Karel Salmon

Karel Salmon in 1936

Karel Salmon (born November 13, 1897 in Heidelberg , † January 15, 1974 in Beit Sa'yit near Jerusalem ; birth name: Karl Salomon ) was an Israeli composer , singer ( baritone) , pianist , organist , conductor and music administrator of German birth.

Life

Born the son of a businessman, Karl Salomon received his first musical training at the Heidelberg Music Academy. From 1912 he took part in Philipp Wolfrum's composition courses at the university . The first attempts at composition, including a symphony, also fall during this period. Salomon enjoyed Wolfrum's personal support until Wolfrum's death. Salomon performed as an organist in Heidelberg and conducted rehearsals for the world premiere of Der Einsiedler (1916), Max Reger's last choral work . He presented his works in the cultural group “Die Gemeinschaft” founded by the art historian Wilhelm Fraenger . In 1920 Salomon completed his studies with Richard Strauss in Berlin and then worked as a singer and theater conductor in Hamburg, Baden-Baden and Berlin. In addition to composing himself, he devoted himself to the processing of older music, including Handel's opera Rodelinda (1932)

After the Nazis came to power in 1933, Salomon had to and could leave Germany. Completely gifted as a singer and pianist, conductor and composer, arranger and organizer, Karel Salmon, as he now called himself, became an integral part of European culture in Israel. In leading positions he was involved in building up the musical life of Palestine. In Jerusalem he founded a chamber orchestra, conducted at the Palestine Opera, taught at the Conservatory and, as music director, conducted the choir and orchestra of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem . After the Jerusalem radio station began broadcasting, initially under a British mandate as Palestine Broadcasting Service (PBS), and since 1948 as Radio Israel (Kol Israel), Salomon was appointed music director of the Hebrew department. From 1957–1962 he was director of the overseas service of the Israel Broadcasting Authority's Transcription Service.

Initially living in Neve Ya'acov, between Jerusalem and Ramallah, Solomon later moved to Beit Zayit near Jerusalem, where he also died.

Works

Salmon's most important compositions were composed in Israel: operas and orchestral works, secular and sacred choral music, chamber music, piano pieces, organ works, songs.

• David and Goliath , opera based on biblical motifs (1930, rev. 1956)
• Four times Methuselah , opera based on biblical motifs (1965/66, produced by ZDF 1968)
• Nedarim ( vow ), according to an old Jewish legend (1954, premiere 1955 in concert at Kibbutz En Gev ).
• Shir Hatekuma ( The Song of Affirmation ), oratorio. The Hebrew text editing by Avigdor Hameiri is based on a text by Moshe Yakov Ben Gabriel .
• Chajei adam ( A Human Life ) Cantata for choir and orchestra. (Composed in 1967 for his 70th birthday)
• The tone , cantata on verses from Arno Nadel's religious poetry; an early major work (1921)

In instrumental music, too, based on traditional forms, the composer repeatedly sought the programmatic inclusion of folk melodies or motifs from the past and present of his country:

• Solomon's Sephardic Suite for chamber ensemble based on melodies from Jewish-Spanish chants; Dedicated to Pablo Casals (1947)
• Jerusalem Concerto for Glockenspiel and Orchestra (1948)
• Second symphony "Leilot bi-Chna'an" (1949)

• Symphonic suite on Greek themes . The elaborately orchestrated arrangement of four Greek folk dances shows the integration of oriental-Jewish and Greek idioms in melody, rhythm and sound. (1943, also arranged for piano and for two pianos). In 1951 the composer received the Engel Prize for this, his most popular work to date.

There are also songs as well as folk and national song arrangements.

literature

• Karel Salomon: Philipp Wolfrum as a teacher and sponsor. Memories of a student . In: Ruperto Carola 21, Vol. 46, June 1969, pp. 60-63.
• Peter Gradenwitz: Music and musicians in Israel. A comprehensive guide to modern Israeli music. 3rd edition, Tel Aviv 1978.
• Thomas Schipperges: Karel Salmon [Salomon] (1897-1974). A way from Germany . In: mr-Mitteilungen, number 21 . Ed. Musica reanimata. Funding Association for the Rediscovery of Nazi Persecuted Composers and their Works eV, Berlin 1996, pp. 6-16.
• Thomas Schipperges: Karel: (Karl) Salomon (1897–1974). An Israeli composer from Heidelberg . In: Heidelberg. Yearbook on the history of the city . 2, Heidelberg 1997, pp. 189-208.
• Thomas Schipperges: New and old music in the context of the community . In: New Art - Living Science. Wilhelm Fraenger and his Heidelberg Circle 1910 to 1937 . Edited by Susanne Himmelträger, Karl Ludwig Hoffmann. Heidelberg 2004, pp. 101-110.

Web links

Commons : Karel Shalmon  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Works by and about Karel Salmon in the catalog of the German National Library
• Karel Salmon in the Lexicon of Persecuted Musicians from the Nazi Era (LexM)