Isaak Iossifowitsch Schwarz

Isaak Iossifowitsch Schwarz ( Russian Исаак Иосифович Шварц , born May 13, 1923 in Romny ( Ukrainian SSR ); † December 27, 2009 in Siwerski , Leningrad Oblast , ( Russia )) was a Russian composer. Schwarz became particularly famous for the music he composed for over 100 films, including the Soviet-Japanese work Uzala, the Kirghiz , which received the Oscar for best foreign language film in 1976 .

Life

Schwarz grew up in a Jewish family in Romny. In 1930 the family moved to Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg ), where young Isaac began taking piano lessons in the so-called "House for Artistic Education" in AS Samkov's class. In 1935, at the age of 12, he took part in a youth concert in the Great Hall of the Leningrad Philharmonic.

In December 1936, Isaac's father, the philologist Josif Yevseevich Schwarz (1889–1938) was arrested by organs of the Interior Ministry of the USSR in the course of the Stalinist " Great Terror " , sentenced and taken to a prison camp, where he was shot in April 1938. In the summer of 1937 the remaining members of the Schwarz family had to go into exile in Frunze (now Bishkek ) in Kyrgyzstan (now Kyrgyzstan ). Isaac's mother, Rachel Solomonovna, was sent to work in a sewing factory. 14-year-old Isaac began to give piano lessons to the children of the management in Frunze.

In 1938 Isaak Schwarz took his first composition lessons with the teacher Vladimir Fere . In the following years he worked as a concertmaster at the Kyrgyz State Theater. During the Second World War he directed the choir and orchestra of the Red Army ensemble for song and dance in the Frunze military area. He married in 1943.

In 1945 the exile was lifted and Schwarz returned to Leningrad. With the support of Dmitri Dmitrijewitsch Schostakowitsch , who also paid the tuition fees, he entered Boris Arapov's class at the Leningrad Conservatory to continue studying composition. For the last two years at the Conservatory, Schwarz studied with Orest Jewlachow . In 1951 he graduated from the conservatory with a diploma. In 1954 he wrote the symphony in F minor , which brought the young composer his first success. In 1955 Isaak Schwarz was accepted into the community of composers of the USSR ( Russian Союз композиторов СССР ).

In the following years he wrote pieces for ballet , stage plays and music for over 100 films. The collaboration between Schwarz and Bulat Schalwowitsch Okudschawa ( Russian Булат Шалвович Окуджава ) proved to be very fruitful . Together they created 32 pieces, including known as "The Song of the Horse Guards" (Песенка кавалергарда) from the movie charming star bliss ( Russian Звезда пленительного счастья ), your well-born lady of happiness ( Russian Ваше благородие, госпожа разлука ) from the movie White Sun the desert , the romance wedding dress (Наряд подвенечный) in the film We were not married in the church ( Russian: Нас венчали не в церкви ) and also the song from the movie Das Strohhütchen ( Russian Соломенная ш ). Okudschawa valued Schwarz 's rare gift of delicately extracting precisely that music from within a poem that is the only one able to express the poem's content.

Since the late 1960s, the composer lived and worked in Siversky, Leningrad Region, near Saint Petersburg, together with his second wife Antonina.

The " Oscar " for the best foreign language film was awarded in 1976 for the Soviet-Japanese work Uzala, the Kirghiz ( Russian Дерсу Узала ); Director Akira Kurosawa - music Isaak Schwarz.

The 1991 film Die Junge Katharina , for which he composed the music, achieved some notoriety in Germany.

The seven-movement orchestral concert Yellow Stars - Purim Play in the Ghetto was composed by Schwarz after reading records from the Kaunas ghetto in memory of the victims of the Holocaust . It was premiered in St. Petersburg in 2000. A CD was recorded with the Russian National Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Vladimir Spiwakow in the large Mosfilm studio in 2002. In connection with a film and photo collage by media artist Joan Grossman (2004), the work was also released on DVD. The German premiere of the concert took place on October 23, 2007 in Friedrichshafen.

Russian President Medvedev also congratulated him on his 85th birthday . "You are rightly called one of the outstanding contemporary composers, in recognition of your classical patriotic musical art," said the congratulatory telegram. “Unique talent and creativity enabled you to create a whole series of excellent works, each of which is characterized by sincerity and harmony. It is no coincidence that your artistic works have received the highest awards from professional associations and, of course, the warm affection of numerous music critics. "

Issak Schwarz died in his house in Siwerski, as u. a. the artist Elena Kamburowa ( Russian Елена Камбурова ) reported on the Russian radio station "Moscow Echo". He was buried on December 30, 2009 in the St. Petersburg Volkovo Cemetery ( Russian Волковского кладбища ) in the section of honor (museum necropolis) for writers and publicists ( Russian Литераторские мостки ). According to the will of the composer, the ceremony took place according to the Jewish funeral ritual. With the prayer “ Kaddish ” at the grave of Issak Schwarz, one of the St. Petersburg rabbis emphasized Schwarz's membership of the Jewish religious community.

Film music (selection)

• 1969: The Karamasow Brothers (Bratja Karamasowy)
• 1973: Yegor Bulytschow and others (Yegor Bulytschow i drugije)
• 1975: Uzala, the Kyrgyz (Dersu Usala)
• 1986: An umbrella for lovers (Sontik dlja novobratschnych)
• 1991: Young Catherine (Young Catherine)
• 1992: Luna Park (Luna-park)

Awards

• 1996 - "People's Artist of Russia" ( Russian: Народный артист России )
• 1997 - Laureate for the State Prize of the Russian Federation (for the music for the film White Sun of the Desert )
• 2000 - Laureate of the Tsarskoye Selo Prize (City of Pushkin) for the unique collection of romances based on poems by Russian poets of the 19th and 20th centuries
• 2003 - Order of Merit for the Fatherland 4th grade
• National Film Prize of the Russian Academy NIKA ( Russian национальная премия Российской Академии )
  • 1992 - best composition, for the film Luna Park
  • 2000 - best soundtrack in the film Listen, isn't it raining? ( Russian Послушай, не идет ли дождь )
  • 2001 - best score in the film The Wild Woman ( Russian Дикарка )
• 2003 - honorary citizenship of Leningrad Oblast

Web links

• Isaak Iossifowitsch Schwarz in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Entries. In: Two thousand and one lexicon of international film

Individual evidence

1. ↑ White Sun of the Desert (Beloye solntse pustyni) : Description of the film
2. ↑ White Sun of the Desert (Beloye solntse pustyni) (Mosfilm, Russian) in the Internet Archive
3. ↑ Directory of the films for which Isaak Schwarz created the music. Internet Movie Database , accessed November 10, 2015 . 
4. ^ The Moscow Post, May 13, 2008 . Retrieved January 17, 2010. ( Russian )
5. ↑ Decree of the Russian President's Award No. 116 of January 29, 1996, p. 2 ( Memento of April 29, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Retrieved on May 21, 2018. ( Russian )
6. ↑ Decree of the Russian President's Award No. 1071 of September 15, 2003, page 1 ( Memento of December 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Retrieved on May 21, 2018. ( Russian )
7. ↑ NIKA awards 1992  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved January 17, 2010. ( Russian )  
8. ↑ NIKA awards 2000  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved January 17, 2010. ( Russian )  
9. ↑ NIKA awards 2001  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved January 17, 2010. ( Russian )