Theodor Berger (composer)

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Theodor Berger (born May 18, 1905 in Traismauer , Lower Austria , † August 21, 1992 in Vienna ) was an Austrian composer .

Theodor Berger

Life

Berger's birthplace in Traismauer

Theodor Berger came from the poorest of backgrounds and therefore hardly had the opportunity to deal with music in his childhood. In the course of his teacher training he became aware of his actual calling as a composer at the age of 17. With the support of a few well-to-do families, he was able to study with Franz Schmidt at the Vienna Music Academy from 1926 to 1932 , but later always referred to himself as " autodidact " because he had largely worked out his musical language himself.

In 1932 he went to Berlin; He was recognized there by Wilhelm Furtwängler as a young talent and promoted through performances and recommendations at home and abroad. In 1939 he returned to Vienna and lived there, apart from a few longer stays in Germany and the USA , as a freelance composer until his death. He was friends with fellow composers such as Miklós Rózsa , Marcel Rubin , Joseph Marx , Samuel Barber and Werner Egk .

Despite his multiple awards with medals, prizes and titles, Theodor Berger has been rather quiet since around 1965. Constant lobbying for his works with the powerful in the cultural sector in politics and the media was a nuisance to him and his independence from any “school” soon made him an outsider in the music scene. This was also reinforced by his tendency to neurasthenia , which became increasingly noticeable in the last decades of his life, and which made contact with the “crowd” almost impossible for him.

Music genre

During his life, Berger was not part of any of the current trends in contemporary music. The unmistakably personal tonal language is rich in nuances, often oscillating between consonance and dissonance on a polytonal level, and stylistically ties in with musical impressionism . Important elements were also impressions of nature and technology (see "Impressions" for orchestra, op.8) . A certain influence from Igor Stravinsky and Béla Bartók is also unmistakable. His teacher Franz Schmidt once said laconically: " These are not bad addresses that you are turning to."

Theodor Berger processed his experiences of nature with musical ease in masterful instrumentation. Orchestral music was his very own profession, although his early works in the field of chamber music betray his unmistakable style. International conductors such as Wilhelm Furtwängler , Erich Kleiber , Wolfgang Sawallisch , Karl Böhm , Herbert von Karajan , Rafael Kubelík , Erich Kleiber, Bernard Haitink , Josef Krips , Zubin Mehta , Dimitri Mitropoulos , Antal Doráti , Sergiu Celibidache and others have conducted his works, last especially Horst Stein .

Awards

Works

(Selection)

  • String quartet op.2 in the old style in eE (1932)
  • Rondino Giocoso , op.4 , for string orchestra (1933)
  • Malinconia , op.5 , for string orchestra (1933)
  • Impressions , op.8, Six Little Tone Pictures for Orchestra (1938/46)
  • Rhapsodic Duo , op.9, for violin, violoncello and orchestra (1939)
  • Chronique Symphonique , op.10, for orchestra (1940/53)
  • Legend of Prince Eugene , op.11, for orchestra (1941)
  • Homeric Symphony , for orchestra (1948)
  • Concerto Manuale , orchestral piece for hand-played instruments (1951)
  • La Parola , for orchestra (1954)
  • Rondo Ostinato , after a Spanish motif, for wind orchestra and percussion (1955)
  • Sinfonia Parabolica , for orchestra (1956)
  • Symphonic triglyph "Three Windows" , metamorphoses for orchestra on motifs by Franz Schubert (1957)
  • Symphony "Seasons" , for orchestra (1957)
  • Female voices , for 3 female voices and orchestra (1959)
  • Concerto for violin and orchestra (1964)
  • Hydromelos , for orchestra (1965)
  • Divertimento , for 6-part male choir, wind instruments and percussion (1970)
  • Malinconia 2 , for 48 strings (1979)
  • Fonofolium , for orchestra (1986)

literature

  • G. Brosche (ed.), Musical documentation T. Berger, exhibition catalog, Austrian National Library, Vienna, 1998 (with catalog raisonné).
  • Stefan Schmidl, Musical Structure and Identity Search. The Homeric Symphony by Theodor Berger, in: Stefan Schmidl (ed.), The arts of the post-war period. Music, literature and fine arts in Austria. Vienna, Cologne, Weimar: Böhlau 2013, pp. 229–235.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ outstanding artist award - music ( memorial from January 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on October 28, 2012
  2. ↑ On sounding banks in the Internet Movie Database (English)
personal data
SURNAME Berger, Theodor
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian composer
DATE OF BIRTH May 18, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Traismauer , Lower Austria
DATE OF DEATH August 21, 1992
Place of death Vienna