Willi Reich

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Willi Reich (born May 27, 1898 in Vienna ; died May 1, 1980 in Zurich ) was an Austrian - Swiss musicologist and music critic . He grew up in Vienna and lived in Switzerland since 1938. He is best known as the author of monographs on the composers of the Second Vienna School .

life and work

Willi (Wilhelm) Reich pursued a degree in chemistry at the Technical University of Vienna , which he graduated in 1921 with a diploma as an engineer-chemist. He then studied musicology at the University of Vienna with Robert Lach , Alfred Orel and Robert Haas and received his doctorate in 1934 with the dissertation Padre Martini as a teacher and theorist . He completed his studies with private lessons with Alban Berg and Anton Webern in music theory and composition and worked as a music critic for several Viennese and foreign newspapers.

At Berg's suggestion, he published the magazine 23 - a Viennese music magazine that campaigned for new music and especially for the Viennese school. In 1938, after the " Anschluss of Austria ", 23 was banned by the National Socialists. In the same year Reich emigrated to Switzerland and lived as a music researcher and freelance writer in Basel until 1947 . From 1948 he was a music critic for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung and worked from 1959 to 1970 as a lecturer in music history and music theory at the ETH Zurich , where he was appointed professor in 1967. In 1961 he received Swiss citizenship . In 1968 he was awarded the Hans Georg Nägeli Medal of the City of Zurich. He died on May 1, 1980 in Zurich.

Among the most important works by Reich, which are still considered fundamental today, are two monographs on Alban Berg (1937 and 1963, the first version in collaboration with Theodor W. Adorno ) and one book each on Webern and Arnold Schönberg (1968). He also wrote monographs on Richard Wagner , Béla Bartók and other composers, often in the form of self-testimonies and contemporary documents. Examples are the volumes on Mozart (1948), Bach (1957), Chopin (1959), Haydn (1962), Beethoven (1963), Schumann (1967), Mendelssohn (1970), Schubert (1971) published by Zurich's Manesse Verlag . and Brahms (1975). In 1952 he staged Schönberg's opera Von heute auf Morgen in Naples , and in 1953 he directed Donizetti's Don Pasquale at the Stadttheater Basel .

His estate in the Zurich Central Library contains, among other things, a rich correspondence with Helene Berg , Alban Berg's widow.

Publications (selection)

  • Alban Berg - life and work. Atlantis, Zurich 1963; New edition: Piper, Munich 1985.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Estate in the Zurich Central Library
personal data
SURNAME Rich, Willi
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Reich, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian-Swiss musicologist and music critic
DATE OF BIRTH May 27, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH May 1, 1980
Place of death Zurich