Jakob Schoenberg

Jakob Schönberg (born September 8, 1900 in Fürth , † May 1, 1956 in New York City ) was a German composer and musicologist .

life and work

Jakob Schönberg, distant relative of the much better known Austrian composer Arnold Schönberg , was the son of a cantor at the Claus Synagogue in Fürth. As a five-year-old he received piano lessons. From 1906 to 1916 he attended the Israelitische Realschule in Fürth, then until 1919 the Oberrealschule in Nuremberg . This was followed by studies at the Technical University in Darmstadt and the University of Berlin . In 1925 Schönberg received his doctorate from the University of Erlangen with the dissertation “The traditional chants of the Israelite worship service in Germany” .

Jakob Schönberg made his living as a pianist, music critic for the Nürnberger Zeitung , conductor and composer. In 1923 his first orchestral work, " Prelude Symphonique ", was premiered. The Bayerische Rundfunk in Munich, for whom he worked as musical consultant, led to several of his orchestral compositions. He also wrote film music, some of which was printed by the publishers Schott's Söhne (Mainz) and Hawkes & Son (London).

After the National Socialist seizure of power in 1933, Jakob Schönberg lost his positions with the Nürnberger Zeitung and the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation. In Berlin he became a music critic for the Jüdische Rundschau and increasingly turned to Jewish music folklore in Palestine , which is also reflected in his compositions. In 1935 an anthology was created with 230 Hebrew chants " Schirej Erez Israel " (" Songs from the Land of Israel "). The three-movement “ Hasidic Suite ” (initially set for piano, later for orchestra) was performed several times in the orchestral version between 1936 and 1938 by the Jewish cultural associations in Berlin and Frankfurt am Main.

In 1939 Jakob Schönberg emigrated to England. Little is known about his English years. Apparently no more compositions were composed after emigrating from Germany. In 1948 he moved to New York City , where in the same year pianist Ray Lev played a movement from the " Hasidic Suite " at Carnegie Hall . Schönberg taught at the Trinity School in New York and later at the Carnegie School of Music in Englewood, New Jersey . In 1956 Jakob Schönberg died of a brain tumor.

After decades of almost complete oblivion, a double CD with songs and chamber music compositions by Schönberg was released in 2012 on the Profil label.

Web links

• Jakob Schönberg in the Lexicon of Persecuted Musicians from the Nazi Era (LexM)
• Information from The Jakob Schönberg Collection (English)
• Information from BR-Klassik on the program "Musik der Welt" on September 1, 2012 ( Memento from November 28, 2012 in the Internet Archive )