Will Eisenmann

Will Eisenmann (born March 3, 1906 in Stuttgart , † August 20, 1992 in Schwarzenberg LU ) was a German composer , theater director and music teacher living in Switzerland .

Life

Will Eisenmann initially studied art history and philosophy, and from 1926 to 1929 music at the Württemberg University of Music in Stuttgart . He became assistant director at the Württemberg State Theaters and the Wiesbaden State Opera. In the early 1930s , on the recommendation of Romain Rolland, he continued his studies in Paris with Paul Dukas and Charles Koechlin and then worked as a dramaturge and director at the Cologne Schauspielhaus . After a stay in Spain , he emigrated to Switzerland in 1935 and founded private opera studios in Zurich and Lucerne .

Will Eisenmann became known with his orchestral work “Seven Pictures” based on van Gogh , “Haiku I-III”, two saxophone concerts and the Rilke setting “Orpheus, Eurydike, Hermes” with speaking voice.

He also gained international acquaintance with settings of texts by Stefan George , Hermann Hesse , Stefan Heym , Ezra Pound , Rainer Maria Rilke , Rabindranath Tagore and Japanese poets, which he performed with the renowned Zurich Vocal Ensemble .

Will Eisenmann was married three times. He had three sons with his first wife Elisabeth Louis, four sons with his second wife Eva Westphal, and his third marriage with Hannah Willi had a son.

Works (selection)

Opera

• 1934/1935 The King of the Dark Chamber Opera in 13 Pictures op.12 ( Tagore )

Orchestral works

• 1938 7 pictures by Vincent van Gogh, depiction in music, for orchestra
• 1945 Concerto da camera, for alto saxophone and string orchestra
• 1933 Die Stadt, Suite, for string orchestra

Stage works

• 1934 7 chants from " Gitanjali ", for high voice and string orchestra (Tagore)
• 1936 Bethsabé drame-pantomime-oratorio en 3 scènes op.17 ( Gide )
• 1943–1945 Leonce and Lena lyric comedy 3 acts op. 36 ( Büchner )

Awards

• Emil Hertzka Prize in Vienna for the opera “The King of the Dark Chamber” op. 12

Quotes

• “I use a colored, polyphonic-polytonal spelling, which eludes classification in the usual sense, and I do not belong to a school, nor do I subscribe to any of the current trends. I reject an intellectualistic conception of music in which the musical values ​​are exclusively of a mathematical-analytical nature. " (Will Eisenmann without date; Source: Website about Will Eisenmann)

literature

• Will Eisenmann . In: Andreas Kotte (Ed.): Theater Lexikon der Schweiz . Volume 1, Chronos, Zurich 2005, ISBN 3-0340-0715-9 , p. 527 f.
• Volker Michels (Ed.): Hermann Hesse: Music. Reflections, poems, reviews and letters. With an essay by Hermann Kasack . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1976; extended edition ibid 1986, ISBN 3-518-37717-5 , pp. 110 and 179 f.

Web links

• Website about Will Eisenmann
• Works by and about Will Eisenmann in the catalog of the German National Library
• List of works by Will Eisenmann