Erwin Weiss (composer)

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Erwin Weiss (born October 6, 1912 in Vienna ; † September 13, 2004 there ; pseudonym: Peter Falk ) was an Austrian composer , choir director, pianist and music teacher .

Life

Erwin Weiss took violin lessons from 1920 and piano lessons from 1922 and then studied with Hedda Ballon (piano) at the New Vienna Conservatory until 1927 and at the Vienna State Academy for Music with Alexander Manhart (piano), Joseph Marx (music theory), Max Springer (composition), Walter Kerschbaumer (piano concert subject), Felix Weingartner (conducting) and Josef Krips (conducting). In 1934 he passed the matriculation examination for piano and in 1937 for conducting. Engaged in the socialist movement, Weiss directed the Favoriten youth choir from 1928–32 and was the musical supervisor of the “Red Players” in Favoriten, where he also met Jura Soyfer . 1934-38 he was choirmaster of the Workers' Singing Association of Favoriten. From 1936 he performed as a concert pianist and worked as a piano teacher.

After the “Anschluss” of Austria in 1938, he had to go into exile because of his Jewish origins and went first to Switzerland, after his expulsion to France and then to England in 1939, where he was initially on the Isle of Man together with numerous so-called hostile foreigners (“enemy aliens ”) was interned. There he met Erich Fried , some of whose works he later set to music. After 8 months he was laid off, found employment in the aircraft industry and founded the Young Austria Choir in London . As the conductor of the choir concerts, he wrote numerous songs by heart from memory, as there was no suitable sheet music.

Urn grave

In 1945 Weiss returned to Vienna and began teaching at the Vienna Conservatory . From 1960 to 1978 he was director of this institution. In addition, he worked as a choir and orchestra conductor (1951/52 youth choir and 1956-96 choir association of the Austrian Federation of Trade Unions ) and undertook several tours abroad. He played a major role in the reconstruction of the Austrian workers' choir after the Second World War and was, among other things, a member of the board of the Wiener Konzerthausgesellschaft (1945–1990).

His grave is in the urn grove of the Simmering fire hall (Department 3, Ring 3, Gr. 3, No. 29) in Vienna. It is one of the grave sites of the city of Vienna that are dedicated or taken into custody on account of honor.

Awards

Works (selection)

  • We pave the way , choral song (Text: Erich Fried , 1943)
  • A new spring , choral song, (Text: Hans Kallberg, 1944)
  • Take the hammer , choir song (Text: Wilhelm Adametz, 1946)
  • Vom Leben , Secular Oratorio (Text: Karl Anton Maly, 1950)
  • Hymn workers' legend (Text: Josef Luitpold Stern , 1953)
  • The song of the engines , one episode (Text: Gerhard Fritsch , 1954)
as well as cantatas, choral works, songs and film music

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ www.friedhoefewien.at - Graves dedicated to honor in the fire hall Simmering cemetery (PDF 2016), accessed on March 7, 2018
  2. ↑ http://www.arbeiter-zeitung.at/cgi-bin/archiv/flash.pl?year=1967&month=2&day=3&page=7&html=1
  3. ^ City hall correspondence of December 3, 2003 (accessed June 1, 2010)
personal data
SURNAME Weiss, Erwin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Falk, Peter (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian composer
DATE OF BIRTH October 6, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH September 13, 2004
Place of death Vienna