Alfred Kalmus

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Alfred August Ulrich Kalmus , also Alfred August Uhlrich Kalmus , short Alfred Kalmus or Alfred A. Kalmus , (born May 16, 1889 in Vienna , Austria-Hungary , † September 25, 1972 in London , United Kingdom ) was an Austro-British music publisher .

Life

Alfred Kalmus grew up in his native Vienna. In 1909 he began to study law at the local university . His main focus was on copyright . At the same time he studied musicology with Guido Adler . In the same year he also joined the music publisher Universal Edition as an apprentice . In 1913 he received his doctorate . At Universal Edition, Kalmus worked under Emil Hertzka , who has been director for two years, to develop a repertoire of contemporary music , including works by Gustav Mahler , Arnold Schönberg , Alban Berg , Anton Webern , Béla Bartók , Leoš Janáček , Berthold Goldschmidt , Ernst Krenek , Kurt Weill , Hanns Eisler and many others. During the First World War he served in the Austro-Hungarian army and after the end of the war he brought back prisoners of war from Russia for the Red Cross . He then resumed his work at Universal Edition in order to use the experience he had gained in 1923 to publish classical-romantic and contemporary compositions under the name Philharmonia Taschenpartituren in his own company called the Wiener Philharmonischer Verlag . A few years later he belonged again to Universal Edition, which had integrated the Vienna Philharmonic Publishing House as a subsidiary. After Emil Hertzka's death in 1932, Kalmus took over the management of the company structure alongside Hugo Winter and Hans W. Heinsheimer . At this point in time, Universal Edition was in massive difficulties: Not only had the publisher built up a huge catalog in a short time and thus taken over economically, but after the National Socialists came to power , the German Reich also broke away as the most important sales area for the publisher a large part of the compositions published by Universal Edition were considered “ degenerate ”. In addition, most of the owners of Universal Edition and their officers were classified as Jews . The fact that the publisher had signed a cooperation agreement with the Soviet State Publishing House also contributed to exacerbating the situation.

Kalmus was able to develop his potential by moving to London - without giving up his position as managing director in Vienna - and setting up a branch in 1936 . With the specialization in British composers he opened up new sales areas. He cooperated with the BBC, among others . Meanwhile his brother Edwin emigrated to the United States and founded the American Kalmus Edition there.

In 1938 the Universal Edition was Aryanized , which means that all Jewish shareholders had to forcibly sell their shares and all Jewish employees had to leave the company. The English branch fell to the competitor Boosey & Hawkes in the summer of 1939 . Kalmus worked in the following years - only interrupted by an internment in the Huyton camp in 1940 as an " Enemy Alien " - for Boosey & Hawkes. Through the department founded by Kalmus under the name Anglo-Soviet Press in 1941, which turned to the leading Soviet composers such as Prokofiev , Shostakovich and Aram Khachaturian , as well as the organization of the Boosey & Hawkes Concerts (held between 1941 and 1947), whose preference was for the British composer, he had a lasting influence on the musical life of his host country. While retaining the established name Universal Edition, only with the addition of "London" in brackets, Kalmus went into business again in 1949. He set up a distribution company especially to distribute the repertoire of his original Viennese publisher within the Commonwealth. After the restitution of Universal Edition in Vienna in 1951 , he became its personally liable partner and board member . The next generation of composers, above all Pierre Boulez , Karlheinz Stockhausen , Mauricio Kagel and Luciano Berio , found a publishing home with him. He also took care of the British composers such as Richard Rodney Bennett , Harrison Birtwistle , David Bedford and Hugh Wood. In addition, the music of the Second Viennese School was taught in Great Britain. The music publishers he founded still exist today. He also earned services as a long-time director of the British collecting society Performing Rights Society.

Alfred Kalmus died in London on September 25, 1972. He left behind his wife Marianne, née Blau, and two daughters: Margherita Kalmus and Susanne Harpner, both of whom (the latter married to the music publisher Stefan Harpner) followed in their father's footsteps.

meaning

With a focus on the Second Viennese School, the avant-garde after 1945, British and Soviet classical music production, he exerted a significant influence on musical life in the interwar and postwar period (and far beyond). Kalmus gave his protégés full support, because he acted equally as their business partner, their advertising specialist, their financial advisor, their mentor and their muse . This concept, in connection with his friendly and generous nature and interest in the creation process such as attending performances, made him successful.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Sophie Fetthauer: Alfred A. Kalmus. In: uni-hamburg.de/ Lexicon of persecuted musicians from the Nazi era . Claudia Maurer Zenck, Peter Petersen, 2006, accessed on March 19, 2018 .
  2. ↑ a b c d Dr Alfred Kalmus. Champion of new music . In: The Times . September 27, 1972, Obituary.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Kalmus, Alfred
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kalmus, Alfred August Ulrich (maiden name); Kalmus, Alfred August Uhlrich (maiden name); Kalmus, Alfred A.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian-British music publisher
DATE OF BIRTH May 16, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna , Austria-Hungary
DATE OF DEATH September 25, 1972
Place of death London , UK