René Leibowitz
Encyclopedia
René Leibowitz was a French composer, conductor, music theorist and teacher born in Warsaw
, Poland
.
in Paris
, where he was introduced to Arnold Schoenberg
's Twelve-note technique by the German pianist and composer Erich Itor Kahn
. He subsequently studied with Schoenberg's pupil Anton Webern
. Many of the works of the Second Viennese School
were first heard in France at the International Festival of Chamber Music established by Leibowitz in Paris in 1947. Leibowitz was highly influential in establishing the reputation of the Second Viennese School, both through activity as a teacher in Paris after WWII and through his book Schoenberg et son ecole, published in 1947 and translated by Dika Newlin
as Schoenberg and his School (US and UK editions 1949). This was among the earliest theoretical treatises written on Schoenberg's 12-tone method of composition. Leibowitz's advocacy of the Schoenberg school was taken further by his two most gifted pupils, each taking different paths in promoting the musics of Schoenberg, Webern and the development of serialism, namely Pierre Boulez
and Jacques-Louis Monod
. His American students include the composers Will Ogdon
, Janet Maguire
, the conductor David Montgomery
, and the avant-garde film director-animator John Whitney
.
As conductor, Leibowitz was active in many recording projects. One of the most widely circulated and most notable is a set of the Beethoven symphonies made for Reader's Digest
Recordings; it was apparently the first recording of the symphonies to follow Beethoven's original metronome
markings. In choosing this approach, Leibowitz was influenced by his friend and colleague Rudolf Kolisch
. Leibowitz likewise made many recordings for Reader's Digest in their various compilation albums.
He also wrote for Les Temps Modernes
, applying existentialist ideas to musicology.
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
.
Career
During the early 1930s, Leibowitz studied composition and orchestration with Maurice RavelMaurice Ravel
Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, where he was introduced to Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
's Twelve-note technique by the German pianist and composer Erich Itor Kahn
Erich Itor Kahn
Erich Itor Kahn was a German composer of Jewish descent, who emigrated to the United States during the years of National Socialism.-Biography:...
. He subsequently studied with Schoenberg's pupil Anton Webern
Anton Webern
Anton Webern was an Austrian composer and conductor. He was a member of the Second Viennese School. As a student and significant follower of Arnold Schoenberg, he became one of the best-known exponents of the twelve-tone technique; in addition, his innovations regarding schematic organization of...
. Many of the works of the Second Viennese School
Second Viennese School
The Second Viennese School is the group of composers that comprised Arnold Schoenberg and his pupils and close associates in early 20th century Vienna, where he lived and taught, sporadically, between 1903 and 1925...
were first heard in France at the International Festival of Chamber Music established by Leibowitz in Paris in 1947. Leibowitz was highly influential in establishing the reputation of the Second Viennese School, both through activity as a teacher in Paris after WWII and through his book Schoenberg et son ecole, published in 1947 and translated by Dika Newlin
Dika Newlin
Dika Newlin was a pianist, professor, musicologist, composer and punk rock singer. She received a Ph.D from Columbia University at the age of 22. She was one of the last living students of Arnold Schoenberg, a Schoenberg scholar and a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond from...
as Schoenberg and his School (US and UK editions 1949). This was among the earliest theoretical treatises written on Schoenberg's 12-tone method of composition. Leibowitz's advocacy of the Schoenberg school was taken further by his two most gifted pupils, each taking different paths in promoting the musics of Schoenberg, Webern and the development of serialism, namely Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music, a pianist, and a conductor.-Early years:Boulez was born in Montbrison, Loire, France. As a child he began piano lessons and demonstrated aptitude in both music and mathematics...
and Jacques-Louis Monod
Jacques-Louis Monod
Jacques-Louis Monod is an influential French-born, American domiciled composer, pianist and conductor of 20th century and contemporary music.-Paris 1940s: early years under Messiaen and Leibowitz:...
. His American students include the composers Will Ogdon
Will Ogdon
Will Ogdon is an American composer. He taught at the University of California, San Diego beginning in 1966, and retiring in 1991.He was originally from Redlands, California...
, Janet Maguire
Janet Maguire
Janet Maguire is an American composer residing in Venice, Italy. She is known particularly for her arrangement of the finale of Giacomo Puccini's Turandot in which she used exclusively the sketches Puccini left for it at his death...
, the conductor David Montgomery
David Montgomery
David Montgomery is Farnam Professor of History Emeritus at Yale University. Montgomery is considered one of the foremost academics specializing in United States labor history and has written extensively on the subject. Along with David Brody and Herbert Gutman, he is credited with founding the...
, and the avant-garde film director-animator John Whitney
John Whitney (animator)
John Whitney, Sr. was an American animator, composer and inventor, widely considered to be one of the fathers of computer animation.-Life:...
.
As conductor, Leibowitz was active in many recording projects. One of the most widely circulated and most notable is a set of the Beethoven symphonies made for Reader's Digest
Reader's Digest
Reader's Digest is a general interest family magazine, published ten times annually. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, its headquarters is now in New York City. It was founded in 1922, by DeWitt Wallace and Lila Bell Wallace...
Recordings; it was apparently the first recording of the symphonies to follow Beethoven's original metronome
Metronome
A metronome is any device that produces regular, metrical ticks — settable in beats per minute. These ticks represent a fixed, regular aural pulse; some metronomes also include synchronized visual motion...
markings. In choosing this approach, Leibowitz was influenced by his friend and colleague Rudolf Kolisch
Rudolf Kolisch
Rudolf Kolisch was a Viennese violinist and leader of string quartets, including the Kolisch Quartet and the Pro Arte Quartet. He played a right-handed violin left-handed—an extremely rare occurrence in classical music settings....
. Leibowitz likewise made many recordings for Reader's Digest in their various compilation albums.
He also wrote for Les Temps Modernes
Les Temps modernes
The first issue of Les Temps modernes , the most important cultural review of the period after World War II, appeared in October 1945. It was known as the review of Jean-Paul Sartre. It was named for a film by Charlie Chaplin...
, applying existentialist ideas to musicology.
Works
- Piano Sonata op.1 (1939)
- 10 Canons for wind trio op.2 (1939)
- String Quartet no.1 op.3 (1940)
- Symphony op.4 (1941)
- Double concerto for violin, piano and 17 instruments op.5 (1942)
- 6 Songs for bass and piano op.6 (1942)
- Tourist Death, concert aria for soprano and chamber orchestra (T: Archibald MacLeishArchibald MacLeishArchibald MacLeish was an American poet, writer, and the Librarian of Congress. He is associated with the Modernist school of poetry. He received three Pulitzer Prizes for his work.-Early years:...
) op.7 (1943) - 4 Piano Pieces op.8 (1943)
- 3 Songs for soprano and piano (T: Pablo PicassoPablo PicassoPablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
) op.9 (1943) - Chamber Concerto for nine instruments op.10 (1944)
- Wind Quintet op.11 (1944)
- Sonata for violin and piano op.12a (1944)
- Sonata for flute and piano op.12b (1944)
- Empedokles for mixed a cappella chorus (T: Friedrich HölderlinFriedrich HölderlinJohann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin was a major German lyric poet, commonly associated with the artistic movement known as Romanticism. Hölderlin was also an important thinker in the development of German Idealism, particularly his early association with and philosophical influence on his...
) op.13 (1944/45) - Variations for orchestra op.14 (1945)
- L'explication des Metaphores/Explanation of Metaphors (T: Raymond QueneauRaymond QueneauRaymond Queneau was a French poet and novelist and the co-founder of Ouvroir de littérature potentielle .-Biography:Born in Le Havre, Seine-Maritime, Queneau was the only child of Auguste Queneau and Joséphine Mignot...
) op.15 (1947) - Chamber Concerto for 12 instruments op.16 (1948)
- La Nuit Close, music drama in three acts (T: Georges LimbourGeorges LimbourGeorges Limbour was a French writer of prose and poetry.He was a member of the Surrealist Movement in Paris during the 1920s, but was expelled in 1929. Before his association with André Breton and the Surrealists, Limbour co-edited, along with Roger Vitrac and René Crevel, the avant-garde review...
) op.17 (1947-50) - 4 Songs for soprano and piano (T: Michel LeirisMichel LeirisJulien Michel Leiris was a French surrealist writer and ethnographer.-Biography:...
) op.18 (1949) - 3 Piano Pieces op.19 (1949)
- Piano Trio op.20 (1950)
- L'Emprise du Donné op.21 (1950)
- String Quartet no.2 op.22 (1950)
- Duo for cello and piano op.23 (1951)
- Perpetuum Mobile: The City - A Dramatic Symphony for Narrator and Orchestra (T: William Carlos WilliamsWilliam Carlos WilliamsWilliam Carlos Williams was an American poet closely associated with modernism and Imagism. He was also a pediatrician and general practitioner of medicine, having graduated from the University of Pennsylvania...
) op.24 (1951) - 5 Songs for soprano and piano op.25 (1951)
- String Quartet no.3 op.26 (1951)
- Fantasy for piano op.27 (1952)
- 6 Short Piano Pieces op.28 (1952)
- 5 Pieces for clarinet and piano op.29 (1952)
- La Circulaire de Minuit, opera in three acts (T: Georges LimbourGeorges LimbourGeorges Limbour was a French writer of prose and poetry.He was a member of the Surrealist Movement in Paris during the 1920s, but was expelled in 1929. Before his association with André Breton and the Surrealists, Limbour co-edited, along with Roger Vitrac and René Crevel, the avant-garde review...
) op.30 (1953) - 6 Orchestral Pieces op.31 (1954)
- Concerto for piano and orchestra op.32 (1954)
- Träume vom Tod und vom Leben - Eine Symphonie für Soli, Sprecher, gemischten Chor und Orchester (T: Hans Arp) op.33 (1954-55)
- 4 Songs for soprano and piano (T: James JoyceJames JoyceJames Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
) op.34 (1954) - Concertino for viola and chamber orchestra op.35 (1954)
- Rhapsodie Concertante for violin and piano op.36 (1955)
- La Notte (T: Angelo Poliziano), Epigramma (T: Torquato TassoTorquato TassoTorquato Tasso was an Italian poet of the 16th century, best known for his poem La Gerusalemme liberata , in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between Christians and Muslims at the end of the First Crusade, during the siege of Jerusalem...
) and A se stesso (T: Giacomo LeopardiGiacomo LeopardiGiacomo Taldegardo Francesco di Sales Saverio Pietro Leopardi was an Italian poet, essayist, philosopher, and philologist...
) for mixed chorus op.37 (1955) - Serenade for baritone and eight instruments (T: Friedrich HölderlinFriedrich HölderlinJohann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin was a major German lyric poet, commonly associated with the artistic movement known as Romanticism. Hölderlin was also an important thinker in the development of German Idealism, particularly his early association with and philosophical influence on his...
, Clemens BrentanoClemens BrentanoClemens Brentano, or Klemens Brentano was a German poet and novelist.-Overview:He was born in Ehrenbreitstein, near Koblenz, Germany. His sister was Bettina von Arnim, Goethe's correspondent. His father's family was of Italian descent. He studied in Halle and Jena, afterwards residing at...
) op.38 (1955) - Symphonic Fantasy for orchestra op.39 (1956)
- The Renegade for mixed chorus and instruments (T: Lionel AbelLionel AbelLionel Abel was an eminent American playwright, essayist and theater critic. His first success was a tragedy, Absalom, staged off-Broadway in 1956. It was followed by three other works of drama, before he turned to criticism...
) op.40 (1956) - Capriccio for high soprano and nine instruments (T: Friedrich HölderlinFriedrich HölderlinJohann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin was a major German lyric poet, commonly associated with the artistic movement known as Romanticism. Hölderlin was also an important thinker in the development of German Idealism, particularly his early association with and philosophical influence on his...
) op.41 (1956) - String Trio op.42 (1956)
- Sonata quasi una Fantasia for piano op.43 (1957)
- Humoresque for six percussionists op.44 (1957)
- String Quartet no.4 op.45 (1958)
- Trois Poèmes de Georges Limbour for soprano and six instruments (T: Georges LimbourGeorges LimbourGeorges Limbour was a French writer of prose and poetry.He was a member of the Surrealist Movement in Paris during the 1920s, but was expelled in 1929. Before his association with André Breton and the Surrealists, Limbour co-edited, along with Roger Vitrac and René Crevel, the avant-garde review...
) op.46 (1958) - Concertino for piano duet op.47 (1958)
- Overture for orchestra op.48 (1958)
- Damocles, song cycle for soprano and piano (T: Michel LeirisMichel LeirisJulien Michel Leiris was a French surrealist writer and ethnographer.-Biography:...
) op.49 (1958) - Concerto for violin and orchestra op.50 (1958)
- 3 Bagatelles for string orchestra op.51 (1958)
- Art for Art's Sake - A Fantasia for Jazz Orchestra op.52 (1959)
- Concertino for trombone and orchestra op.53 (1960)
- Marijuana - Variations non sérieuses op.54 (1960)
- Sinfonietta da Camera op.55 (1961)
- Fantasy for violin solo op.56 (1961)
- Introduction, Funeral March and Fanfare op.57 (1961)
- Concerto for cello and orchestra op.58 (1962)
- String Quartet no.5 op.59 (1963)
- Les Espagnols à Vénise - Opera buffa in one act (T: Georges LimbourGeorges LimbourGeorges Limbour was a French writer of prose and poetry.He was a member of the Surrealist Movement in Paris during the 1920s, but was expelled in 1929. Before his association with André Breton and the Surrealists, Limbour co-edited, along with Roger Vitrac and René Crevel, the avant-garde review...
op.60 (1964) - Quatre bagatelles for trombone and piano op.61 (1963)
- Toccata pour piano op.62 (1964)
- Symphonic Rhapsody for orchestra op.63 (1965)
- Trois Ètudes miniatures for piano op.64 (1965)
- String Quartet no.6 op.65 (1965)
- Suite for violin and piano op.66 (1965)
- 2 Songs for soprano and piano (T: Aimé Cesaire) op.67 (1965)
- A Prayer - A Symphonic Cantata for mezzo-soprano, male chorus and orchestra (T: James JoyceJames JoyceJames Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
) op.68 (1965) - Sonatina for flute, viola and harp op.69 (1966)
- Trois Caprices for vibraphone op.70 (1966)
- Two Settings after William Blake for mixed chorus (T: William BlakeWilliam BlakeWilliam Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
) op.71 (1966) - String Quartet no.7 op.72 (1966)
- Trois Poèmes de Georges Bataille for bass and piano (T: Georges BatailleGeorges BatailleGeorges Bataille was a French writer. His multifaceted work is linked to the domains of literature, anthropology, philosophy, economy, sociology and history of art...
) op.73 (1966) - Motifs for speaker and instruments (T: Georges LimbourGeorges LimbourGeorges Limbour was a French writer of prose and poetry.He was a member of the Surrealist Movement in Paris during the 1920s, but was expelled in 1929. Before his association with André Breton and the Surrealists, Limbour co-edited, along with Roger Vitrac and René Crevel, the avant-garde review...
) op.74 (1967) - Petite Suite for piano op.75 (1966)
- Deux Poèmes for soprano and piano (T: Michel LeirisMichel LeirisJulien Michel Leiris was a French surrealist writer and ethnographer.-Biography:...
) op.76a (1966) - Chanson Dada, three melodramas for treble and instruments (T: Tristan TzaraTristan TzaraTristan Tzara was a Romanian and French avant-garde poet, essayist and performance artist. Also active as a journalist, playwright, literary and art critic, composer and film director, he was known best for being one of the founders and central figures of the anti-establishment Dada movement...
) op.76b (1966) - Sonnet for soprano and five instruments (T: E. E. CummingsE. E. CummingsEdward Estlin Cummings , popularly known as E. E. Cummings, with the abbreviated form of his name often written by others in lowercase letters as e.e. cummings , was an American poet, painter, essayist, author, and playwright...
) op.77 (1967) - Rondo capriccioso for piano op.78 (1967)
- Capriccio for flute and strings op.79 (1967)
- 4 Songs for bass and piano (T: Carl EinsteinCarl EinsteinCarl Einstein , born Karl Einstein, was an influential German Jewish writer, art historian, and critic.Regarded as one of the first critics to appreciate the development of Cubism, as well as for his work on African art and influence on the European avant-garde, Einstein was a friend and colleague...
) op.80 (1967) - Suite for nine instruments op.81 (1967)
- Legend for soprano, piano and orchestra (T: Hart CraneHart Crane-Career:Throughout the early 1920s, small but well-respected literary magazines published some of Crane’s lyrics, gaining him, among the avant-garde, a respect that White Buildings , his first volume, ratified and strengthened...
) op.82 (1968) - String Quartet no.8 op.83 (1968)
- Saxophone Quartet op.84 (1969)
- Labyrinthe, music drama in one act (T: René Leibowitz after Charles BaudelaireCharles BaudelaireCharles Baudelaire was a French poet who produced notable work as an essayist, art critic, and pioneering translator of Edgar Allan Poe. His most famous work, Les Fleurs du mal expresses the changing nature of beauty in modern, industrializing Paris during the nineteenth century...
) op.85 (1969) - 4 Songs for bass and piano (T: Paul CelanPaul CelanPaul Celan was a poet and translator...
) op.86 (1969) - Tre Intermezzi per pianoforte op.87 (1970)
- Laboratoire Central - Short Cantata for speaker, female chorus and instruments (T: Max JacobMax JacobMax Jacob was a French poet, painter, writer, and critic.-Life and career:After spending his childhood in Quimper, Brittany, France, he enrolled in the Paris Colonial School, which he left in 1897 for an artistic career...
) op.88 (1970) - Scene and Aria for soprano and orchestra (T: Georg HeymGeorg HeymGeorg Heym was a German writer. He is particularly known for his poetry, representative of early Expressionism.- Life :...
) op.89 (1970) - Clarinet Sextet op.90 (1970)
- Todos Caeràn, opera in 2 acts and 5 tableaux (T: René Leibowitz) op.91 (1971)
- Trois Poèmes de Pierre Reverdy for vocal quartet and piano (T: Pierre ReverdyPierre ReverdyPierre Reverdy was a French poet associated with surrealism and cubism.Pierre Reverdy was born in Narbonne and grew up near the Montagne Noire in his father's house. Reverdy came from a family of sculptors. His father taught him to read and write. He studied at Toulouse and Narbonne.Reverdy...
) op.92 (1971) - String Quartet no.9 op.93 (1972)
Discography (selection)
- BeethovenLudwig van BeethovenLudwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
: Complete symphonies. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra cond. R. Leibowitz. Chesky (LP/CD) - BizetGeorges BizetGeorges Bizet formally Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, was a French composer, mainly of operas. In a career cut short by his early death, he achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, became one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertory.During a...
: Les Pêcheurs de perles. Paris Philharmonic Chorus and Orchestra cond. R. Leibowitz. Preiser (CD) - GriegEdvard GriegEdvard Hagerup Grieg was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is best known for his Piano Concerto in A minor, for his incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt , and for his collection of piano miniatures Lyric Pieces.-Biography:Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born in...
: Piano Concerto. Earl WildEarl WildRoyland Earl Wild was an American pianist widely recognized as a leading virtuoso of his generation. Harold C. Schonberg called him a "super-virtuoso in the Horowitz class". He was known as well for his transcriptions of classical music and jazz...
(piano), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra cond. R. Leibowitz. Chesky (CD) - Massenet & Puccini: A Portrait of Manon - Anna Moffo, Giuseppe di Stefano, Flaviano Labo, Robert Kerns - RCA Italiana Opera Chorus and Orchestra, cond. R. Leibowitz. Testament (CD)
- MozartWolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
: Symphony no. 41 (Jupiter). Royal Philharmonic Orchestra cond. R. Leibowitz. Chesky (CD) - OffenbachJacques OffenbachJacques Offenbach was a Prussian-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss, Jr....
: La Belle Hélène. Paris Philharmonic Chorus and Orchestra cond. R. Leibowitz. Regis (CD) - Offenbach: Orphée aux enfers. Paris Opera Chorus and Orchestra cond. R. Leibowitz. Regis (CD), also Preiser (CD)