performing Arts (VŠMU). He was director of this institute from 1965 to 1971. In 1978 he retired.

From 1937 Moyzes was the first musical advisor to the Slovak radio, which he remained until 1948. He also worked on the board of the Slovak Composers Association and the Slovak Music Publishing House. As a well-known representative of national Slovak music, Moyzes received many awards, including the 1956 State Prize.

Audio language

Moyzes' music combines influences from Slovak folklore with the music of the late and post-Romantic period and the 20th century. In the 1920s and early 1930s he experimented with various tendencies; Direct processing of Slovak folk music stands alongside jazz influences. His First Symphony reveals the role models Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss , but contrasts them with national elements, which not least causes a significant reduction in pathos compared to the composers mentioned. Moyzes also orientated himself towards contemporary Czech composers such as Novák and Josef Suk .

In the following decades he consolidated his compositional style; the reference to folklore manifested itself above all in the use of characteristic harmonics, melos and rhythms, the processing of which remained trained in the European (late romantic to impressionistic) tradition. From around 1948 onwards, Moyzes' work referred explicitly to the aesthetics of socialist realism . He combined a bright and optimistic attitude with a particularly strong reference to folk music (e.g. through the use of folk instruments).

In the late 1950s, Moyzes made a significant stylistic change by opening up to trends in modern music. Influences of neoclassicism and of Dmitri Shostakovich led to a considerable harmonic sharpening of his music, which in the late 1960s partly left the scope of tonality .

At the beginning of the 1970s, Moyzes found his maturity style, which is characterized by a lyrically broken, rather relaxed tonal language. Classicist and romanticizing elements create a retrospective to melancholic atmosphere that contrasts with a bright, transparent basic character. Moyzes attached particular importance to a well thought-out motivic-thematic organization of his music. The use of cyclical themes used in earlier works took a back seat in favor of a stronger emphasis on the techniques of variation and the use of motivic cells to create subtle connections.

Moyzes' importance in the history of Slovak music is that, together with Ján Cikker and Eugen Suchoň, he formed the composer's triad that opened up Slovak music to developments of the 20th century. Through his extensive teaching activities, he made a particular contribution to the professionalization and institutionalization of Slovak musical life.

Works

• Symphonies
  • Symphony No. 1 in D major, op.31 (1928/29 as op.4, rev. 1936)
  • Symphony No. 2 in A minor, Op. 16 (1932, rev. 1941)
  • Symphony No. 3 in B flat major, Op. 18 "Little Symphony" (1942)
  • Symphony No. 4 in E flat major op.38 (1947, rev. 1957)
  • Symphony No. 5 in F major, Op. 39 (1947/48)
  • Symphony No. 6 in G major op. 45 "Pioneer Symphony" (1950/51)
  • Symphony No. 7 Op. 50 (1954/55)
  • Symphony No. 8, Op. 64 (1968/69)
  • Symphony No. 9, Op. 69 (1970/71)
  • Symphony No. 10, Op. 77 (1977/78)
  • Symphony No. 11, Op. 79 (1978)
  • Symphony No. 12 op.83 (1983)
• Other orchestral works
  • Symphonic Overture op.10 (1929)
  • "Die Waag down", Suite op. 26 (1935, rev. 1945)
  • " Grantal Dances " op. 43 (1950)
  • "Dances from Gemer " op. 51 (1955)
  • "Partita in honor of Master Paul von Leutschau " (Pavla z Levoče) op. 67 (1969, rev. 1970)
  • "Beacon in the Mountains" op. 71 (1971)
  • "Music for a Woman" op. 74 (1975)
  • Violin Concerto op.53 (1958)
  • Flute Concerto op.61 (1967)
• Vocal music
  • "The brave king", opera (1965/66)
  • "Sinfonia da chiesa" for solos, choir, orchestra and organ op. 36 (1941/42)
  • "We want peace", cantata for solos, choir and orchestra op. 46 (1951)
  • "Balladesque Cantata" for tenor, mixed choir and orchestra op. 55 (1959)
  • "Der Weg", song cycle for soprano (tenor) and orchestra (piano) op. 19 (1943)
  • "Im Herbst", song cycle for mezzo-soprano and orchestra (piano) op. 56 (1960)
  • more songs
  • Choirs
  • Folk song arrangements
• Chamber music
  • String Quartet No. 1 in A minor op.8 (1929)
  • String Quartet No. 2 in D op.66 (1966)
  • String Quartet No. 3 op.82 (1981)
  • String Quartet No. 4, Op. 84 (1983)
  • Wind quintet op.17 (1933)
  • "Poetic Suite" for violin and piano op. 35 (1940)
  • "Little Sonata" op. 63 for violin and piano (1967/68)
• Piano music
  • Piano Sonata in E minor, Op. 2 (1926/27, rev. 1942)
  • Divertimento op.11 (1930)
  • "Robber Rhapsody" op. 52 (1957)
  • "Jazz-Sonate" op. 14/2 for 2 pianos (1930, rev. 1971)

literature

• Alfred Baumgartner: Propylaea World of Music - The Composers - A lexicon in five volumes . Propylaen Verlag, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-549-07830-7 , pp. 99, volume 4 .

Web links

• Works by and about Alexander Moyzes in the catalog of the German National Library
• Catalog raisonné