Theodor Hassek
Theodor Hassek (* April 11, 1929 in Linz, † October 28, 2009 in Vienna ) was an Austrian composer and musician.
Life
Hassek comes from a musical family. He attended at the age of 14 years, the music school Potansky in Vienna and studied composition then at the Academy of Music in Vienna with Joseph Marx, Otto Siegl and Rudolf Kattnigg and piano with Eugenie Wild Volek and Ludwig Czaczkes. In the years 1944-1954 concerted Theo Hassek as a pianist and as a performer of his own works. His pianistic repertoire ranged from Bach to the 20th century and included technically demanding works such as Ravel's " Gaspard de la Nuit ", " Miroirs " Balakirev " Islamey " and Liszt's B minor Sonata.
In 1950 he passed the state examination for piano and 1952, the matriculation examination for theory (composition). After three years as a music school in Kittsee ( 1951-1953 ), he opted for a " day job " and worked as a representative for publishers, as a warehouse manager and a property management company. In addition, compositions emerged, including for the later composer and clarinettist of the Vienna Philharmonic Arnold Hartl. In 1957 he married Ingeborg Smolik.
From 1962 he turned back to active music and played as a member of the 3 band " The Gamblers " together with his cousin Erhard Hassek pop and dance music. After starting out in a rather seedy establishments they achieved a breakthrough in the Winter Olympics 1964 in Innsbruck where they performed in the Axamer Lizum at the Sport Hotel. Henceforth, the chapel was alternately engaged in intercontinental hotels in Geneva, Frankfurt, Hannover, Dusseldorf and Vienna. After the birth of his son, Helmut (1967 ), the family was back in 1971 settled in Vienna.
From 1971 Hassek began to turn even the Viennese songs and played heurigers Christian 42 in Vienna Stammersdorf and the Bach Hengl in Grinzing, where he performed, among others, as a member of the " Viennese Charming ". Apart from a few appearances in the four-hand piano (together with his longtime pianist Helmut Hofmann ) he finished for health reasons his work as an active musician in 1983 and worked from then as an editor and arranger for Viennese music publishers (including World Music Hochmuth -Verlag, Hermann Schneider). During this time he arranged some 500 works (mainly light music ) for piano. In 1988 he retired, but composed even further. Theodor Hassek died on 28 October 2009 in Vienna of a heart condition. He was buried on cemetery Aspern in Vienna.
Works
Theodor Hassek composed over 100 works of various genres, from neo-classical piano and chamber music works, piano pieces of the " upscale entertainment music " pop music, the Viennese songs to sacred music (masses ). The musical oeuvre of Hassek was always based on the principle that it should give pleasure to the listener. Burn some rubber end " problem music " will be doing search in vain. However, all works are characterized by original musical ideas, conscientious preparation to the last detail, refreshing scarcity of evidence and lack of intrusive redundancy.
Although the typical piano sound for the pianist Theodor Hassek is unmistakable sometimes in his compositions, the compositions of form and less of the sound area are predominantly committed. Therefore, can be found especially in chamber music, but also in the two - or four-hand piano music often transcriptions of previously composed for other instruments works.
In his last years, Theodor Hassek dedicated, inspired by Josef Böck, the composition of sacred choral works (measuring) to which several times he thought performance did not live. The originals of his notes, sketches and some sound recordings are owned by the family and will be handed over at a later time to the music collection of the Vienna City Library.