Ernst Viebig (composer)

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Ernst Viebig (until 1914 Ernst Cohn-Viebig; born October 10, 1897 in Berlin , † September 18, 1959 in Eggenfelden , Lower Bavaria ) was a German composer and the son of Clara Viebig . Due to the threat of persecution because of his father's Jewish descent, his promising career came to an abrupt end when he emigrated to Brazil . He did not return to Germany until 1958, but was unable to build on earlier successes here.

Life

Ernst Viebig was born on October 10, 1897 as the son of Clara Viebig and Fritz Theodor Cohn . The father was a publisher who was Friedrich Fontane's partner , and the mother was a budding writer. The family lived in Berlin-Schöneberg until he was eight . In 1905, her mother's literary and financial success allowed her to move into a villa in Berlin-Zehlendorf .

Ernst had the double name Cohn-Viebig until 1914 when his parents applied to change his son's name. The reason given was that Ernst wanted to join the army and hoped that he would get better by giving up his Jewish name. The application was eventually approved by the Interior Ministry. Fritz Cohn had already converted to Lutheran Protestantism when he married Clara Viebig, in order to spare his son disadvantages due to the Jewish name.

The big names of the time, the leading avant-garde in literature and theater, frequented the Viebigs' house. Prominent personalities such as Gerhart Hauptmann , Ricarda Huch , Börries von Münchhausen , Ina Seidel and Heinrich Zille could be found in the Viebigs' house. These contacts did not fail to have an effect on the young Ernst, who was already familiar with the works of world literature as a teenager.

The young Ernst Viebig first learned to play the piano, which was later supplemented by knowledge of music theory. He showed a talent for improvisation and it was clear to his parents that he would become a musician or conductor. At the age of twelve he was already playing improvisations on well-known songs on the piano. He continued his music studies with the composer Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek . Later he was allowed to accompany Albert Einstein to play the violin on the piano.

Viebig was often ill and often stayed in sanatoriums because of chronic bronchial catarrh. The relationship between parents and son turned out to be problematic. Viebig himself wrote that "this son" had threatened his parents "always like a thunderstorm-threatening cloud at the zenith of their bourgeois saturation". He was enthusiastic about the ideas of the avant-garde and cultivated acquaintances, especially with women who were a thorn in the side of his parents.

When the First World War broke out , the seventeen-year-old volunteered for service at the front, against the resistance of his parents. In 1916 he was used in the Battle of the Somme and in Russia. He returned unharmed. He quickly regretted his hasty decision, but did not return to Berlin until the end of the war.

It was there that Viebig began his career as a successful conductor, composer and musical director at the Electrola record company. He also worked as a music critic for newspapers. He also got a job as choirmaster at the Lübeck City Theater , where he met the solo dancer Lieselotte Schmidt. He was married to her for the first time. She left him again and Viebig began a dissolute life, which sometimes made him forget the contractual obligations of his engagement, so that he was banned from the German stage association for a year. In 1924 he married Irmgard Guerke, who was employed as a typist in the Viebig house. The marriage resulted in two children, Susanne (1923) and Reinhart (1926).

With the seizure of power by the Nazis in 1933, the conditions for Viebig deteriorated. He was in constant danger of being arrested because of his membership in the KPD and because of his " half-Jewish " descent. After an interrogation by the Gestapo, he decided to leave Germany. Following information from Karl Hellwig, a migration worker for Germans in Brazil, Viebig decided to leave for Brazil. After a final meeting with his parents in the Eifel health resort Bad Bertrich , he traveled to South America via Amsterdam.

The wish to continue the musical career he had started in Brazil was not fulfilled. He continued to compose there, but only found a few private buyers.

His wife Irmgard followed her husband; the children Susanne and Reinhart initially remained in the household of their grandmother Clara until they followed their parents in 1936. The couple opened the German bookstore "Livraria Transatlantica" first in Rio de Janeiro, then in São Paulo. The second marriage was later divorced.

In 1958 Viebig returned to Berlin, but could no longer gain a foothold there. He finally settled in Eggenfelden in Lower Bavaria, where he died on September 18, 1959 and was also buried.

Ernst Viebig recorded his life, which was accompanied by ups and downs, until he emigrated to Brazil in an autobiographical sketch, which was published in excerpts.

Artistic career

Ernst Viebig dealt with the works of his contemporaries Alban Berg , Gustav Mahler , Paul Hindemith and Max Reger and took up musical impulses from these composers. His diverse artistic work includes the areas of opera, orchestral music with a solo instrument, chamber music with piano quintet, string quartet or smaller ensembles, and the area of ​​lied for a voice with piano accompaniment.

His works include both serious-looking and entertaining pieces.

In 1920 Ernst Viebig began his career as Kapellmeister in Lübeck (theater) , Braunschweig (state theater) and Hanover (Lower Saxony state theater) . He became editor of the magazine Die Musik .

On May 19, 1922, Viebig's first opera Night of Souls was premiered at what was then Stadttheater Aachen . This opera in three acts is based on the play Quatembernacht by the Swiss playwright René Morax , which Clara Viebig has reworked into a libretto. The action takes place in the mountains. A young man mourns his dead fiancée who is said to have betrayed him. To learn the truth about the bride, the young man approaches the funeral procession in the Quatembernacht . The performance was hailed by the press as a "strong test of talent".

1925 was a successful year for Ernst Viebig. He became musical director of the Electrola record company; on March 19, his opera Die Môra premiered at the Stadttheater Düsseldorf . Clara Viebig reworked parts of her novel “ Absolvo te ” into a libretto. The novel is about an unhappy marriage that the woman tries to evade by poisoning.

Ernst Viebig played a key role in shaping the Electrola program. In 1927, new orchestral and vocal recordings include the overture he conducted to the operetta “ Die Schöne Galathée ” by Franz von Suppè and the “ Turandot Fantasy” based on Giacomo Puccini .

The text The story of the good Kasperl and the beautiful Annerl by Clemens Brentano made Viebig the basis of an opera. This composition received great recognition from the Ministry of Culture in Berlin. The conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler suggested presenting the work at the Berlin State Opera . In addition, he wanted to try to get Ernst Viebig a professorship at the University of Music. But without an “ Aryan certificate ”, a performance permit could not be obtained. In response to a request from Hermann Göring , Ernst Viebig received the information that as a Jew he was not entitled to manage German cultural assets. He commented on this as follows: "With this stupid and incorrect saying my artistic life in my fatherland ended."

literature

  • Ernst Viebig: The unfinished symphony of my life . A famous mother's Jewish son remembers. Edited by Christel Aretz and Peter Kämmereit, with a foreword by Volker Neuhaus. Rhein-Mosel-Verlag, Zell an der Mosel 2012, ISBN 978-3-89801-061-0 (in the same volume notes by his wife Irmgard Viebig; notes by my father's daughter , the composer Ernst Viebig; biographical data; list of compositions; List of personalities, friends and contemporaries in the life of Ernst Viebig)
  • Ernst Viebig: Memoirs. In: Christel Aretz, Peter Kämmereit (eds.): Clara Viebig. A long life for literature. Documentation for the 150th birthday. Rhein-Mosel-Verlag, Zell an der Mosel 2010, ISBN 978-3-89801-331-4 , pp. 135–146 and pp. 147–148 ( The composer Ernst Viebig. Biographical outline)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peter Kämmereit: A name thing: Cohn or Viebig? In: Christel Aretz, Peter Kämmereit (eds.): Clara Viebig. A long life for literature. Documentation for the 150th birthday, Zell 2010 (131–134), pp. 133–134.
  2. ↑ Susanne Bial: Emigrants. In: Christel Aretz, Peter Kämmereit (eds.): Clara Viebig. A long life for literature. Documentation on the 150th birthday, Zell 2010 (149–163), p. 151.
  3. ^ Ernst Viebig: Memoirs. In: Christel Aretz, Peter Kämmereit (eds.): Clara Viebig. A long life for literature. Documentation for the 150th birthday, Zell 2010 (135–146), p. 137.
  4. ↑ Charlotte Marlo Werner: Writing life. The poet Clara Viebig. Dreieich 2009, p. 118.
  5. ^ Ernst Viebig: Memoirs. P. 141.
  6. ^ Ernst Viebig: Memoirs. P. 140.
  7. ↑ Carola Stern : Come on, Cohn! Friedrich Cohn and Clara Viebig. Cologne 2006, p. 79.
  8. ^ Ernst Viebig: Memoirs. P. 147.
  9. ↑ Carola Stern: Come on, Cohn! P. 95.
  10. ↑ Susanne Bial: Emigrants. P. 155.
  11. ↑ Charlotte Marlo Werner: Writing life. P. 122.
  12. ↑ Carola Stern: Come on, Cohn! P. 110.
  13. ^ Ernst Viebig: Memoirs. P. 143.
  14. ↑ Susanne Bial: Emigrants. P. 160.
  15. ^ Ernst Viebig: Memoirs. P. 144.
  16. ↑ Susanne Bial: Emigrants. P. 161.
  17. ↑ a b c d Ernst Viebig: Memoirs, p. 148.
  18. ↑ Carola Stern: Come on, Cohn! P. 152.
  19. ^ Ernst Viebig: Memoirs.
  20. ↑ Charlotte Marlo Werner: Writing life. P. 125.
  21. ↑ Carola Stern: Come on, Cohn! P. 150.
  22. ↑ Charlotte Marlo Werner: Writing life. P. 148.
  23. ↑ Charlotte Marlo Werner: Writing life. P. 148.
personal data
SURNAME Viebig, Ernst
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cohn-Viebig, Ernst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German composer
DATE OF BIRTH October 10, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH September 18, 1959
Place of death Eggenfelden , Lower Bavaria