Kurt Schwaen

Kurt Schwaen ( born June 21, 1909 in Katowice, Silesia, † 9 October 2007 in Berlin ) was a German composer.

Life

Schwaen came from a Silesian merchant family, his father was a grocer. From 1923 he was taught at Fritz Lubrich, a Reger students in piano, organ and music theory. He attended from 1924, the Mathematics and Natural Sciences High School in Katowice and was a member of the German Book Association. From 1929 to 1933 he studied German literature, musicology, art history and philosophy at the universities of Berlin and Breslau. His teachers were Friedrich Blume, Curt Sachs, Arnold Schering, and Walther cousin. He became a member of the Red group of students attended seminars with Hanns Eisler in the Marxist Workers School ( MACHINE ). In 1932 he abandoned his studies and acquired in 1933 an external piano exam with Kurt Schubert. From 1934, he lived as a piano teacher in Berlin- healthy well.

In 1935 Schwaen was, who was a member of the Communist Party since 1932 and from 1934 worked for the Revolutionary Trade Union Opposition, was arrested by the Gestapo. In 1936 he was convicted of resistance work against the Nazi regime to three years in prison ( in Luckau and Osterstein Castle ). After his release in 1938 he was accompanist in the dance studio of Gertrude Vienna corner. From 1939 he accompanied the dancers Manon Ehrfur, Ilse Meudtner and Oda Schottmüller on the piano. From 1943 he was accompanist with Mary Wigman in Leipzig. In February 1943, he was drafted into the Criminal Division 999 of the Wehrmacht. After training in Poland, he was employed in France and Greece. In 1944 he fell ill with malaria and was treated in Germany. From April to May 1945, he hid in Berlin -Wilmersdorf.

After the war Schwaen initiated an exhibition on Emil Stumpp in Berlin and was companion of the dancer Marianne Vogelsang. In 1946 he became a member of the SED. From 1946 to 1947 he worked as a coach with Ernst Busch and Kate refrigerator and set to music many texts by Günter Kunert. From 1947 he actively participated in the development of folk music schools. He worked from 1948 to 1953 as a music lecturer at the Volksbühne Berlin. From 1950 to 1951 he was also professor of music theory and piano at the Humboldt University in Berlin. From 1953 he was a freelance artist and composed until 1956, inter alia, for Bertolt Brecht. He composed in many genres. He also wrote music for children, such as the cantata King Midas.

In the following decades, devoted Schwaen volunteer activities and received many awards. He was from 1953 to 1962 2nd Secretary of the Association of Composers and Musicologists of the GDR. From 1951 to 1961 he was Deputy Chairman, 1961-1979 Chairman and since 1979 Honorary Chairman of the Advisory Board of the institution to safeguard the performing and reproduction rights in the field of music. He also was in 1961 a member of the German Academy of Arts in Berlin, from 1962 to 1978 he was president of the National Committee folk music of the GDR and 1986 Vice- President of the Music Council of the GDR.

His marriage to Hedwig Stumpp Schwaen was the son of the painter and illustrator Emil Stumpp. In 1980 he married the music educator Ina Iske that the Kurt Schwaen archive has since headed. Last Schwaen Kurt lived in Berlin- Mahlsdorf. There he died at his home at the age of 98 years and found in the cemetery Mahlsdorf his final resting place.

Style

Schwaen was a very versatile and prolific composer who has composed for almost every genre and instrument groups. Basis of his work was a neoclassical attitude; as role models Béla Bartók, Igor Stravinsky and Paul Hindemith may be cited. He preserved the respect to tonality, but managed this quite freely and liked to build some quite sharp dissonances with a. But even if Schwaen modern techniques brought to use, his music remained relatively easily rezipierbar. He oriented himself often in folk music, which meant that many of his themes are very catchy and song-like.

Even for folk ensembles, interested Schwaen and composed works for accordion or mandolin orchestra. Many of his works can be described as functional music. Great shapes he drew miniature-like, focused pieces before. Often his music is elegant and playful, but sometimes thoughtful. Influenced by his work in the dance studio he had a preference for music with a dance gesture. Many of his works are therefore characterized by concise, dance rhythms. Particular importance has Schwaens music for children.

His operas and teaching pieces were played much in the GDR and made ​​him one of the most important personalities in the field of music education. Schwaen it was always a concern to write for the listener to understand music. Overall, his work is characterized by great clarity, lightness and playfulness of - his motto "Everything Light is unusually difficult " Schwaen has always remained true.

Awards

Works (selection)

• Orchestral works Sinfonietta KSV 142 (1957)
• Sinfonietta piccola KSV 374 (1974, rev., 1977)
• 3 dance suites (No.1 KSV 14, 1947, No.2 KSV 67, 1952, No.3 KSV 200, 1960)
• Ostinato 56 KSV 122 (1956 )
• Jeu parti KSV 482 for String Orchestra ( 1985)
• Piano Concerto No. 1 KSV 259 (1963, rev. 1964)
• Piano Concerto No. 2 Vietnamese concert KSV 515 ( 1987)
• Variations on a Dutch folk song ( " Do you hear the drum beat " ) for string orchestra KSV 356 (1972 )
• Concert pour la jeunesse for piano and string orchestra or 2 pianos KSV 620 (1999)
• Violin Concerto KSV 433 (1979)
• Concerto for Clarinet, Trumpet and Orchestra KSV 174 (1959)

• They called him Amigo KSV 158 (1959)
• The Gleiwitz Case KSV 227 (1961)

• The Horatii and the Kuriatier, lesson KSV 104 (1955 /56)
• King Midas, scenic cantata KSV 144 (1958)
• The Adventures of Pinocchio, a children's opera KSV 322 (1969 /70 rev. 1997)
• Fetzer escape, radio opera KSV 167 (1959)
• Leonce and Lena, chamber opera KSV 204 (1960 /61)
• Numerous songs and choruses, for example, who do not want to stay in life ( from the movie: They called him Amigo, 1959)
• Song cycle When Robert looked out the window (1984 premiered by Radio Children's Choir Leipzig under Hans Sand in the Old Town Hall and under the presence of the composer himself )

• Folk songs String Quartet KSV 143 (1958)
• Quartettino for string quartet KSV 615 (1998), rev. as Divertimento KSV 656 (2005)
• Piano Trio No.1 KSV 319 (1969 )
• Piano Trio No.2 KSV 413 (1969 /78)
• Piano Trio No.3 KSV 460 (1982 )
• Piano Trio No.4 KSV 474 ( 1983)
• Piano Trio No.5 in miniature KSV 509 ( 1987)
• Works for mandolin orchestra, for example, Tänzerische Impressions KSV 522 (1988)
• Far and near. New national dances KSV 556.1 (1991 )

• 5 dance pictures KSV 8 (1940 )
• Movimenti KSV 457 ( 1957-82 )
• Vietnamese Impressions KSV 546 (1990 /91)
• Nocturne lugubre KSV 568 (1992)
• Gleaning, 10 pieces KSV 638 (2002)
• Duo carattere for 2 pianos KSV 601 ( 1997)
• Numerous other plays and dances

Discography

His music is mainly published by Kreuzberg Records.