Eduard Melkus

Eduard Melkus (born September 1, 1928 in Baden near Vienna ) is an Austrian violinist and violist .

Live and act

Eduard Melkus studied violin with Ernst Moravec and from 1951 to 1953 musicology with Erich Schenk at the University of Vienna . Further violin studies followed in Paris with Firmin Touche , in Zurich with Alexander Schaichet and Peter Rybar (1913–2002). Immediately after the Second World War he devoted himself to research into historical performance practice and founded in 1952, encouraged by Josef Mertin , with Gustav Leonhardt and Karl Scheit, the “Schola Antiqua Wien”, from which he became “Capella Academica Wien” in 1965, with which he is still today occurs, emerged. Melkus was a member of the Vienna Gamba Quartet, founded in 1949, and was also part of the inner circle of musicians around Alice and Nikolaus Harnoncourt . During the years in Zurich from 1955 to 1958, he was the first violinist of the “Zurich String Quartet” and, after a change of line-up, “New Zurich String Quartet”. Recording: Ernst Toch , String Quartet, Op. 70 (contemporary Records, 1959). In his early years he dealt with the precursors and variants of the violin, the Rebec , the Lira da Braccio and the Viola d'amore .

Numerous concerts, records and CD recordings of more than 200 works from the late 17th to the late 18th century with his “Capella Academica Wien” or the French harpsichordist Huguette Dreyfus opened up a worldwide audience for him.

Eduard Melkus was professor for violin, baroque violin, viola and historical performance practice at the Vienna University of Music from 1958 until his retirement in 1996 . In addition, in 1982 he took over the management of the Institute for Viennese Sound Style . In 1978 he took over the musical direction of an opera production at the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music .

One of Melkus' particular merits is related to research into the development of free decoration in music in the early 18th century. He passed on this knowledge in numerous writings and master classes. In 1962 Melkus premiered the Violin Concerto op. 84 by Egon Wellesz, which was dedicated to him .

Eduard Melkus played among others on a violin from 1679, which was left in its original condition and was attributed to Nicola Amati .

In his home town of Baden near Vienna , Eduard Melkus has been the initiator and organizer of the “Baden Beethoven Days” since 1980. In 1987 he was awarded the Handel Prize of the Halle district .

literature

• 15 years Institute for Viennese Sound Style (1980–1995) , Institute for Viennese Sound Style 1996, ISBN 3-900914-01-X
• The violin. An introduction to the history of the violin and violin playing , (extended new edition) Schott, Mainz 2000, ISBN 3-7957-2359-0
• Publications:

1. The stream arch
2. The violin as an object of stylistics
3. Slurs and line styles in Mozart's music
4. Slurs and line styles in Beethoven's work
5. New ways of interpreting early music, performance practice in comparison with the visual arts (pp. 173–201) in the Festschrift Josef Mertin (Vienna, 1994)

Discography (selection)

• Ernst Toch, String Quartet, Op. 70, New Zurich String Quartet: Eduard Melkus, Jürg Jenne (violins), Kurt Hirschfeld (viola), Frédéric Mottier (violoncello).

Web links

• Website of the "Ensemble Eduard Melkus" and the "Capella Academica Wien"
• Works by and about Eduard Melkus in the catalog of the German National Library
• Eduard Melkus at Discogs (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Don M Randel: The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music, p. 572
2. ^ Wiener Zeitung of September 22, 2008: "Eduard Melkus is 80"