Ignatz Waghalter

Ignatz Waghalter ( born March 15, 1881 in Warsaw, † April 7, 1949 in New York City ) was a Polish- German composer and conductor.

Childhood and youth

Ignatz Waghalter was born in 15th of 20 children of a Jewish family in Warsaw. Was Waghalter even as a child, a virtuoso violinist and pianist, and because his family was poor, he traveled 17 -year-old to Berlin to seek his fortune as a professional musician. His first teacher was Philipp Scharwenka. The famous violinist Joseph Joachim was aware of him and gave Waghalters inclusion in the Berlin Academy of Arts. There he studied composition and conducting with Friedrich Gernsheim.

Waghalters early chamber music already shows a pronounced melodic creativity that should be characteristic in his entire creation. His early String Quartet in D major op 3 was highly praised by Joseph Joachim, and the Sonata for violin and piano in F minor, Opus 5 was in 1902 when the composer was only 21 years old, the prestigious Mendelssohn Prize.

Career in Germany

Waghalter 1907 under the aegis of Arthur Nikisch was appointed conductor at the Komische Oper in Berlin, where his reputation continued to rise. There was a short position at the Grillo- Theater in Essen (1911 /12). As a fixture in the German music scene, he established himself, when he was chief conductor of the new German opera house in Berlin. The house was inaugurated on November 7, 1912 with a performance of Fidelio Waghalters line.

Waghalter promoted much the music of Giacomo Puccini, whose operas had not been accepted in Germany. The German premiere of Puccini's La Fanciulla del West was led by Waghalter in March 1913 at the German Opera House. Your triumphant success was a breakthrough for Puccini's operas in Germany. Waghalter also conducted the German premieres at the German Opera House, Tosca and La Bohème, and Ralph Vaughan Williams' A London Symphony Second Symphony of 1913.

Also, three of Waghalters own operas experienced at the German Opera House their premieres: Mandragola, after the comedy by Niccolo Machiavelli, in January 1914; Youth, based on the same naturalistic drama of Max Halbe, in February 1917; and Sataniel, inspired by a Polish fairy tales, in May 1923.

Career in the United States

For the 1924-25 season Waghalter was appointed as successor to Joseph Stransky music director of the New York Philharmonic. A contract extension offered to him, he refused to return to Germany. He composed several short operas and had several engagements as guest conductor. Then Waghalter Music Director of the National Opera in Riga, Latvia (1931 /32). Shortly after his return to Berlin, Adolf Hitler came to power. 1934 had Waghalter into exile, first to Czechoslovakia and then to Austria. There he composed his last opera, Ahasuerus and Esther (for background see Ahasuerus ). A few weeks before the "Anschluss " fled Waghalter and his wife to the USA.

In New York Waghalter developed the idea of ​​creating a classical orchestra with exclusively African- American musicians. He won the support of James Weldon Johnson and other members of the Harlem Renaissance, and the then so-called "American Negro Orchestra " had its first performances in 1938 under Waghalters line. However, Johnson also died this project is still in the same year and with him.

The development of those years towards atonality wanted the melodist Waghalter not go, and so was he when he died on April 7, 1949 at the age of 68 years in New York, largely forgotten.

His daughter Beatrice Waghalter Green (1913-2001) was a successful singer.

Reception in the presence of

A rediscovery Waghalters that would be comparable to that of Erich Wolfgang Korngold or Berthold Goldschmidt, is still pending. Only the youth opera was performed in 1989 at the Deutsche Oper Berlin; and only a CD with Waghalters music is (as of June 2007) available. This was published in March 2006 on the U.S. label Music DWG and contains new recordings of selected chamber music. As a conductor, you can Waghalter on the CD The living past - see Rudolf Thal leaves from Preiser Records.

Selected Works

  • String Quartet in D Major, Opus 3
  • Sonata for violin and piano in F minor, Opus 5
  • Rhapsody for Violin and Orchestra, Op 9
  • Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op 15
  • Twelve Sketches for Piano
  • Operas The Teufelsweg
  • Mandragola
  • Youth
  • Sataniel

CD

  • Detroit -Windsor Chamber Ensemble: " IGNATZ Waghalter " (DWG MUSIC 101 [ 66:38 min] ) String Quartet in D major op 3 (1901 )
  • Nocturne for cello and piano, Op 4 (1902 )
  • Sonata for Violin and Piano in F minor, Opus 5 (1902 )
  • Two Pieces for Violin and Piano, Op 14 (1908 )

Autobiography

  • From the ghetto to freedom. Schnurer -Verlag, Marienbad 1936.
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