Rudolf Halaczinsky

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Rudolf Halaczinsky

Rudolf Halaczinsky (born July 31, 1920 in Emmagrube ; † July 28, 1999 in Bensberg ) was a German composer and painter .

Life

Born on July 31, 1920 as the son of a mine official in the Upper Silesian Emmagrube (Rybnik district), Rudolf Halaczinsky spent the first 14 years of his life in the border area between Poland and Germany.

Music was very important in the family. He started playing the piano at the age of eight. In 1934 the family moved from Poland to Opole , what was then German territory.

The deep religiosity of the Upper Silesians was formative for Halaczinsky. In 1939 Halaczinsky began studying music in Graz . On October 3, 1940, he was drafted into military service.

After a short stopover as organist and choir regent of the small Upper Bavarian parish of Waidhofen (near Ingolstadt), Rudolf Halaczinsky accepted a position as resident composer, conductor and répétiteur at the Augsburg city theater. He wrote his orchestral mass Dona nobis Pacem (1946) - as he later explained - "thanking God from the bottom of his heart and pleading that he might give us lasting peace". In 1946 he married Ilse Palm, with whom he had five sons: Raimund (* 1947), Matthias (* 1948), Manfred (* 1949), Lothar (* 1952) and Thomas Halaczinsky (* 1958).

In 1952, at the age of 32, he resumed his music studies at the Munich University of Music . In 1954 he moved with his family to Rheydt on the Lower Rhine, where he found a job as an organist and choirmaster at the Herz-Jesu-Kirche. In addition, he worked as a music teacher at the local high school. After various smaller awards, his breakthrough as a composer came in 1969 when he was the only German to be awarded third prize in the "Symphonic Music" category at the international composition competition "La Reine Elisabeth" in Brussels . The premiere took place in Brussels under the direction of Michael Gielen .

In 1971 Halaczinsky was appointed to the Pedagogical University in Cologne, where he taught composition and harmony until 1984. Sound and color as expressive elements of art came more and more to the fore. In orchestral works such as Lumière Sonnante (1971), Nachtklang (1986) and Apocalypse (1984), he went on a search for the essence of being, for the origin of creation. The climax of this phase was the Poème for piano Tönende Sonne , which he completed in 1977 - linked to a picture of the same name, which in this unit is considered one of his main works.

In 1981 Halaczinsky received the Johann Wenzel Stamitz Prize from the Esslingen Artists ' Guild as “recognition for his life's work”. Further awards followed: in 1985 the first prize in the composition competition of the Gerhard Maasz Foundation, and in 1987 the second prize from the same company for his work L'umiere d 'Eternité and in 1995 for the Poème Nacht über Endenich .

The years after his retirement were filled years for the painter and composer, who described himself as an “optimistic pessimist”. From 1984 until his death in 1999 he composed around 30 compositions. A large part of his piano work was recorded by the German pianist Marcus Kretzer .

Significant works

The Poème Tönende Sonne op. 59 was created by Rudolf Halaczinsky in connection with his painting of the same name: The background was the idea of ​​merging light and sound, hearing and seeing - a manifestation of the painter-composer's synaesthetic perception. The work thrives on a crescendo-like rotational movement that condenses into chordal complexes. Ultimately, this poème is also a sign of the composer's conviction that the night of being will be overcome in the power of light. Lucian Schiwietz “Tönende Sonne” op. 59/1977 World premiere: July 31, 1980 at WDR, Cologne Instrumentation: piano Sound carrier: CD: Real Sound RS 051-0031 Rudolf Halaczinsky, Marcus Kretzer

Three orchestral works from 1969–1987. Lumière imaginaire op. 35 First performance November 27, 1969 in Brussels under the then director of the Belgian National Orchestra Michael Gielen. 3rd prize in the symphonic music category of the international composition competition "La Reine Elisabeth" Lumière sonnante op. 53 Lumière d'eternité op. 74 3rd prize in the composition competition of the Gerhard Maasz Foundation

The synesthesia of music and painting results from their equality and mutual fertilization in his artistic life: color and sound, timbre and color tones. They and the light he repeatedly addressed are reflected in the three orchestral works. The world premiere of Poème for large orchestra and tape “Lumière sonnante” on April 13, 1972 in the Mönchengladbach Kaiser-Friedrich Halle was under the musical direction of the Polish conductor Robert Satanowski. Halaczinsky found the basic idea for “Lumière sonnante” in the beginning of the Genesis account of creation where it says: “The earth was desolate and empty. Darkness lay over the abyss, and the Spirit of God floated over the waters ”. Then God said: "Let there be light!" And there was light. Rudolf Halaczinsky sees in this original creative process the archetype of every artistic activity. Out of nowhere, out of the darkness, characterized oppressively by magnetic tape, the orchestra rises in a constantly re-recorded crescendo to enormous soundscapes and eruptions. A tape quote from the final chorus of Beethoven's 9th Symphony establishes the direct connection to the divine creation. Then the sonically fascinating work, which was unanimously positively received by the audience, returns to the same silence from which it was created.

... and the sun turned black as a hairy mourning robe Ecclesiastic action for soprano solo, speaker, mixed choir, organ, instrumental ensemble and tape op. 66/1983/1984 An important work, based essentially on the text of the “Apocalypse” by Ernesto Cardenal: “And the sun turned black like a hairy mourning robe”; the title is taken from the Revelation of John. A speaker reads the text, accompanied by percussion groups, organ, wind instruments, choir and tape; Solo positions are assigned to a soprano. Because of the complex score, a performance can only take place after lengthy rehearsals; the work represents, so to speak, a “contemporary form of melodrama”, in which texts were spoken to accompanying music in the 19th century. Ernesto Cardenal, a Catholic priest from Nicaragua, liberation theologian and once minister of culture in his country's government, wrote a poem entitled "Apocalypse", a vision of how the world will end through atomic and biological weapons and then re-emerge. This vision of the future ends with the sentence: "And the earth was happy and there was a New Song and all the other inhabited planets heard the earth sing and it was a song of love." Love never ends; love will prevail. May God help us keep alive the biblical visions that are vital to us.

“Nachtklang” op. 71 premiered on November 21, 1985 in Tübingen, recorded by radio. At the world premiere, the Tübingen Chamber Orchestra brought the score, which is extremely difficult to achieve, with its diverse requirements such as polyrhythmic layering, quarter-tone beats, improvisation passages, pizzicato twelve-tone fields and repeated string changes to sound very precisely. With all the contrast between the accentuating suggestions and sounds. Blobs of sound and ribbons of color, despite all the threat and endangerment of the music, according to musicologist Prof. Ulrich Siegele, the “night sound” also allows the “day sound” to prevail. Before the work analysis and the repetition of the performance, the composer present received the first prize of the Gerhard Maasz Foundation from the chairman of the Association of German Composers Gustav Kneip. Night sound is not intended as a romantic devotion or dreaming, but rather, according to the intention of the composer and painter, should also capture the indefinite, rotten of our sensory world full of fears and longings. Halaczinsky's “night sound” accommodates the horror of the night, nightmares, but also a memory of those “consecrated to the night” in the musical Tristan quote.

Compositions - excerpt from the catalog raisonné

For orchestra

Lumière imaginaire Poème symphonique for large orchestra and tape op. 35, 1965 First performance November 27, 1969 in Brussels

For solo instruments and orchestra

Concerto for piano and orchestra op. 58 1974–1976 World premiere 26./27. August 1982 in Herford

For choir with orchestra or instrumental ensemble

Missa Regina Pacis op. 27, 1957/1958 First performance October 25, 1959 in Mönchengladbach-Rheydt

For solo voice and instrumental ensemble

Verirrte Vögel op. 57, 1967–1995 Poème for a voice and orchestra Texts: Aphorisms by Rabindranat Tagore First performance January 28, 1996 in Hanover

For solo voice and piano

Sieben Hesse Lieder op. 14b, 1947–1953 For soprano / mezzo-soprano or high baritone premiered November 21, 1991 in Cologne

For piano

Two sonatas op.11b, 1986 first performance October 24, 1986 in Königswinter Toccata op.12 first performance December 12, 1951 in Augsburg Reflexionen op. 79, 1991 first performance October 19, 1991 in Leipzig Nacht über Endenich op.83, 1995 first performance April 13 1996 in Hamburg

For organ

Schönster Herr Jesus op.34, 1964 Partita for organ, first performance June 5, 1996 in Munich Who only lets God rule op. 24, 1958 First performance May 27, 1962 in Esslingen Six Meditations, op.37, 1967 On well-known hymns, first performance 10. August 1969 in Regensburg Regina Coeli op.64, 1983 Marian Antiphon first performance March 1984 in Opole

Chamber music

Quadratum mobile op.45, 1969 clarinet solo world premiere December 2, 1969 in Mönchengladbach Et lux perpetua luceat eis op.76, 1988 string quartet world premiere January 30, 1994 in Hanover Seven short pieces op.85, 1996 alto recorder and piano Dedication: My granddaughter Anna -Lena Halaczinsky appropriated. First performance 2001 in Altenberg

The entire catalog raisonné comprises a total of 106 works and is available from Verlag Christoph Dohr Cologne.

Awards

1943: 1st prize in the “Composition on the Ice Sea Front” competition. 1962 Promotional Prize for the Johann Wenzel Stamitz Prize of the Esslingen Artists' Guild

1964: 2nd prize of the Gereon Jansen Prize in the composition competition of the Association of Catholic Church Employees in Essen

1969: 3rd prize in the symphonic music category of the international composition competition “La Reine Elisabeth” in Brussels for “Lumière imaginaire, Poème symphonique”, op. 35

1978: Award-worthy recommendation for the performance of the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, op. 58 in the 17th international composition competition of the city of Trieste

1981: Main prize of the Johann-Wenzel-Stamitz Prize of the Künstlergilde Esslingen e. V. for the complete compositional works

1984: 3rd prize in the 2nd composition competition of the Ostdeutscher Kulturrat Foundation, Bonn for the choral work “Gott ist das Licht” op. 65

1984: Award-worthy recommendation for the performance of the work “And the sun became black like a hairy mourning robe” op. 66 in the composition competition of the city of Neuss

1985: First composition prize awarded by the Gerhard Maasz Foundation of the IDK for “Nachtklang”, Poème for chamber orchestra, op. 71

1987: 3rd prize in the composition competition of the Gerhard Maasz Foundation of the IDK for “Lumière d'Eternité”, Poeme symphonique, op. 74

1996: 1st prize of the 6th composition competition of the Gerhard Maasz Foundation for the composition “Night over endsich” op. 8

Rudolf Halaczinsky as a painter

Music and painting merged more and more into one under his hand. Being able to see sounds and hear colors - this unique ability to process and link two physically separate areas of perception in the brain ("synesthesia") - that was Halaczinsky's strength. In the beginning, based on his father's watercolors, he was more concerned with representational motifs (mainly delicate landscape watercolors), but later the joy of experimenting with different materials, colors and mixed techniques grew at the same time.

The light as a symbol of the universe and the divine, the light as the expression of the mental and supramental consciousness, the day and the night, the sun and the moon as well as the interrelation of these opposites shaped his work and his thinking from then on - both as a composer and as Painter. Painting became the second level in which Halaczinsky expressed himself artistically. The cosmos and the search for the harmony of tones moved more and more into the focus of his work. His pictures show the preference for the fantastic, the merging of the real and the unreal world. The strong artistic feeling of the musician is transferred into the picturesque. A major concern of the painter Halaczinsky is to depict “light and sound spaces” and to penetrate into “cosmic areas”. The pictures “Tagklang” and “Nachtklang” are typical works from this cycle. The pictures show landscapes as music-filled spaces, which in Halaczinsky's world lie in surreal and abstract spheres. A special connection between music and painting exists in “musique visible”, a series of ink drawings and collages. Outstanding from this cycle is the drawing "Quadratum mobile", which contains a composition. One of the most important pictures by Halaczinsky is the "Sounding Sun" at the same time the title of the composition op. 59. Here - in the picture and the music, the artist tries to express the idea according to which the visible and tangible world should have emerged from a primal sound .

Exhibitions

1966 Heil Kunsthandlung, Mönchengladbach

1969 Studio Krüll, Krefeld

1973 Bergisch Gladbach district building

1975 Upper Silesia House, Ratingen

1975 Kreissparkasse Dorsten

1977 Lörick house, Düsseldorf

1979 lobby of the Kurhaus, Bad Oynhausen

1980 Art room with Doris Appelt, Gevelsberg

1982 Torhaus Wellingsbüttel, Hamburg

1983 Deutsche Bank, Hamburg

1984 Dr. Abele, Cologne

1985 Bedburg Castle, Bedburg

1985 Sand farm, Mönchengladbach

1986 VHS library, Düsseldorf

1986 Mittersil Castle, Mittersill

1986 House of Silesia, Königswinter

1987 City Theater, Darmstadt

1987 Planetarium, Stuttgart

1991 Diocesan Museum, Opole

1995 Ars ad Astra, Mir space station

1998 Funk Gallery, Bensberg

2009 private exhibition Johannes Flosbach, Bensberg

Participation in numerous group exhibitions

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Halaczinsky, Rudolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German composer and painter
DATE OF BIRTH July 31, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Emmagrube
DATE OF DEATH July 28, 1999
Place of death Bensberg