Bernhard Heiden

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Bernhard Heiden , actually Levi (born on August 24, 1910 in Frankfurt am Main ; died on April 30, 2000 in Bloomington , Indiana ), was a German-American composer and professor of music. From 1929 to 1933 he studied composition with Paul Hindemith at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin , who had a lasting influence on him. After emigrating to the USA, he worked in Detroit and Bloomington as a music teacher, conductor and composer.

Life

Bernhard Heiden was born in Frankfurt am Main in 1910 as the son of Ernst and Martha Levi (née Heimer) and showed great interest in music and composition from an early age. He was taught the piano , clarinet and violin and at the same time was introduced to music theory . He composed his first pieces as a child of six. In 1929 Heiden began his studies at the Hochschule für Musik Berlin and studied with Paul Hindemith , the leading German composer of his time, whom he had already met in Frankfurt. In his last academic year in 1933, Heiden received the Mendelssohn Prize for Composition, together with Werner Trenkner . In 1934 Bernhard Heiden married his college colleague Kola de Joncheere . While fleeing the persecution of the Jews in Nazi Germany , they emigrated to the United States of America in 1935 and went to Detroit . Heiden taught piano, harpsichord and chamber music at the Art Center Music School there for eight years . During this time he directed the Detroit Chamber Orchestra. After accepting US citizenship in 1941, he joined the US Army Music Corps in 1943. Here he led the 445th Army Service Band, for which he arranged more than 100 pieces. After the Second World War, Heiden resumed his music studies at Cornell University , where he completed his master's degree in 1947. Heiden got a job at the School of Music at Indiana University , where he held a chair in composition until 1974. He worked as a composer until his death in 2000.

plant

The composer Nicolas Slonimsky described Heiden's music as " neoclassical in its formal structure and strictly polyphonic in its texture"; it is characterized by its flawless formal balance as well as its effective instrumentation. Most of Heiden's pieces are either written for chamber music ensembles with wind instruments or strings or for individual instruments in piano duos. He also composed two symphonies, an opera ("The Darkened City"), a ballet ("Dreamers on a Slack Wire"), as well as vocal pieces and incidental music, such as for Shakespeare's plays . Donald Erb and Frederick Fox are among his best-known students .

Individual works

Selection:

  • Sonata for alto saxophone and piano (1937) - premiered by Laurence Lyon (Larry) Teal on April 8, 1937
  • Diversion for alto saxophone and band (1943) - reworked by the composer for alto saxophone and piano (1984)
  • Sonata for Piano, Four Hands (1946)
  • Euphorion: Scene for Orchestra (1949)
  • Quintet for French horn and string quartet (1952) - written for horn player John Barrows
  • Ballet: Dreamers on a Slack Wire (1953)
  • Quintet for clarinet and strings (1955)
  • Concerto for Piano, Violin, Violoncello and Orchestra (1956)
  • Sonata for viola and piano (1959)
  • Opera: The Darkened City, Libretto: Robert G. Kelly (1962)
  • Concertino for String Orchestra (1967)
  • Concerto for Violincello and Orchestra (1967)
  • Solo for alto saxophone and piano (1969) - written for the saxophonist Eugène Rousseau
  • Concerto for Horn and Orchestra (1969)
  • Solo for Alto Saxophone and Piano (1969)
  • Intrada for woodwind quintet and alto saxophone (1970)
  • Partita for Orchestra (1970)
  • Concerto for Tuba and Orchestra (1976)
  • Preludes for Flute, Double Bass and Harp (1988)
  • Voyage for band (1991)
  • Prelude, Theme and Variations for Alto Recorder (1994)
  • Fantasia Concertante for alto saxophone and band
  • Five short pieces for flute
  • Serenade for bassoon, violin, viola, and cello
  • Clarinet trio (two Bb clarinets and one bass clarinet)
  • Sonata for horn and piano
  • Variations on “Liliburlero” for cello
  • Sonatina for flute
  • Sonata for Cello and Piano

literature

  • Thomas Walsh, A Performer's Guide to the Saxophone Music of Bernhard Heiden, Dissertation , Indiana University Bloomington, 1999, free download from the Indiana University website (11.7 MB).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Allan Kozinn: Bernhard Heiden, 89, Composer And Indiana University professor . In: The New York Times , May 14, 2000. Retrieved September 2, 2015. 
  2. ↑ Bernhard Heiden on the website of "musica reanimata"
  3. ↑ Allan Kozinn: Bernhard Heiden, 89, Composer And Indiana University professor . In: The New York Times , May 14, 2000. Retrieved September 2, 2015. 
  4. ↑ Bruce Duffie quotes Slonimsky on his website on Bernhard Heiden, accessed on April 13, 2019
  5. ↑ Allan Kozinn: Bernhard Heiden, 89, Composer And Indiana University professor . In: The New York Times , May 14, 2000. Retrieved September 2, 2015. 
  6. ↑ Bernhard Heiden , on the website of the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University Bloomington, accessed April 13, 2019
  7. ↑ Bernhard Heiden , on the website of the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University Bloomington, accessed April 13, 2019
personal data
SURNAME Heiden, Bernhard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Levi, Bernhard (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-American composer and university lecturer for music
DATE OF BIRTH August 24, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF DEATH April 30, 2000
Place of death Bloomington