Jean Berger (composer)

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Jean Berger , born Artur Schloßberg (born September 27, 1909 in Hamm , † May 28, 2002 in Aurora , Colorado ) was a German-American pianist , composer , musicologist and music educator.

Life

Berger was born the son of a Jewish businessman in Hamm. The family moved from Hamm to Mannheim in 1919 . From 1928 Berger studied musicology at the universities of Heidelberg , Vienna and with Louis Aubert in Paris . At the same time he began to work as an accompanying pianist and conductor. He received his doctorate in 1932 under Heinrich Besseler in Heidelberg with the work The Italian Sonata for several instruments in the 17th century. In 1932 he accepted a position as assistant conductor at the Mannheim National Theater . Even before the seizure of power, he had to accept reprisals as a publicly employed Jew.

From 1933 to 1939 he lived in Paris to study composition and traveled extensively as a conductor and accompanying pianist. In France he also changed his name. Under the new name Jean Berger , he toured Europe and the Middle East as an accompanying pianist. From 1939 to 1941 he was Assistant Conductor at the Municipal Theater in Rio de Janeiro and at the Brazilian Conservatory, and toured South America.

He had lived in the USA since 1941, where he had traveled on a tour with a Brazilian singer. As early as 1942 he did military service in the US Army , and in 1943 he became a US citizen. He worked in the Office of War Information , where he produced radio programs and shows in foreign languages ​​for the United Service Organizations until 1946 . From 1946 to 1948 he arranged radio programs for CBS and NBC and traveled as a concert accompanist.

In 1948 he returned to the academic world and took a position at Middlebury College , Middlebury, Vermont, which he held until 1959. From 1959 to 1961 he worked at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign . From 1961 to 1966 he taught at the University of Colorado at Boulder and then at the Colorado Women's College, Denver, Colorado from 1968 to 1971. Since 1970 he has lectured worldwide on various aspects of American music and devoted himself to composition for choral ensembles and solo voice . In 2002 Berger died of a brain tumor.

Quote

“The music he wrote for choirs was important. Every choir director over the age of 40 has performed many of his works. "

- Dan Grace, director of the Colorado Chorale, in an obituary for Jean Berger

literature

  • Thomas Schipperges : The Heinrich Besseler files. Musicology and science policy in Germany from 1928 to 1949 (sources and studies on music in Baden-Württemberg; vol. 7). Strube-Verlag, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-89912-087-6 .
  • Thomas Schipperges: Jean Berger (1909-2002). Composer, choir director, musicologist, publisher. Or: In search of Artur Schloßberg. At the same time an addendum to “The Heinrich Besseler Files” (Munich 2005) . In: Musik in Baden-Württemberg , Vol. 15 (2008), pp. 65–85, ISSN  0947-8302 .
  • Thomas Schipperges: Jean Berger (1909-2002). Systematic-alphabetical catalog of works. An attempt . In: Musik in Baden-Württemberg , Vol. 15 (2008), pp. 86-109, ISSN  0947-8302 (together with Christina Bock).
  • Thomas Schipperges: Berger, Jean . In: Music in the past and present / supplement . New edition Bärenreiter-Verlag, Kassel 2008, Sp. 48–50, ISBN 978-3-7618-1139-9 .
  • Laila Weiland: Who knows Jean Berger? In: Stadtanzeiger Hamm, January 8, 2012, p. 9.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Quoted from Neil W. Levin: Jean Berger. In: Milken Archive of Jewish Music.
personal data
SURNAME Berger, Jean
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schloßberg, Artur (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-American pianist, composer, musicologist and music educator
DATE OF BIRTH September 27, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamm
DATE OF DEATH May 28, 2002
Place of death Aurora