Egon Wellesz

Egon Wellesz Joseph ( born October 21, 1885 in Vienna, † November 8, 1974 in Oxford ) was an Austro- British composer and musicologist.

Life

Wellesz ' parents came from the Hungarian part of the Danube monarchy. He began in 1904 to study law at the University of Vienna, but moved a year later to the Institute of Musicology of Guido Adler. He also studied for two years counterpoint as one of the first private pupil of Arnold Schoenberg.

In 1908 he received his doctorate in Guido Adler with a thesis on the Italian composer Giuseppe Bonno ( 1711-1788 ). In the course of the project Monuments of Music in Austria he gave the opera Costanza e Fortezza by Johann Joseph Fux out again. Wellesz itself quickly became a respected expert in Baroque opera, but the investigation of Byzantine music soon turned towards it and deciphered for the first time a medieval Byzantine notation. In 1920, he wrote further, the first biography of Arnold Schoenberg. In 1922 he founded, together with Rudolf Réti the International Society for Contemporary Music ( ISCM ).

About these activities, he was a lecturer at the Institute of Musicology and 1911 to 1915 as a teacher of music history at the Vienna Music Conservatory report. From 1929 he was furthermore an associate professor of musicology at the University of Vienna.

As a Jew, a monarchist and author of " degenerate" music Wellesz was forced to emigrate in 1938 to England via Amsterdam. Here he found an opportunity to participate at the prestigious Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, lectured at Cambridge and was appointed from 1 January 1939 as a Fellow at the Lincoln College, Oxford University, whose honorary doctorate he in 1932 - the first Austrian composer Joseph Haydn by - had become. In 1940 he was interned along with other German and Austrian exiles as enemy alien for a few months and brought to the Isle of Man, but was able to continue his work in Oxford afterwards.

Having obtained British citizenship in 1946, he was honored by the City of Vienna and the Republic of Austria with several awards. However, he never received the offer to take his former post at the University of Music in Vienna again.

A stroke on 18 January 1972, his creative activities at the age of 87 years to an end. He died in the night of 8 to 9 November 1974 in Oxford, his grave is located in Vienna's Central Cemetery (Group 32 C, number 38).

Since 1908 he was with the Byzantinistin Emilie ( Emmy ) Stross ( 1889-1987 ) married. They had two daughters, Magda (1909-2006) and Elizabeth ( 1912-1995 ).

Awards

Works

Wellesz ' work as a composer includes 112 works with opus numbers, and about 20 without opus number. He worked with almost all genres and composed for the stage as well as for the concert hall in the form of orchestral works, solo concerts, chamber music, piano music, songs and choral works.

Stage Works

• The miracle of Diana, op 18 (1914-1917), Ballet by Béla Balázs
• The Princess Girnara, op 27 (1919-1920), libretto by Jakob Wassermann
• Persian Ballet, Op 30 (1920 ), Ballet by Ellen Tels
• Achilles on Skyros, op 33 ( 1921), ballet by Hugo von Hofmannsthal
• Alcestis, op 35 (1923 ), libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal by Euripides
• The Nocturnal. Dance symphonies, op 37 (1923 ), ballet scenes by Max Terpis
• Scherz, List und Rache, op 41 (1927 ), libretto by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
• The Bacchae, op 44 (1931 ), libretto by the composer after Euripides, opera in 2 acts Anthem of Agave from The Bacchae, op 44, Concerto processing by the composer

Choral works

• Three mixed choirs, Opus 43 (1930 ), Text: Angelus Silesius
• Five little men's choirs, op 46 (1932 ) from the Franconian Koran by Ludwig Derleth
• Three Sacred choruses, op 47 (1932 ) for male voices to poems from the middle of the life of Rudolf Alexander Schröder
• Two Songs, Op 48 (1932), based on poems from the middle of the life of Rudolf Alexander Schröder
• Quant'è bella Giovinezza, op 59 (1937 ), frottola for female choir
• Carol, 62a (1944 ) for women's choir
• Proper Mass, Laetare, op 71 (1953 ) for choir and organ
• Small Mass in G major, Op 80a (1958 ) for three equal voices a cappella
• Alleluia, Op 80b (1958 ) for soprano or tenor solo
• Laus Nocturna, op 88 (1962 )
• Missa Brevis, Op 89 (1963 ) for choir
• To Sleep, op 94 (1965 ) for choir
• Festive Prelude, Op 100 (1966) over a Byzantine Magnificat for choir and organ

Orchestral works

• Heroic songs, op 2 (1905 ), symphonic prologue for large orchestra
• Early Spring, Op 12 (1912 ), symphonic mood for orchestra
• Suite for Orchestra, Opus 16 (1913 )
• Mid-life, op 45 ( 1931-32 ), cantata for soprano, choir and orchestra
• Piano Concerto, op 49 (1933 )
• Timido Amor, op 50 (1933 ), aria for soprano and small orchestra. Text: Pietro Metastasio
• Prospero summons, op 53 ( 1934-36 ), five symphonic pieces by William Shakespeare's The Tempest
• Song in the world for soprano and orchestra, op 54 ( 1936-38 ), Text: Hugo von Hofmannsthal
• Life, Dreams and death for alto and orchestra, op 55 ( 1936-37 ), Text: Hugo von Hofmannsthal
• Schönbüheler Mass in C Major, op 58 (1937 ) for choir, orchestra and organ
• Symphony No. 1, Op 62 (1945 )
• Symphony No. 2, Op 65 ( 1947-48 ), The English
• Symphony No. 3, op 68 ( 1949-51 )
• Symphony No. 4, Op 70 ( 1951-53 ), Austriaca
• Symphony No. 5, op 75 ( 1955-56 )
• Violin Concerto, Op 84 (1961 ) Dedicated to the violinist Eduard Melkus. As a CD recorded in 2010 by David Frühwirth.
• Four Songs of Return for soprano and chamber orchestra, op 85 (1961 ) on texts by Elizabeth Mackenzie
• Duino Elegy, op 90 (1963 ) for soprano, choir and orchestra after Rainer Maria Rilke
• Ode to Music, Op 92 (1965 ) for baritone or alto and chamber orchestra, text: Pindar, in free paraphrase of Friedrich Hölderlin
• Symphony No. 6, Op 95 (1965 )
• Vision for soprano and orchestra, Op 99 (1966 ), Text: Georg Trakl
• Mirabile Mysterium, op 101 (1967) for soloists, chorus and orchestra
• Symphony No. 7, Op 102 ( 1967-68 ), Contra torrentem
• Canticle of Wisdom, op 104 (1968) for baritone, chorus and orchestra based on texts of the Old Testament
• Divertimento for small orchestra, Op 107 (1969)
• Symphonic Epilogue, op 108 (1969)
• Symphony No. 8, Op 110 (1970 )
• Symphony No. 9, op 111 ( 1970-71 )

Chamber Music

• String Quartet No. 1, Op 14 (1912 )
• String Quartet No. 2, Op 20 ( 1915-16 )
• Sacred Song, op 23 ( 1918-19 ) for voice, violin, viola and piano
• String Quartet No. 3, Op 25 (1918 )
• String Quartet No. 4, Op 28 (1920 )
• Sonata for Solo Cello, Op 31 (1920 )
• Two Pieces for Clarinet and Piano, Op 34 (1922 )
• Sonata for solo violin, Op 36 (1923 )
• Suite for Violin and Chamber Orchestra, op 38 (1924 )
• Sonnets of Elizabeth Barrett Browning for soprano and string quartet or string orchestra, Op 52 (1934 )
• Suite for solo cello, op 39 (1924 )
• Suite for Violin and Piano, Op 56 (1937/1957)
• Suite for flute solo, op 57 (1937 )
• String Quartet No. 5, Op 60 (1943 )
• The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo. Song for soprano, clarinet, cello and piano, Op 61 (1944). Text: Gerard Manley Hopkins
• String Quartet No. 6, Op 64 (1946 )
• String Quartet No. 7, Op 66 (1948 )
• Octet, op 67 ( 1948-49 ) for clarinet, bassoon, horn, two violins, viola, cello and double bass
• Sonata for solo violin, Op 72 (1953 /59)
• Suite, Op 73 (1954 ) for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon
• Suite for solo clarinet, op.74 (1954 )
• Suite for oboe solo, Op 76 (1956 )
• Suite for solo bassoon, op 77 (1957 )
• Fanfare for horn solo, Op 78 (1957 )
• String Quartet No. 8, Op 79 (1957 )
• Quintet, Op 81 (1959 ) for clarinet, 2 violins, viola and cello
• String Trio, op 86 (1962 )
• Rhapsody for viola solo, Op 87 (1962 )
• Music for String Orchestra in a sentence, op 91 (1964 )
• Five Miniatures for Violin and Piano, Op 93 (1965 )
• Partita in Honorem Johann Sebastian Bach, Op 96 (1965 ) for organ
• String Quartet No. 9, Op 97 ( 1966)
• Four Pieces for String Quartet, Op 103 (1968)
• Four Pieces for String Trio, Op 105 (1969, second version 1971)
• Four Pieces for String Quintet, Op 109 (1970)
• Prelude for solo viola, Op 112 (1971)