Viktor Ullmann
Encyclopedia
Viktor Ullmann was a Silesia
-born Austrian
, later Czech composer, conductor and pianist of Jewish origin.
(Teschen), modern Český Těšín
/ Cieszyn
. It belonged then to Silesia
in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and is now divided between Cieszyn
in Poland
and Český Těšín
in Czechoslovakia
. Both his parents were from families of Jewish descent, but had converted to Roman Catholicism before Viktor's birth. As an assimilated Jew, his father, Maximilian, was able to pursue a career as a professional officer in the army of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In World War I
he was promoted to colonel and ennobled.
One writer has described Ullman's milieu in these terms: "Like such other assimilated German-speaking Czech Jews as Kafka and Mahler, Ullmann lived a life of multiple estrangements, cut off from Czech nationalism, German anti-Semitism and Jewish orthodoxy.
Beginning in 1909 Viktor attended a grammar school (Gymnasium) in Vienna
. His musical talents and inclinations soon gave him access to Arnold Schönberg
and his circle of pupils. Upon finishing school, he volunteered for military service.
After deployment on the Italian Front
at Isonzo
, he was granted study leave, which he used begin the study of law at Vienna University. There he also attended the lectures of Wilhelm Jerusalem
. At the beginning of 1918 he was accepted in Schönberg's composition seminar. With Schönberg he studied the theory of form, counterpoint
and orchestration
. Ullmann was an excellent pianist, although he had no ambitions for a career as a soloist.
In May 1919, he broke off both courses of study and left Vienna in order to devote himself fully to music in Prague
. His mentor was now Alexander von Zemlinsky
, under whose direction he served as a conductor at the New German Theatre of Prague (now the Prague State Opera
) until 1927. In the following season, 1927–28, he was appointed head of the opera company in Aussig an der Elbe (Ústí nad Labem
), but his repertoire, including operas by Richard Strauss
, Krenek
and others, was too advanced for local tastes, and his appointment was terminated.
In 1923 with the Sieben Lieder mit Klavier (7 Songs with Piano) he witnessed a series of successful performances of his works, which lasted until the beginning of the 1930s (Sieben Serenaden). At the Geneva
music festival of the International Society for New Music in 1929, his Schönberg Variations, a piano cycle on a theme by his teacher in Vienna, caused something of a stir. Five years later, for the orchestral arrangement of this work, he was awarded the Hertzka Prize, named in honor of the former director of Universal Edition
s. In the meantime he had been appointed conductor in Zürich
for two years. As a result of his interest in anthroposophy
, a movement founded by Rudolf Steiner
, he spent another two years as a bookseller in Stuttgart
, but was forced to flee Germany in mid-1933 and returned to Prague as a music teacher and journalist.
During this period he worked with the department of music at Czechoslovak Radio, wrote book and music reviews for various magazines, wrote as a critic for the Bohemia newspaper, lectured to educational groups, gave private lessons, and was actively involved in the program of the Czechoslovak Society for Music Education. At about this time Ullmann made friends with the composer Alois Hába
, whom he had known for some time. Ullmann enrolled in Hába's department of quarter tone music
at the Prague Conservatory
, where he studied from 1935 to 1937.
While his works of the 1920s still clearly show the influence of Schönberg's atonal period, especially the Chamber Symphony Op. 9, the George Songs Op. 15 and Pierrot Lunaire
, Op. 21, Ullmann's compositions from 1935 onwards like the String Quartet No. 2 and Piano Sonata No. 1 are distinguished by his independent development of Schönberg's inspirations. Similarly the opera Fall of the Antichrist develops the issues raised by Alban Berg's
opera Wozzeck
. Dissonant harmonics, highly charged musical expression, and masterly control of formal structure are characteristic of Ullmann's new and henceforth unmistakable personal style.
On September 8, 1942 he was deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp
. Up to his deportation his list of works had reached 41 opus numbers and contained an additional three piano sonatas, song cycles on texts by various poets, operas, and the piano concerto Op. 25, which he finished in December 1939, nine months after the entry of German troops into Prague. Most of these works are missing. The manuscripts presumably disappeared during the occupation. There survive 13 printed items, which Ullmann published privately and entrusted to a friend for safekeeping.
The particular nature of the camp at Theresienstadt enabled Ullmann to remain active musically: he was a piano accompanist, organized concerts ("Collegium musicum", "Studio for New Music"), wrote critiques of musical events, and composed, as part of a cultural circle including Karel Ančerl
, Rafael Schachter, Gideon Klein
, Hans Krása
, and other prominent musicians imprisoned there. He wrote: "By no means did we sit weeping on the banks of the waters of Babylon. Our endeavor with respect to arts was commensurate with our will to live."
On October 16, 1944 he was deported to the camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau, where on October 18, 1944 he was killed in the gas chambers.
The work he completed in Theresienstadt was mostly preserved and comprises, in addition to choral works, song cycles and a quantity of stage music, such significant works as the last three piano sonatas, the Third String Quartet, the melodrama based on Rilke's Cornet poem, and the chamber opera The Emperor of Atlantis, or The Refusal of Death
, with a libretto by Peter Kien
. Its premiere was planned for Theresienstadt in the autumn of 1944, conducted by Rafael Schachter, but the SS
commander noticed similarities between the Emperor of Atlantis and Adolf Hitler
and suppressed it. The opera was first performed in Amsterdam in 1975. It has been broadcast by BBC
television in Britain, and there have been productions in several countries. Important productions took place in Bremen and Stuttgart in 1990.
In these works, and particularly in the Emperor and the Cornet, Ullmann struggled to accommodate the realities of the living conditions in a Nazi concentration camp, the aesthetic problem of transforming already existing material into artistic shape, and the ethical problem of the continuous conflict between spirit and matter.
The most concrete formulation of this discourse occurs in the Emperor of Atlantis, with the parable of the Emperor's game with Death for Life. The "game", which concerns the Emperor's plan for the total destruction of all human life, ends with the ruin of the Emperor and with the vision of a new understanding between life and death.
In the following summary Ullmann's opus numbering has been used, and extended for the opus numbers given to works composed in Theresienstadt. The order of titles is essentially chronological and takes account both of compositions known from earlier lists of works as well as of those bibliographically recorded. Uncertain dating is indicated by (?). Traces of an earlier numeration derive from the list of works from the 1920s (Riemann Musiklexikon 11/1929). These references occur only in connection with the "Schönberg Variations", which in relation to the opus numeration and to the chronology cut across the principle of arrangement used.
Silesia
Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...
-born Austrian
Austrians
Austrians are a nation and ethnic group, consisting of the population of the Republic of Austria and its historical predecessor states who share a common Austrian culture and Austrian descent....
, later Czech composer, conductor and pianist of Jewish origin.
Biography
Viktor Ullmann was born on January 1, 1898 in TěšínCeský Tešín
Český Těšín is a town in the Karviná District, Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. The town is commonly known in the region as just Těšín . It lies on the west bank of the Olza River, in the heart of the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia...
(Teschen), modern Český Těšín
Ceský Tešín
Český Těšín is a town in the Karviná District, Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. The town is commonly known in the region as just Těšín . It lies on the west bank of the Olza River, in the heart of the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia...
/ Cieszyn
Cieszyn
Cieszyn is a border-town and the seat of Cieszyn County, Silesian Voivodeship, southern Poland. It has 36,109 inhabitants . Cieszyn lies on the Olza River, a tributary of the Oder river, opposite Český Těšín....
. It belonged then to Silesia
Silesia
Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...
in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and is now divided between Cieszyn
Cieszyn
Cieszyn is a border-town and the seat of Cieszyn County, Silesian Voivodeship, southern Poland. It has 36,109 inhabitants . Cieszyn lies on the Olza River, a tributary of the Oder river, opposite Český Těšín....
in 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...
and Český Těšín
Ceský Tešín
Český Těšín is a town in the Karviná District, Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. The town is commonly known in the region as just Těšín . It lies on the west bank of the Olza River, in the heart of the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia...
in Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
. Both his parents were from families of Jewish descent, but had converted to Roman Catholicism before Viktor's birth. As an assimilated Jew, his father, Maximilian, was able to pursue a career as a professional officer in the army of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
he was promoted to colonel and ennobled.
One writer has described Ullman's milieu in these terms: "Like such other assimilated German-speaking Czech Jews as Kafka and Mahler, Ullmann lived a life of multiple estrangements, cut off from Czech nationalism, German anti-Semitism and Jewish orthodoxy.
Beginning in 1909 Viktor attended a grammar school (Gymnasium) in Vienna
Vienna
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...
. His musical talents and inclinations soon gave him access to Arnold Schönberg
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...
and his circle of pupils. Upon finishing school, he volunteered for military service.
After deployment on the Italian Front
Italian Campaign (World War I)
The Italian campaign refers to a series of battles fought between the armies of Austria-Hungary and Italy, along with their allies, in northern Italy between 1915 and 1918. Italy hoped that by joining the countries of the Triple Entente against the Central Powers it would gain Cisalpine Tyrol , the...
at Isonzo
Battles of the Isonzo
The Battles of the Isonzo were a series of 12 battles between the Austro-Hungarian and Italian armies in World War I. They were fought along the Soča River on the eastern sector of the Italian Front between June 1915 and November 1917...
, he was granted study leave, which he used begin the study of law at Vienna University. There he also attended the lectures of Wilhelm Jerusalem
Wilhelm Jerusalem
Wilhelm Jerusalem was an Austrian Jewish philosopher and pedagogue....
. At the beginning of 1918 he was accepted in Schönberg's composition seminar. With Schönberg he studied the theory of form, counterpoint
Counterpoint
In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...
and orchestration
Orchestration
Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra or of adapting for orchestra music composed for another medium...
. Ullmann was an excellent pianist, although he had no ambitions for a career as a soloist.
In May 1919, he broke off both courses of study and left Vienna in order to devote himself fully to music in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
. His mentor was now Alexander von Zemlinsky
Alexander von Zemlinsky
Alexander Zemlinsky or Alexander von Zemlinsky was an Austrian composer, conductor, and teacher.-Early life:...
, under whose direction he served as a conductor at the New German Theatre of Prague (now the Prague State Opera
Prague State Opera
The Prague State Opera , is an opera and ballet company in Prague, Czech Republic. The theatre was originally founded in 1888 as the New German Theatre and from 1949 to 1989 it was known as the Smetana Theatre....
) until 1927. In the following season, 1927–28, he was appointed head of the opera company in Aussig an der Elbe (Ústí nad Labem
Ústí nad Labem
Ústí nad Labem is a city of the Czech Republic, in the Ústí nad Labem Region. The city is the 7th-most populous in the country.Ústí is situated in a mountainous district at the confluence of the Bílina and the Elbe Rivers, and, besides being an active river port, is an important railway junction...
), but his repertoire, including operas by Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
, Krenek
Ernst Krenek
Ernst Krenek was an Austrian of Czech origin and, from 1945, American composer. He explored atonality and other modern styles and wrote a number of books, including Music Here and Now , a study of Johannes Ockeghem , and Horizons Circled: Reflections on my Music...
and others, was too advanced for local tastes, and his appointment was terminated.
In 1923 with the Sieben Lieder mit Klavier (7 Songs with Piano) he witnessed a series of successful performances of his works, which lasted until the beginning of the 1930s (Sieben Serenaden). At the Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
music festival of the International Society for New Music in 1929, his Schönberg Variations, a piano cycle on a theme by his teacher in Vienna, caused something of a stir. Five years later, for the orchestral arrangement of this work, he was awarded the Hertzka Prize, named in honor of the former director of Universal Edition
Universal Edition
Universal Edition is a classical music publishing firm. Founded in 1901 in Vienna, and originally intended to provide the core classical works and educational works to the Austrian market...
s. In the meantime he had been appointed conductor in Zürich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
for two years. As a result of his interest in anthroposophy
Anthroposophy
Anthroposophy, a philosophy founded by Rudolf Steiner, postulates the existence of an objective, intellectually comprehensible spiritual world accessible to direct experience through inner development...
, a movement founded by Rudolf Steiner
Rudolf Steiner
Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner was an Austrian philosopher, social reformer, architect, and esotericist. He gained initial recognition as a literary critic and cultural philosopher...
, he spent another two years as a bookseller in Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
, but was forced to flee Germany in mid-1933 and returned to Prague as a music teacher and journalist.
During this period he worked with the department of music at Czechoslovak Radio, wrote book and music reviews for various magazines, wrote as a critic for the Bohemia newspaper, lectured to educational groups, gave private lessons, and was actively involved in the program of the Czechoslovak Society for Music Education. At about this time Ullmann made friends with the composer Alois Hába
Alois Hába
Alois Hába was a Czech composer, musical theorist and teacher. He is primarily known for his microtonal compositions, especially using the quarter tone scale, though he used others such as sixth-tones and twelfth-tones....
, whom he had known for some time. Ullmann enrolled in Hába's department of quarter tone music
Quarter tone
A quarter tone , is a pitch halfway between the usual notes of a chromatic scale, an interval about half as wide as a semitone, which is half a whole tone....
at the Prague Conservatory
Prague Conservatory
Prague Conservatory, sometimes also Prague Conservatoire, in Czech Pražská konzervatoř, is a Czech secondary school in Prague dedicated to teaching the arts of music and theater acting.- Instruction :...
, where he studied from 1935 to 1937.
While his works of the 1920s still clearly show the influence of Schönberg's atonal period, especially the Chamber Symphony Op. 9, the George Songs Op. 15 and Pierrot Lunaire
Pierrot Lunaire
Dreimal sieben Gedichte aus Albert Girauds 'Pierrot lunaire' , commonly known simply as Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21 , is a melodrama by Arnold Schoenberg...
, Op. 21, Ullmann's compositions from 1935 onwards like the String Quartet No. 2 and Piano Sonata No. 1 are distinguished by his independent development of Schönberg's inspirations. Similarly the opera Fall of the Antichrist develops the issues raised by Alban Berg's
Alban Berg
Alban Maria Johannes Berg was an Austrian composer. He was a member of the Second Viennese School with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and produced compositions that combined Mahlerian Romanticism with a personal adaptation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique.-Early life:Berg was born in...
opera Wozzeck
Wozzeck
Wozzeck is the first opera by the Austrian composer Alban Berg. It was composed between 1914 and 1922 and first performed in 1925. The opera is based on the drama Woyzeck left incomplete by the German playwright Georg Büchner at his death. Berg attended the first production in Vienna of Büchner's...
. Dissonant harmonics, highly charged musical expression, and masterly control of formal structure are characteristic of Ullmann's new and henceforth unmistakable personal style.
On September 8, 1942 he was deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp
Theresienstadt concentration camp
Theresienstadt concentration camp was a Nazi German ghetto during World War II. It was established by the Gestapo in the fortress and garrison city of Terezín , located in what is now the Czech Republic.-History:The fortress of Terezín was constructed between the years 1780 and 1790 by the orders...
. Up to his deportation his list of works had reached 41 opus numbers and contained an additional three piano sonatas, song cycles on texts by various poets, operas, and the piano concerto Op. 25, which he finished in December 1939, nine months after the entry of German troops into Prague. Most of these works are missing. The manuscripts presumably disappeared during the occupation. There survive 13 printed items, which Ullmann published privately and entrusted to a friend for safekeeping.
The particular nature of the camp at Theresienstadt enabled Ullmann to remain active musically: he was a piano accompanist, organized concerts ("Collegium musicum", "Studio for New Music"), wrote critiques of musical events, and composed, as part of a cultural circle including Karel Ančerl
Karel Ancerl
Karel Ančerl , was a Czech conductor, known for his performances of contemporary music and for his interpretations of music by Czech composers...
, Rafael Schachter, Gideon Klein
Gideon Klein
Gideon Klein was a Czech pianist and composer of classical music, organizer of cultural life in Theresienstadt concentration camp.-Life:...
, Hans Krása
Hans Krása
Hans Krása was a Czech composer who was killed in the Holocaust at Auschwitz. He helped to organize cultural life in Theresienstadt concentration camp.-Life:...
, and other prominent musicians imprisoned there. He wrote: "By no means did we sit weeping on the banks of the waters of Babylon. Our endeavor with respect to arts was commensurate with our will to live."
On October 16, 1944 he was deported to the camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau, where on October 18, 1944 he was killed in the gas chambers.
The work he completed in Theresienstadt was mostly preserved and comprises, in addition to choral works, song cycles and a quantity of stage music, such significant works as the last three piano sonatas, the Third String Quartet, the melodrama based on Rilke's Cornet poem, and the chamber opera The Emperor of Atlantis, or The Refusal of Death
Der Kaiser von Atlantis
Der Kaiser von Atlantis, oder Die Tod-Verweigerung is a one-act opera by Viktor Ullmann with a libretto by Peter Kien. Both Ullmann and Kien were inmates at the Nazi concentration camp of Theresienstadt , where they collaborated on the opera, around 1943...
, with a libretto by Peter Kien
Peter Kien
Peter Kien was a Jewish artist and poet active at the Theresienstadt concentration camp.He died at the age of twenty-five.-His education:...
. Its premiere was planned for Theresienstadt in the autumn of 1944, conducted by Rafael Schachter, but the SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
commander noticed similarities between the Emperor of Atlantis and Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
and suppressed it. The opera was first performed in Amsterdam in 1975. It has been broadcast by BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television in Britain, and there have been productions in several countries. Important productions took place in Bremen and Stuttgart in 1990.
In these works, and particularly in the Emperor and the Cornet, Ullmann struggled to accommodate the realities of the living conditions in a Nazi concentration camp, the aesthetic problem of transforming already existing material into artistic shape, and the ethical problem of the continuous conflict between spirit and matter.
The most concrete formulation of this discourse occurs in the Emperor of Atlantis, with the parable of the Emperor's game with Death for Life. The "game", which concerns the Emperor's plan for the total destruction of all human life, ends with the ruin of the Emperor and with the vision of a new understanding between life and death.
Chronology
- 1898 Born in Teschen (in Austrian SilesiaSilesiaSilesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...
) on 1 January - 1909–16 Attended school in Vienna
- 1916–18 Military service as a volunteer; service at the Front; promotion to Lieutenant
- 1918 Attended the University of Vienna, studying law and attending Arnold Schönberg's "composition seminar"
- 1920 autumn: Choirmaster and co-repetiteur under Alexander von Zemlinsky in the New German Theatre in Prague; later (1922–27) conductor
- 1925 Composition of the "Schönberg Variations" for piano (first performance 1926 in Prague)
- 1927-1928 Director of Opera in Aussig an der Elbe (Ústí nad LabemÚstí nad LabemÚstí nad Labem is a city of the Czech Republic, in the Ústí nad Labem Region. The city is the 7th-most populous in the country.Ústí is situated in a mountainous district at the confluence of the Bílina and the Elbe Rivers, and, besides being an active river port, is an important railway junction...
); afterwards back in Prague without a position - 1929 Success of the "Schönberg Variations" at the music festival of the International Society for New Music (Internationale Gesellschaft für Neue Musik; IGNM) in Geneva
- 1929-1931 Composer and conductor for stage music in the theatre at ZurichZürichZurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
- 1931-1933 Bookdealer in Stuttgart, as proprietor of the anthroposophical Novalis-Bücherstube
- 1933 Flight from Stuttgart; return to Prague
- 1934 Hertzka Prize for the orchestral arrangement of the "Schönberg Variations" (Op. 3b)
- 1935-1937 Instruction in composition from Alois HábaAlois HábaAlois Hába was a Czech composer, musical theorist and teacher. He is primarily known for his microtonal compositions, especially using the quarter tone scale, though he used others such as sixth-tones and twelfth-tones....
- 1936 Hertzka Prize for the opera The Fall of the Antichrist (Op. 9)
- 1938 After the performance of the Second String Quartet at the IGMN Festival in London, stays for about two months in DornachDornachDornach is a municipality in the district of Dorneck in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland.-History:Dornach is first mentioned in 1223 as de Tornacho. In 1307 it was mentioned as zu Dornach...
near Basle - 1939 Beginning of the persecution of the Jews in the Protectorate of Bohemia and MoraviaProtectorate of Bohemia and MoraviaThe Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was the majority ethnic-Czech protectorate which Nazi Germany established in the central parts of Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia in what is today the Czech Republic...
- 1942 (8 September) Deportation to Theresienstadt Concentration Camp; active as composer, conductor, pianist, organiser, teacher and music critic. Most important compositions preserved in manuscript: 3 piano sonatas; piano sonatas; songs; opera The Emperor of Atlantis; melodrama The Manner of Love and Death of Cornet Christoph Rilke
- 1944 (16 October) Transfer to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where he was murdered in the gas chambers on 18 October 1944
List of the Prague and Theresienstadt works
In the middle of 1942, shortly before his deportation to Theresienstadt concentration camp, Ullmann drew up a comprehensive list of his compositions to that point. This list was preserved in a London library as part of a letter to a correspondent whom it has not hitherto been possible to identify. In contrast to earlier lists of works, the London list is distinguished by an unbroken sequence of opus numbers (1-41) and the unmistakable incorporation of works or titles already known. Ullmann's list of works is of incalculable value in the light of the lost or missing compositions, although it makes clear the full extent of the loss caused by persecution and war.In the following summary Ullmann's opus numbering has been used, and extended for the opus numbers given to works composed in Theresienstadt. The order of titles is essentially chronological and takes account both of compositions known from earlier lists of works as well as of those bibliographically recorded. Uncertain dating is indicated by (?). Traces of an earlier numeration derive from the list of works from the 1920s (Riemann Musiklexikon 11/1929). These references occur only in connection with the "Schönberg Variations", which in relation to the opus numeration and to the chronology cut across the principle of arrangement used.
Prague works
| Work | Year | Previous Numeration | Notes |
| Three Choruses for Male Voices a cappella | 1919 | Opus 1 | |
| Songs with Orchestra | 1921 | Opus 2 | |
| Abendlied (Evening Song) (Claudius Matthias Claudius Matthias Claudius was a German poet, otherwise known by the penname of “Asmus”.-Life:Claudius was born at Reinfeld, near Lübeck, and studied at Jena... ) for Choir, Soloists and Orchestra |
1922 | Opus 3 | |
| Music for a Play from a Christmas Tale "Wie Klein Else das Christkindlein suchen ging" (How Little Else Went to Look for the Christ Child) | 1922 | First performance Prague 1922 | |
| Seven Songs with Piano | 1923 | Opus 4 | First performance Prague 1923, IGNM music festival Prague 1924 |
| Opus 1 - 1st String Quartet | 1923 | Opus 5 | First performance Prague 1927 |
| Seven Songs with Chamber Orchestra | 1924 | Opus 6 | First performance Prague 1924 |
| Symphonic Fantasy (also known as "Solo Cantata for Tenor and Orchestra" | 1924 | Opus 7 | First performance Prague 1925 |
| Incidental music for Der Kreidekreis (The Chalk Circle) (Klabund Klabund Alfred Henschke , better known by his pseudonym Klabund, was a German writer.-Life:Klabund, born Alfred Henschke in 1890 in Krossen, was the son of an apothecary. At the age of 16 he came down with tuberculosis, which the doctors initially misdiagnosed as pneumonia... ) |
1924 | First performance Prague 1925 | |
| (21) Variations and Double Fugue on a Small Piano Piece by Schönberg (Op. 19, 4) | 1925 | Opus 9 | First performance Prague 1926 |
| Opus 2 - Octet (also known as "Oktettino") | 1924 | Opus 8 | First performance Prague 1926 |
| Trio for Woodwind | 1926 | Opus 10 | |
| Opus 4 - Concerto for Orchestra (also known as "First Symphony" and "Symphonietta") | 1928 | Opus 11 | First performance Prague 1929 |
| (5) Variations and Double Fugue on a Small Piece by Schönberg (for Piano) | 1929 | Variations and Double Fugue on a Small Piano Piece by Schönberg 1929. A transcript by a Prague copyist was preserved. IGNM music festival, Geneva 1929. | |
| Opus 5 - Seven Small Serenades for Voice and 12 Instruments (text also by Ullmann) | 1929 | First performance Frankfurt am Main 1931. | |
| Opus 6 - Peer Gynt (Ibsen). Opera | 1927-29 | Completed after 1938. | |
| Opus 3 a - (9) Variations and Double Fugue on a Theme by Schönberg for Piano | 1933/34 | Self-published Prague 1939. | |
| Opus 3 b - Variations, Fantasy and Double Fugue on a Small Piano Piece by Schönberg, for Orchestra | 1933/34 | Hertzka Prize 1934. First performance Prague 1938. A set of orchestral parts was preserved in transcripts by two Prague copyists. | |
| Opus 7 - 2nd String Quartet | 1935 | First performance Prague 1936. IGNM music festival London 1938. | |
| Opus 8 - (Seven) Elegies for Soprano and Orchestra | 1935 | First performance Prague 1936 (3 pieces). Opus 8, 2 was preserved as a holograph Holograph A holograph is a document written entirely in the handwriting of the person whose signature it bears. Some countries or local jurisdictions within certain countries give legal standing to specific types of holographic documents, generally waiving requirements that they be witnessed... : "Schwer ist's das Schöne zu lassen" (It Is Difficult to Leave the Beautiful) (Steffen Albert Steffen Albert Steffen was a poet, painter, dramatist, essayist, and novelist. He joined the Theosophical Society in Germany in 1910, and the Anthroposophical Society in 1912 and became its president after the death of its founder, Rudolf Steiner, in 1925... ). |
|
| Opus 9 - Der Sturz des Antichrist (The Fall of the Antichrist), play for a stage dedication in 3 Acts (Steffen) | 1935 | Hertzka Prize 1936. The score and a part-written piano arrangement, both holographs, were preserved. | |
| Opus 10 - 1st Piano Sonata | 1936 | Self-published Prague 1936. UA Prag 1936. IGNM music festival New York 1941. | |
| Opus 11 - Chinese Melodramas (also known as "Galgenlieder" or Gallows Songs) | 1936 | First performance Prague 1936 (4 pieces). | |
| Opus 12 - Huttens letzte Tage (Hutten's Last Days) (C. F. Meyer Conrad Ferdinand Meyer Conrad Ferdinand Meyer was a Swiss poet and historical novelist, a master of realism chiefly remembered for stirring narrative ballads like "Die Füße im Feuer" .-Biography:... ), lyrical symphony for tenor, baritone und orchestra |
1936/37 (?) | ||
| Opus 13 - Missa Symphonica for choir, soloists, orchestra and organ ("in honour of the Archangel Michael") | 1936 | ||
| Opus 14 - Three Choruses a cappella (also known as "Rosenkreuzer Cantata") | 1936 | ||
| Opus 15 - Easter Cantata (also known as "Chamber Cantata") for small mixed choir and 6 instruments | 1936 | ||
| Opus 16 - Sonata for Quarter-tone Clarinet and Quarter-tone Piano | 1936 | First performance Prague 1937. Only the clarinet part is preserved, as a holograph. | |
| Opus 17 - Six Songs (Steffen) for soprano and piano | 1937 | Self-published Prague 1937. First performance Prague 1937. | |
| Opus 18 - Songs (Kraus Karl Kraus Karl Kraus was an Austrian writer and journalist, known as a satirist, essayist, aphorist, playwright and poet. He is regarded as one of the foremost German-language satirists of the 20th century, especially for his witty criticism of the press, German culture, and German and Austrian... , Goethe, Novalis Novalis Novalis was the pseudonym of Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg , an author and philosopher of early German Romanticism.-Biography:... ) (also known as "Song Cycle II") |
1937 (?) | ||
| Opus 19 - 2nd Piano Sonata | 1938/39 | Self-published Prague 1939. First performance Prague 1940. | |
| Opus 3 c - Variations and Double Fugue on a Theme by Arnold Schönberg | 1939 | Preserved as a photocopy of the holograph. | |
| Opus 20 - Spiritual Songs for High Voice and Piano | 1939/40 | Self-published Prague 1940. First performance Prague 1940. | |
| Opus 21 - Songs (Brezina Thomas Brezina Thomas Brezina , is an Austrian writer of children's books. He is especially known for his series The Knickerbocker Gang and his stories about the talking bike Tom Turbo. He has published over 400 books and his work has been translated into 33 languages... ) |
1929/39 (?) | ||
| Opus 22 - Children's Songs | 1939/40 (?) | ||
| Opus 23 - Der Gott und die Bajadere (The God and the Bayadere) (Goethe) for baritone and piano | 1940 (?) | First performance Prague 1940. | |
| Opus 24 - Slavic Rhapsody for orchestra and obligato saxophone | 1939/40 | Self-published Prague 1940 (printed as "Opus 23"). | |
| Opus 25 - Piano Concerto | 1939 | Preserved as a holograph; self-published Prague 1940. | |
| Opus 26 - Five Love Songs (Huch Ricarda Huch Ricarda Huch was a pioneering German intellectual. Trained as a historian, and the author of many works of European history, she also wrote novels, poems, and a play. Asteroid 879 Ricarda is named in her honour.- Life :... ) for soprano and piano |
1939 | Self-published Prague 1939. | |
| Opus 27 - Lieder des Prinzen Vogelfrei (Songs of Prince Vogelfrei) (Nietzsche Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist... ) |
1940 | ||
| Opus 28 - 3rd Piano Sonata | 1940 | Self-published Prague 1940 (printed as "Opus 26") | |
| Opus 29 - Three Sonnets from the Portuguese (Elizabeth Barrett Browning Elizabeth Barrett Browning Elizabeth Barrett Browning was one of the most prominent poets of the Victorian era. Her poetry was widely popular in both England and the United States during her lifetime. A collection of her last poems was published by her husband, Robert Browning, shortly after her death.-Early life:Members... , transl. Rilke Rainer Maria Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke , better known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was a Bohemian–Austrian poet. He is considered one of the most significant poets in the German language... ) for soprano and piano |
1940 | Self-published Prague 1940. First performance Prague 1940. | |
| Opus 30 - Songbook of Hafiz for bass and piano | 1940 | Self-published Prague 1940. First performance Prague 1940. Based on Hans Bethge's "Nachdichtungen der Lieder und Gesänge des Hafis", vol 2 (first published 1910 by Insel-Verlag, Leipzig; new edition by YinYang-Media Verlag October 2004 ISBN 3-935727-03-8). | |
| Opus 31 - Nachlese (Gleanings). Songs | 1940 (?) | ||
| Opus 32 - Krieg (War). Cantata for Baritone | 1940 (?) | ||
| Opus 33 - Die Heimkehr des Odysseus (The Homecoming of Odysseus). Opera | 1940/41 (?) | ||
| Opus 34 - Six Sonnets (Labé Louise Labé Louise Labé, , also identified as La Belle Cordière, , was a female French poet of the Renaissance, born at Lyon, the daughter of a rich ropemaker, Pierre Charly, and his second wife, Etiennette Roybet... ) for soprano and piano |
1941 | Self-published Prague 1941. | |
| Opus 35 - Six Songs for Alto or Baritone and Piano | 1941 (?) | ||
| Opus 36 - Der zerbrochene Krug (The Broken Jug) (Kleist Heinrich von Kleist Bernd Heinrich Wilhelm von Kleist was a poet, dramatist, novelist and short story writer. The Kleist Prize, a prestigious prize for German literature, is named after him.- Life :... ). Opera |
1941/42 | Self-published 1942. | |
| Opus 37 - Three Songs (C. F. Meyer) for baritone and piano | 1942 | Preserved as holograph ("renewed in Theresienstadt"). First performance Theresienstadt 1943. | |
| Opus 38 - 4th Piano Sonata | 1941 | Self-published Prague 1941. | |
| Opus 39 - Sonata for Violin and Piano | 1937 (?) | Only a transcription of the violin part is preserved. First performance planned Prague 1938. | |
| Opus 40 - Concert Aria (from Goethe's Iphigenie) | 1942 (?) | ||
| Opus 41 - Six Songs (H. G. Adler H. G. Adler Hans Günther Adler, who wrote as H. G. Adler was a German-language poet and novelist.Born in Prague to Emil and Alice Adler, Hans Adler was a Jew, though not devout.... ) |
1942 (?) | ||
Theresienstadt works
| Work | Year | Notes |
| Three Songs for Baritone (C. F. Meyer) | 1942 | cf. Opus 37. Not later than 4 November 1942. |
| 3rd String Quartet | 1943 | Preserved as a copy of the holograph. Counted as Opus 46. Not later than 23 January 1943. |
| Autumn (Trakl Georg Trakl Georg Trakl was an Austrian poet. He is considered one of the most important Austrian Expressionists.- Life and work :Trakl was born and lived the first 18 years of his life in Salzburg, Austria... ) for soprano and string trio |
1943 | Preserved as a holograph. Not later than 24 January 1943. |
| (2) Songs of Consolation (Steffen) for deep voice and string trio | 1943 | Preserved as a holograph. |
| Ten Yiddish and Hebrew Choruses Zehn (women's, men's and mixed choir) | 1943 | Preserved as transcripts by Theresienstadt copyists. |
| Incidental music for a play by François Villon François Villon François Villon was a French poet, thief, and vagabond. He is perhaps best known for his Testaments and his Ballade des Pendus, written while in prison... |
1943 | First performance Theresienstadt 20 July 1943. |
| Wendla in the Garden (Wedekind Frank Wedekind Benjamin Franklin Wedekind , usually known as Frank Wedekind, was a German playwright... ) for voice and piano |
1943 | Preserved as a holograph. Not later than 1 July 1943. |
| 5th Piano Sonata | 1943 | Preserved as a holograph. Counted as Opus 45. Not later than 27 June 1943. |
| (2) Hölderlin Friedrich Hölderlin Johann 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... Songs for voice and piano |
1943/44 | Preserved as a holograph. |
| Immer inmitten (Always in the midst) (H. G. Adler). Cantata for mezzo-soprano and piano | 1943 | Two songs preserved as holographs. First performance Theresienstadt 30 October 1943. |
| 6th Piano Sonata | 1943 | Preserved as holograph. Counted as Opus 49 (cf "Kaiser von Atlantis"). Not later than 1 August 1943. First performance Theresienstadt before 30 October 1943. |
| Der Mensch und sein Tag (Man and his Day) (H. G. Adler). 12 Songs for Voice and Piano | 1943 | Preserved as a holograph. Counted as Opus 47. Not later than 4 September 1943. |
| "Chansons des enfants francaises" for voice and piano | 1943 | One song ("Little Cakewalk") preserved as a holograph. Date of dedication: 27 September 1943. |
| Three Chinese Songs for Voice and Piano | 1943 | Two songs preserved as holographs. Not later than October 1943. |
| Der Kaiser von Atlantis oder die Tod-Verweigerung Der Kaiser von Atlantis Der Kaiser von Atlantis, oder Die Tod-Verweigerung is a one-act opera by Viktor Ullmann with a libretto by Peter Kien. Both Ullmann and Kien were inmates at the Nazi concentration camp of Theresienstadt , where they collaborated on the opera, around 1943... (The Emperor of Atlantis, or The Refusal of Death). Play in one act (Kien Peter Kien Peter Kien was a Jewish artist and poet active at the Theresienstadt concentration camp.He died at the age of twenty-five.-His education:... ) |
1943/44 | Preserved as a holograph. Counted as Opus 49 (cf 6th piano). Composition begun June/July 1943; finished 13 January 1944. Revision ("Wahnsinns-Terzett" / Madness tercet) August 1944. |
| Don Quixote. Overture for piano (draft score) | 1943 | Preserved as a holograph. Not later than 21 March 1944. |
| 30 May 1431. Libretto for a "Joan of Arc Joan of Arc Saint Joan of Arc, nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" , is a national heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France who claimed divine guidance, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, which paved the way for the... " opera in 2 Acts |
1944 | Preserved as a holograph. Date of preface 16 May 1943. |
| Three Yiddish Songs for Voice and Piano | 1944 | Preserved as a holograph. Counted as Opus 53. First Song dated 25 May 1944. |
| Die Weise der Liebe und des Todes. (The Manner of Love and Death) (Rilke). 12 pieces for spoken voice and orchestra or piano (draft score) | 1944 | Preserved as a holograph. First performance before 28 September 1944. Not later than 12 July 1944. |
| 7th Piano Sonata | 1944 | Preserved as a holograph. Dated on title page 22 August 1944. |
| Abendphantasie (Evening Fantasy) (Hölderlin) for voice and piano | 1944 | Preserved as a holograph. |
| Cadenzas to Beethoven's Piano Concertos (Nos 1 und 3) | 1944 | Preserved as a holograph. Counted as Opus 54. |
| Three Hebrew Boys' Choruses (a cappella) | 1944 | Preserved as a transcript by a Theresienstadt copyist. |
Sources
- Ingo SchultzIngo SchultzIngo Schultz is a German sprinter who specializes in the 400 metres.-Career:Schultz took up athletics in 1997, and ran his first 400 metres race in 1998, clocking in 49.45 seconds. The next season he lowered his time to 45.99 s....
, Viktor Ullmann. Leben und Werk Kassel, 2008. ISBN 978-3-476-02232-5 - Initiative Hans KrásaHans KrásaHans Krása was a Czech composer who was killed in the Holocaust at Auschwitz. He helped to organize cultural life in Theresienstadt concentration camp.-Life:...
in HamburgHamburg-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
: Komponisten in Theresienstadt, ISBN 3-00-005164-3 - Karas, Joza, Music in Terezin 1941-1945 NY: [Beaufort Books Publishers, undated
- Ludvova, Jitka, "Viktor Ullmann," in Hudebni veda 1979, No. 2, 99-122
- Schultz, Ingo: "Viktor Ullmann," in Flensburger Hefte, Sonderheft Nr. 8, Summer 1991, 5-25
- ARBOS - Company for Music and Theatre, Tracks to Viktor Ullmann, including material written by Herbert Thomas MandlHerbert Thomas MandlHerbert Thomas Mandl was a Czechoslovak-German-Jewish author, concert violinist, professor of music, philosopher, inventor and lecturer...
, who worked with Ullmann as a violinist in Terezín, Ingo Schultz, Jean-Jacques Van Vlasselaer, Dzevad KarahasanDzevad KarahasanDževad Karahasan is a Bosnian poet.- Education :He studied literature and theatre at the university of Sarajevo. He received his Ph.D. from the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Zagreb.- Life :In 1993 Karahasan fled the war in Sarajevo, a city that plays a central role in his work...
, and Herbert GantschacherHerbert GantschacherHerbert Gantschacher is an Austrian director and producer and writer.- Education :...
, edition selene, Vienna, 1998 - Herbert Thomas Mandl, Tracks to Terezín, interview with Herbert Thomas Mandl about Terezín and Viktor Ullmann, DVD, ARBOS Vienna-Salzburg-Klagenfurt, 2007
- Herbert Gantschacher, Witness and Victim of the Apocalypse, exhibition and book about Viktor Ullmann during World War I and the influence of his war experiences on his music and especially on the opera "The Emperor of Atlantis or The Refusal of Death", ARBOS, Vienna-Salzburg-Klagenfurt-Arnoldstein, 2007
- Erich Heyduck and Herbert Gantschacher, Viktor Ullmann - Way to the Front 1917, DVD, ARBOS, VIENNA-Salzburg-Klagenfurt, 2007
External links
- Viktor Ullmann Foundation
- Ullmann biography and list of works
- Musica Reanimata (about composers persecuted by the Nazi regime)
- Jewish Music Institute
- Music of Theresienstadt
- Comprehensive discography of Terezin Composers by Claude Torres
- The OREL Foundation- Viktor Ullmann biography, as well as links to bibliography, works, discography and media
- Further reading and listening on Terezín: The Music 1941-44Terezín: The Music 1941-44Terezín: The Music 1941–44 is a 2-CD set with music written by inmates at the Terezín concentration camp during World War II.Volume 1 contains chamber music by Gideon Klein, Viktor Ullmann, and Hans Krása; Volume 2 features the children's opera Brundibár by Krása, and songs by Ullmann and Pavel Haas...