Marcel Sulzberger

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Marcel Sulzberger , actually Johannes Heinrich Samuel Sulzberger, (born December 24, 1876 in Frankfurt am Main as the son of Swiss parents; † beginning of January 1941 in Zurich ) was a Swiss composer, pianist and music writer.

Life

There are few reliable data about his life, as Sulzberger himself helped to leave some things in the dark (e.g. his year of birth). On the basis of the birth certificate in the Frankfurt civil status register, however, it can be proven that Sulzberger was born on December 24, 1876 as the son of the Methodist preacher Dr. phil. Arnold Sulzberger and his wife Ida Cäcilie, née Baur, in Röderbergweg No. 88 was born.

From 1900 he studied at the University and at the Conservatory of Zurich . He first appeared as a composer in 1904, when his elegy for orchestra was premiered in the Tonhalle Zurich under Lothar Kempter . In Zurich he was in contact with Othmar Schoeck and Gabriel Fauré . After he had recommended him to continue studying with Charles-Marie Widor in Paris, Sulzberger went there in 1906 and returned to Zurich in 1911. He soon belonged to the close circle of friends of Ferruccio Busoni , who emigrated to Switzerland during the First World War , whom he fervently admired and for whose work he campaigned. It also seems certain that Sulzberger took part in an event of the Dada gallery in Zurich in 1917 - apparently without consequences . a. and Hugo Ball and Tristan Tzara were involved.

style

During his student days, the Francophile Sulzberger was still completely under the influence of Claude Debussy's music . However, he is considered to be one of the first Swiss composers to turn away from tonality and experiment with bitonality or freononality . Others perceive echoes of Fauré and the style of the Second Viennese School in his music . Sulzberger's compositions did not attract the attention of contemporary Swiss critics because his compositional style was far ahead of its time.

Works

  • Elegy for orchestra (1904)
  • Ballade fantasque for piano and orchestra (1905)
  • Songs for voice and piano, from it To the Distant
  • Chanson d'été
  • Cortège et fête for piano (lost)
  • Sonata for violin and piano (1919), premiered in Paris (1924)

estate

Sulzberger's estate is in the central library in Zurich and includes a. Letters from Hugo Ball , Busoni , Debussy , Ernst von Dohnányi , Joseph Szigeti , Richard Strauss and Felix Weingartner to Sulzberger.

literature

  • Chris Walton : Marcel HS Sulzberger (1879–1941): a Swiss pioneer of atonality between Dada and young classicism . Correspondence between Ferruccio Busoni and Marcel Sulzberger, Sulzberger's writings on Busoni and new music, Marcel Sulzberger's catalog raisonné. Amadeus, Winterthur 2010, ISBN 978-3-905786-06-4 .
  • Chris Walton: The many lives of Marcel Sulzberger . In: The Musical Times . tape 154 , no. 1925 , 2013, ISSN  0027-4666 , p. 5-18 (English).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Registry Office I: Birth register (entries 3001-3283) November 27, 1876 to December 30, 1876, 1876 (ISG Frankfurt am Main order STA 10/99), entry no. 3272
  2. ↑ a b estate of Marcel Sulzberger. Zurich Central Library, accessed on July 10, 2019 .
  3. ^ Patrick Streiff: Arnold Sulzberger. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . December 3, 2013 , accessed May 26, 2016 .
  4. ^ Chris Walton: The many lives of Marcel Sulzberger . In: The Musical Times . tape 154 , no. 1925 , 2013, ISSN  0027-4666 , p. 7 (English).
personal data
SURNAME Sulzberger, Marcel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss composer, pianist and music writer
DATE OF BIRTH December 24, 1876
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF DEATH January 1941
Place of death Zurich