Vally Weigl
Encyclopedia
Vally Weigl was an Austria
n-American
composer
and music therapist.
, Austria
. She took piano lessons in childhood, and studied musicology at Vienna University. She studied piano under Richard Robert, composition under Karl Weigl
and musicology
under Guido Adler
.
Vally married Karl Weigl in 1921, and after the National Socialists took power in in Austria in 1938, the couple emigrated with their son to the U.S. with assistance from the Quaker Society of Friends. In New York, Weigl worked as a music teacher and composer, and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts allowed her to compose and record Natures Moods, New England Suite, and four song cycles. After receiving a masters degree at Columbia University
, she also worked as a music therapist and became chief medical therapist at New York Medical College
. She also taught at Roosevelt Cerebral Palsy School. Vally directed research projects at Mount Sinai Hospital
's psychiatric division and the Hebrew Home for the Aged, and in the 1950s published a number of articles in the field of musical therapy. She died in New York City in 1982.
A biography of Vally Weigl entitled Give Them Music was published by Elena Fitzthum & Primavera Gruber (Edition Praesens, 2003,
ISBN : 978-3-7069-0191-8).
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n-American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
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...
and music therapist.
Biography
Valerie Weigl (née Pick) was born in ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. She took piano lessons in childhood, and studied musicology at Vienna University. She studied piano under Richard Robert, composition under Karl Weigl
Karl Weigl
Karl Ignaz Weigl was an Austrian composer. He was born in Vienna, being the son of a bank official who was also a keen amateur musician. Alexander Zemlinsky took him as a private pupil in 1896. Weigl went to school at the Franz-Joseph-Gymnasium and graduated from there in 1899...
and musicology
Musicology
Musicology is the scholarly study of music. The word is used in narrow, broad and intermediate senses. In the narrow sense, musicology is confined to the music history of Western culture...
under Guido Adler
Guido Adler
Guido Adler was a Bohemian-Austrian musicologist and writer.His father Joachim, a physician, died of typhoid fever in 1857...
.
Vally married Karl Weigl in 1921, and after the National Socialists took power in in Austria in 1938, the couple emigrated with their son to the U.S. with assistance from the Quaker Society of Friends. In New York, Weigl worked as a music teacher and composer, and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts allowed her to compose and record Natures Moods, New England Suite, and four song cycles. After receiving a masters degree at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, she also worked as a music therapist and became chief medical therapist at New York Medical College
New York Medical College
New York Medical College, aka New York Med or NYMC, is a private graduate health sciences university based in Westchester County, New York, a suburb of New York City and a part of the New York Metropolitan Area...
. She also taught at Roosevelt Cerebral Palsy School. Vally directed research projects at Mount Sinai Hospital
Mount Sinai Hospital
Mount Sinai Hospital may refer to:*Mount Sinai Hospital, New York*Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto*Mount Sinai Medical Center & Miami Heart Institute, Miami, Florida*Mount Sinai Hospital, Cleveland*Mount Sinai Hospital, Milwaukee...
's psychiatric division and the Hebrew Home for the Aged, and in the 1950s published a number of articles in the field of musical therapy. She died in New York City in 1982.
A biography of Vally Weigl entitled Give Them Music was published by Elena Fitzthum & Primavera Gruber (Edition Praesens, 2003,
ISBN : 978-3-7069-0191-8).
Works
Vally Weigl composed a large number of works for orchestra and solo instruments. She enjoyed an extensive discography. Selected works include:- Toccatina pour piano
- Nature Moods for Tenor, Clarinet and Violin
- New England Suite for Clarinet, Violoncello and Piano
- Songs of Remembrance (Poèmes de Emily Dickenson)
- Dear Earth for baritone, horn, violin, cello, and piano, words by Frederika Blankner
- Brief Encounters for clarinet, horn, bassoon, and oboe
- Songs of Love and Leaving for mezzo-soprano, baritone, clarinet and piano, words by Carl Sandburg
- Echoes from Poems
- Lyrical Suite for voice, piano, flute and cello
- Songs from "Do not Awake Me"
- Songs from "No Boundary" for voice, piano, flute and cello
- Songs Newly Seen in the Dusk
- Songs of Remembrance
- Requiem for Allison
- In Springtime pour voix et piano
- Songs from "No Boundary" pour voix, piano, flûte et violoncelle
- Oiseau de la vie pour flûte
- Lyrical Suite pour voix, piano, flûte et violoncelle
- Old Time Burlesque pour alto et piano