Jean Berger

Jean Berger ( born September 27, 1909 in Hamm as Artur Schlossberg; † 28 May 2002 Aurora ( Colorado) ) was a pianist, composer, musicologist and educator.

Life and work

Berger was born the son of a Jewish merchant in Hamm. The family moved in 1919 from Hamm to Mannheim. In 1928, Berger studied musicology at the Universities of Heidelberg, Vienna and Louis Aubert in Paris. At the same time he began to work as an accompanying pianist and conductor. It was 1932 when Heinrich Besseler doctorate in Heidelberg with the work of the Italian Sonata for several instruments in the 17th century. As late as 1932 he took a job as assistant conductor at the National Theatre Mannheim. Even before the seizure he suffered reprisals as in the public sector employee Jew.

From 1933 to 1939 he lived in Paris to study composition and traveled widely as a conductor and accompanist. In France, he also changed his name. And the new name of Jean Berger, he toured as accompanist throughout Europe and the Middle East. From 1939 to 1941 he was assistant conductor at the Municipal Theater in Rio de Janeiro and the Brazilian Conservatory and toured South America

Since 1941 he lived in the U.S., there he traveled on a tour with a Brazilian singer. Early as 1942 he did military service in the U.S. Army in 1943, he became a U.S. citizen. He worked in the Office of War Information, and produced there until 1946 foreign-language radio programs and shows for the United Service Organizations. From 1946 to 1948 he arranged radio broadcasts for CBS and NBC and traveled as a concert companion.

In 1948, he moved back into the academic world and took a job at Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont, which he held until 1959. From 1959 to 1961 he worked at the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign. From 1961 to 1966 he taught at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the Colorado Women's College, Denver, Colorado by 1968 until 1971. Since 1970 he has lectured worldwide on various aspects of American music and devoted himself to the composition of choral ensembles and solo voice. In 2002, Berger died of a brain tumor.

Quote

" The music that he wrote for choirs, was important. Every choir director over the age of 40 has listed many of his works " (from the obituary for Dan Berger of Grace, artistic director of the Colorado Chorale )