Charlotte Eisler

Charlotte Eisler (before 1939)

Charlotte Eisler (born Demant; born January 2, 1894 in Tarnopol , Ukraine ; † August 21, 1970 in Vienna ) was an Austrian singer and singing teacher. During her time she was a specialist in the vocal works of the Second Viennese School . She was married to the composer Hanns Eisler from 1920 to 1935 .

Life

Her father was a court clerk. She grew up as the second youngest child with six other siblings and a mother and father. At the end of the 19th century the family moved from Tarnopol to Chernivtsi ( Bukowina ), where Charlotte graduated from high school and began studying music. After the Russian occupation of the city of Chernivtsi in 1914, the family moved to Vienna (Austria). Charlotte continued to study music there. To finance this, she took a job at Creditanstalt-Bankverein. She studied singing with the court opera singer Laura Hilgermann and later with the then famous singer Prof. Daniel Andersen , music theory with Anton von Webern and piano with Eduard Steuermann . In this circle around Arnold Schönberg , she met Hanns Eisler. The two married on August 31, 1920. She gave concerts in Vienna, where she devoted herself to the vocal work of the Viennese School in addition to the classical song repertoire. In 1926, Charlotte briefly followed her husband to Berlin . In 1927 she returned to Vienna pregnant to look after Hanns Eisler's sick mother. Their son and later painter Georg Eisler was born on April 20, 1928 .

Political activity

Charlotte was politically active in Vienna and from 1925 belonged to the KPÖ , which was banned in May 1933. After February 1934 she smuggled wounded Schutzbund over the border to Pressburg . In her apartment she housed two leading officials of the illegal Yugoslav Communist Party . In 1935 the marriage with Hanns Eisler was divorced because it could not withstand the circumstances of the time. Most of all, friendship remained with the Schönberg student Erwin Ratz and his family.

emigration

In 1936, Charlotte first went to Moscow with her then eight-year-old son . She followed a call to the state music publisher (MUSGIS), where she worked on the publication of Gustav Mahler's vocal works. At the request of the composer Sergei Prokofiev , she corrected his songs, which were to be published at the time. She also performed as a singer in concerts. In Moscow she had contact with many artists and scientists, for example with the actor Ernst Busch .

In early 1938, Charlotte and her son's permit was not extended, so they had to leave the USSR quickly. They wanted to go back to Vienna. In Prague, however, they had to cancel their journey home because of the annexation of Austria by the German Reich and stayed there for about a year. During this time Charlotte tried to find an opportunity to leave the country to a less endangered country. After the Munich Agreement (September 30, 1938), Charlotte got involved with anti-Nazis who fled the Sudeten areas to Prague. With the help of the Quakers , Charlotte and her son were able to flee to England in March 1939.

In England, Charlotte was able to devote herself to her musical activities again, especially from August 1939 in Manchester. She also gave recitals all over England, including premieres of works by the Second Viennese School , such as by Hanns Eisler. As a pianist, she was particularly active as a chamber musician, especially with the cellist Friedrich Buxbaum (formerly the Vienna Philharmonic ). She also led a women's choir and gave singing lessons.

return

In September 1946 Charlotte returned to Vienna with her son and kept her head above water with concerts (including French songs in RAVAG on December 12, 1946 ). In addition to her professional competence, her difficult economic situation was one reason why she was given a professorship for singing ( voice training ) at the Conservatory of the City of Vienna from September 29, 1947 , but due to a lack of demand not at the main institute, but at a branch ( Kagran Music School ). During this time, she repeatedly had health problems with the bronchi. The position at the Conservatory was terminated on June 30, 1952. She was subsequently unemployed and unable to work due to illness. Charlotte Eisler died in Vienna on August 21, 1970.

literature

• Documentation archive of the Austrian resistance (ed.) 1992: Austrians in Exile, Great Britain 1938–1945, 277ff.
• Eisler-Archiv Akademie der Künste zu Berlin: Georg Eisler's letter with his mother's biography
• Manuel Joost 2000: Musicians in Exile - Charlotte Eisler. Unpublished.
• Röder / Strauss 1983 Volume II, Part 1, S, 251, keyword Georg Eisler

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.ramesch-daha.com/victims_wd_2004.html