Heinrich Konietzny
Encyclopedia
Heinrich Josef Konietzny (born May 7, 1910 in Gliwice
Gliwice
Gliwice is a city in Upper Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. Gliwice is the west district of the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union – a metropolis with a population of 2 million...

; died April 23, 1983 in Saarbrücken-Dudweiler
Dudweiler
Dudweiler is a borough of Saarbrücken, on the Sulzbach creek. In 977, Dudweiler was first mentioned in official documents of German Emperor Otto II as the location of a chapel .Dudweiler received town privileges on 12 September 1962....

) was a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

, professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

 and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

.

Life

Heinrich Konietzny was born as the son of a Silesian-Prussian military officer and socialist mayor. He gathered his first musical experiences on the mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...

, in singing and playing percussion instrument
Percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...

s. At the age of eight he began his studies on the violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

.
Nine years old, he became student of the Konvikt of Bad Ziegenhals, where he chanted in a choir and received his first systematic education
in music theory
Music theory
Music theory is the study of how music works. It examines the language and notation of music. It seeks to identify patterns and structures in composers' techniques across or within genres, styles, or historical periods...

. He studied composition
Musical composition
Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...

 in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 in the class of Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist and conductor.- Biography :Born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, Hindemith was taught the violin as a child...

.
Since 1936 he played the bassoon
Bassoon
The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...

 in the symphonic orchestra of the Reichssender Saarbrücken (today: Saarländischer Rundfunk
Saarländischer Rundfunk
Saarländischer Rundfunk is a public radio and television broadcaster for the German Bundesland of Saarland, with its headquarters in the Broadcasting House Halberg in Saarbrücken. SR is a member of the ARD.- Finances :...

). 1947 he became an instructor at the Konservatorium Saarbrücken (University of Music Saarbrücken, today: Hochschule für Musik Saar). He was leader of the master class for composition
Musical composition
Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...

, instrumentation
Instrumentation (music)
In music, instrumentation refers to the particular combination of musical instruments employed in a composition, and to the properties of those instruments individually...

 and chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...

. He wrote six symphonie
Symphonie
The Symphonie satellites were the first communications satellites built by France and Germany to provide geostationary orbit injection and station-keeping during their operational lifetime...

s and a wealth of scores for radio plays and movies.
Additionally he composed works for plucked string instruments in which he developed new sounds and ways to express musical ideas on these instruments. The documentary motion picture „Neue Musik“ (Contemporary Music), directed by Manfred Heikaus and produced by the Saarländischer Rundfunk
Saarländischer Rundfunk
Saarländischer Rundfunk is a public radio and television broadcaster for the German Bundesland of Saarland, with its headquarters in the Broadcasting House Halberg in Saarbrücken. SR is a member of the ARD.- Finances :...

 in the 60's gives insight in the creative work of the composer.

Musician

Konietzny received his first violin lessons in the year 1918. At the age of 17 he became concert master in the so called Kurorchester of Bad Kudowa.
In the year 1929 he became concert master of the Silesian Philharmonic Orchestra. A broken left hand after an accident finished his career as a violinist in 1930.
Following the advice of Hindemith, he began to study the bassoon
Bassoon
The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...

 in the same year. In the years from 1933 to 1936 he played the bassoon in several
professional orchestras. From 1936 to 1939 he held a permanent position as solo bassoon player in the radio orchestra of the
Reichssender Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken is the capital of the state of Saarland in Germany. The city is situated at the heart of a metropolitan area that borders on the west on Dillingen and to the north-east on Neunkirchen, where most of the people of the Saarland live....

 (today: Saarländischer Rundfunk). In the years 1939-1945 he had to join the German army in World War II. In 1946 he became
first bassoon player in the symphony orchestra of the radio station of Saarbrücken (Saarländischer Rundfunk
Saarländischer Rundfunk
Saarländischer Rundfunk is a public radio and television broadcaster for the German Bundesland of Saarland, with its headquarters in the Broadcasting House Halberg in Saarbrücken. SR is a member of the ARD.- Finances :...

). He held this position until 1964.
Parallel to this activity he also conducted a woodwind ensemble of the same orchestra.

Composer

Today, Konietzny is best known as a composer. Beginning in the year 1930 he studied composition in the class of Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist and conductor.- Biography :Born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, Hindemith was taught the violin as a child...

 at the University of Music Berlin, Germany. (Staatliche Musikhochschule Berlin). 1934 Konietzny met Hugo Distler
Hugo Distler
Hugo Distler was a German organist, choral conductor, teacher and composer.-Life and career:...

 who had a major impact on Konietzny's style of composing. From 1949 to 1975, Konietzny was the main composer and lector of the radio station of Saarbrücken.

Konietzny was very productive (approx. 500 to 600 pieces of music). His work is differentiated and has been performed in a multitude of countries: Six symphonies, one percussion symphony, several string quartets, 25 concerto
Concerto
A concerto is a musical work usually composed in three parts or movements, in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.The etymology is uncertain, but the word seems to have originated from the conjunction of the two Latin words...

s, chamber music for a great variety of instruments - often in quite unusual combinations (e.g. voice and percussion), several pieces of ballet music, more than 300 scores for movies and radio plays and about 200 songs and cantatas. For several songs Konietzny also wrote the lyrics. Beside of that, he composed numerous works for amateur musicians: pieces for accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....

, woodwind
Woodwind instrument
A woodwind instrument is a musical instrument which produces sound when the player blows air against a sharp edge or through a reed, causing the air within its resonator to vibrate...

 and brass instrument
Brass instrument
A brass instrument is a musical instrument whose sound is produced by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips...

s and about 40 compositions for plucked strings
Plucked string instrument
Plucked string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by plucking the strings. Plucking is a way of pulling and releasing the string in such as way as to give it an impulse that causes the string to vibrate...

.
Up till now, a complete index of Konietzny's works doesn't exist. He used not to number his works and a lot of autographs are lost. Therefore, the total number of Konietzny's works can only be roughly estimated. 42 autographs are collected in the Landesarchiv Saarbrücken in Saarbrücken, Germany.
Konietzny's works have been published by the following (mostly German) companies:
Bärenreiter, Boosy&Hawkes, Edition Modern, Gering, Junne, Köbl, Piwa&Wolf, Sandvoss, Simrock, Schott, Trekel, Vogt&Fritz, Wunn, Zimmermann.

Konietzny premieres have been conducted by:
  • Rudolf Michl
  • Philipp Wüst
  • Paul Angerer
    Paul Angerer
    Paul Angerer is an Austrian violist, conductor and composer.- Life :Angerer studied music theory and composition with Friedrich Reidinger and Alfred Uhl, and conducting with Hans Swarowsky...

  • Bruno Maderna
    Bruno Maderna
    Bruno Maderna was an Italian conductor and composer. For the last ten years of his life he lived in Germany and eventually became a citizen of that country.-Biography:...

  • Wolfgang Sawallisch
    Wolfgang Sawallisch
    Wolfgang Sawallisch is a retired German conductor and pianist.-Biography:Sawallisch was born in Munich, and studied composition and pianoforte there privately: at the conclusion of the war, in 1946 he continued his studies at the Munich High School for Music and passed his final examination for...

  • Siegfried Köhler
  • Antonio Janigro
    Antonio Janigro
    Antonio Janigro was an Italian cellist and conductor.- Biography :Born in Milan, he began studying piano when he was six and cello when he was eight. Initially taught by Giovanni Berti, Janigro enrolled in the Verdi Conservatory of Milan, where he was instructed by Gilberto Crepax...

  • Siegfried Behrend
    Siegfried Behrend
    Siegfried Behrend was a German classical guitarist and composer.-Biography:...

  • Marcel Wengler
    Marcel Wengler
    Marcel Wengler is a Luxembourg composer and conductor. He also plays the guitar and the mandolin. From 1972–1997, he headed the Conservatoire de Luxembourg. Since 2000, he has been director of the Luxembourg Music Information Centre...


Well known dedicatees or interpreters of Konietzny's works have been:
  • Maurice Gendron
    Maurice Gendron
    Maurice Gendron was a French cellist and teacher. He is widely considered one of the greatest French cellists of the twentieth century....

  • Siegfried Palm
    Siegfried Palm
    Siegfried Palm was a German cellist who is known worldwide for his interpretations of contemporary music. Many 20th-century composers like Kagel, Ligeti, Xenakis, Penderecki and Zimmermann wrote music for him....

  • Max Strub
  • Siegfried Fink
    Siegfried Fink
    Siegfried Fink was a German percussionist, composer and professor...

  • Robert Leonardy
  • Hans and Kurt Schmitt
  • Norio Oshima
  • Takashi Ochi

Professor at the University of Music Saarbrücken

In 1947 Konietzny attained a teaching position for composition
Musical composition
Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...

, instrumentation
Instrumentation (music)
In music, instrumentation refers to the particular combination of musical instruments employed in a composition, and to the properties of those instruments individually...

 and chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...

 (woodwind instruments) at the
University of Music Saarbrücken (Konservatorium Saarbrücken, today: Hochschule für Musik Saar). He became a full professor in 1963.

Well known former students of Heinrich Konietzny include:
  • Manfred Kelkel
  • Clemens Kremer
  • Gerd Boder
  • Heinz Martin Lonquich
  • Peter Hoch
  • Marcel Wengler

Awards and Prizes

  • 1952: International composition price Radio Luxembourg for his concerto for strings and timpani
  • 1959: Artist prize of the Saarland, Germany. (Kunstpreis des Saarlandes)
  • 1962: Villa Massimo
    Villa Massimo
    Villa Massimo, short for Deutsche Akademie Rom Villa Massimo , is a German art institute in Rome, established in 1910 and located in the Villa Massimo....

     fellowship
  • 1970: honorable member of the Bund für Zupf- und Volksmusik Saar, Germany
  • 1972: honorable member of the Bund deutscher Zupfmusiker, Germany
  • 1975: Medal of Merit of the Saarland, Germany. (Saarländischer Verdienstorden)
  • 1975: Johann-Wenzel-Stamitz-Staatspreis, Stuttgart, Germany

Works

  • Heinrich Konietzny: 13 Lieder für eine Singstimme und Klavierbegleitung (13 songs for voice and piano). With a foreword by Joseph Müller-Blattau. Schneider, St. Ingert (Germany) 1954.
  • Heinrich Konietzny: Die Toten von Parga. Dramatische Kantate (The Deads of Parga. Dramatic cantata). Libretto by Karl Christian Müller. Meister, Heidelberg (Germany) 1963.
  • Heinrich Konietzny: Triade für Xylophon, Vibraphon, Marimbaphon und drei Becken (Triad for xylophone, vibraphone, marimba and three cymbals). Schott, Mayence (Germany) 1973
  • Heinrich Konietzny: CD + Booklet. Fono-Schallplatten-Gesellschaft, Laer (Germany) 1994. Recordings: Saarländischer Rundfunk (Saarland broadcasting station) 1962–1994. Interpretation: Saarländisches Zupforchester (Saarland Plucked String Orchestra)
  • Heinrich Konietzny: Concerto for speaking voice, viola, guitar, organ, percussion and strings. LP disk. Interpreters: Men's Choir 1902 Dillingen Saar, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Saarbrücken (Symphonic Orchestra of the Saarland Broadcasting Station). TELDEC Telefunken-Decca, Hamburg (Germany) 1965. Editor: Association of friends of contemporary Music (Vereinigung der Freunde zeitgenössischer Musik, Saarbrücken) in collaboration with the Saarland Broadcasting Station (Saarländischer Rundfunk).

External links (texts in German)

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