Philip Herschkowitz
Encyclopedia
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n-born composer and music theorist, pupil of Alban Berg
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...
and 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...
, who spent 47 years, from 1940 to 1987, in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
.
Biography
Born to a JewishHistory of the Jews in Romania
The history of Jews in Romania concerns the Jews of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is nowadays Romanian territory....
family in Iaşi
Iasi
Iași is the second most populous city and a municipality in Romania. Located in the historical Moldavia region, Iași has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Romanian social, cultural, academic and artistic life...
, he graduated from the conservatory in the city in 1927 and entered the Music Academy 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...
, 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...
, where he studied with Joseph Marx
Joseph Marx
Joseph Rupert Rudolf Marx was an Austrian composer, teacher and critic.-Life and career:Marx pursued studies in philosophy, art history, German studies, and music at Graz University, earning several degrees including a doctorate in 1909. He began composing seriously in 1908 and over the next four...
. Then he studied privately with Berg (1928–1931), and with Webern (1934-1939). He left Nazi German
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
-occupied Austria and arrived in the Soviet Union in 1940, settling first in Chernovtsy, which he left on June 22, 1941 at the beginning of the German invasion
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
, and then moving to Tashkent
Tashkent
Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and of the Tashkent Province. The officially registered population of the city in 2008 was about 2.2 million. Unofficial sources estimate the actual population may be as much as 4.45 million.-Early Islamic History:...
(in the Uzbek SSR
Uzbek SSR
The Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Uzbek SSR for short, was one of the republics of the Soviet Union since its creation in 1924...
) where he lived until 1944.
He settled in Moscow in 1946, where we began to teach privately, exerting a major influence on several generations of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n musicians, including leading figures of the so called "Underground division". Among these were the composers Andrei Volkonsky
Andrei Volkonsky
Prince Andrei Mikhaylovich Volkonsky also Andrey, André, Mikhailovich, Michailovich, Volkonski, Volkonskiy, etc. was a Russian composer of classical music, conductor and harpsichordist. He was a key figure in Early Music Revival in Russia.-Biography:...
, Edison Denisov
Edison Denisov
Edison Vasilievich Denisov was a Russian composer of so called "Underground" — "Anti-Collectivist", "alternative" or "nonconformist" division in the Soviet music.-Biography:...
, Alfred Schnittke
Alfred Schnittke
Alfred Schnittke ; November 24, 1934 – August 3, 1998) was a Russian and Soviet composer. Schnittke's early music shows the strong influence of Dmitri Shostakovich. He developed a polystylistic technique in works such as the epic First Symphony and First Concerto Grosso...
, Sofia Gubaidulina
Sofia Gubaidulina
Sofia Asgatovna Gubaidulina, is a Russian composer of half Russian, half Tatar ethnicity.Gubaidulina's music is marked by the use of unusual instrumental combinations...
, Nikolai Karetnikov
Nikolai Karetnikov
Nikolai Nikolayevich Karetnikov , was a Russian composer of the so-called Underground – alternative or nonconformist group in Soviet music.-Biography:...
, Boris Tishchenko
Boris Tishchenko
Boris Ivanovich Tishchenko was a Russian and Soviet composer and pianist.-Life:...
, Valentin Silvestrov
Valentin Silvestrov
Valentyn Vasylyovych Sylvestrov is a Ukrainian pianist and composer of contemporary classical music.-Education:Sylvestrov began private music lessons at age 15...
, Leonid Hrabovsky, Vyacheslav Artyomov
Vyacheslav Artyomov
Vyacheslav Petrovich Artyomov also Artemov is a Russian and Soviet composer.-Biography:Artyomov first studied physics at the Moscow University, then later studied music. He graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1968 where studied composition with Nikolai Sidelnikov. He became a member of the...
, Vladimir Dashkevich
Vladimir Dashkevich
Vladimir Sergeevich Dashkevich is a Russian composer, known mainly for his film music. Originally he studied chemical technology but later studied music under Aram Khachaturian. He achieved prominence in Russia for his music for the series of films "Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson", as well as...
, Alexander Voustin, Vladislav Shoot
Vladislav Shoot
Vladislav Shoot is a Russian-British composer of contemporary classical music...
, Viktor Suslin
Viktor Suslin
Viktor Yevseyevich Suslin |Ural]], Russia ) is a Russian composer living in Germany as of 1981.-Biography:At the age of four , Suslin began to study piano and made his first attempts at composition. From 1950 to 1962 he attended Kharkiv Music High School, and from 1961 to 1962 at Kharkiv...
, Dmitri Smirnov, Elena Firsova
Elena Firsova
Elena Olegovna Firsova is a Russian composer.-Life:She was born in Leningrad into the family of physicists Oleg Firsov and Viktoria Lichko. She studied music in Moscow with Alexander Pirumov, Yuri Kholopov, Edison Denisov and Philip Herschkowitz...
, Leonid Gofman; the musicologists Mikhail Druskin, Natan Fishman, Yuri Kholopov
Yuri Kholopov
Yuri Nikolaevich Kholopov was a famous Russian musicologist, music theorist, doctor of arts, and professor of the Moscow Conservatoire.-Biography:...
, and many others.
Herschkowitz was one of the most important pupils of Webern, and devoted his life to the understanding and development of his teacher's ideas. He was interested in exploring and creating a theoretical foundation to Webern's musical thought. He focussed on the analysis of the music of the great masters and in particular on Beethoven. The essence of this approach lies in the exploration of musical material in terms of the opposition between two fundamental categories: Fest ("fixed") and Locker ("floating").
By the invitation of the Alban-Berg-Stiftung, he returned to Vienna in 1987 — he died there two years later. The four volumes of his book On music that contain the essence of his teaching were edited and published by his widow L. Herschkowitz in Moscow in 1991–1997.
Works
- 1929 Waltz for piano (planned as part of a larger composition)
- 1930 Die Tulpen (Tulips). Melodrama after Peter AltenbergPeter AltenbergPeter Altenberg was a writer and poet from Vienna, Austria. He was key to the genesis of early modernism in the city.-Biography:...
(project) - 1930 Fugue for 14 solo instruments (flute, oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon, alto saxophone, horn, trumpet, harp, percussion, violin, viola, cello, double bass and piano (planned as part of a larger composition)
- 1932 Wie des Mondes Abbild zittert (Heinrich HeineHeinrich HeineChristian Johann Heinrich Heine was one of the most significant German poets of the 19th century. He was also a journalist, essayist, and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of Lieder by composers such as Robert Schumann...
) for voice and piano - 1947 Vesennie tsvety (Spring Flowers) for piano
- 1950s Capriccio, 2 pF. ‘Sovetsky Kompozitor’, Moscow, 1957
- 1960s Drei Klavierstücke (Three Piano Pieces)
- 1960s Fünf Klavierstücke (Five Piano Pieces)
- 1962 Vier Lieder (Four Songs, Paul CelanPaul CelanPaul Celan was a poet and translator...
) for mezzo-soprano and piano - 1965–6 3 lieduri (Three Songs, Ion BarbuIon BarbuIon Barbu was a distinguished Romanian mathematician and poet.He was born in Câmpulung-Muscel, Argeş County, the son of Constantin Barbilian and Smaranda, born Şoiculescu. He attended Ion Brătianu High School in Piteşti and Gheorghe Lazăr High School in Bucharest...
) for voice and piano - 1960s Brandmal (Paul CelanPaul CelanPaul Celan was a poet and translator...
) for voice and piano - 1968 Vier Stücke (Four Pieces) for cello and piano
- 1969 Klavierstiück (Piano Piece) in 4 movements:
- 1971 Brandmal (Paul CelanPaul CelanPaul Celan was a poet and translator...
) for mezzo-soprano, flute, 2 clarinets, piano in 4 hands, percussion, 6 violas and double bass - early 1970s Espenbaum (Paul CelanPaul CelanPaul Celan was a poet and translator...
) for mezzo-soprano, flute, 2 clarinets, percussion, piano in 4 hands, 6 violas and double bass - early 1970s Leuchten (Paul CelanPaul CelanPaul Celan was a poet and translator...
) for mezzo-soprano, 2 flutes, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, piano, 4 violins, 2 violas and 2 celli - early 1970s Vier Lieder (Four Songs, Paul CelanPaul CelanPaul Celan was a poet and translator...
) for mezzo-soprano, 2 flutes, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, small drum, piano, 4 violins, 2 violas and 2 celli - 1970s Drei Stücke (Three Pieces) for cello and piano
- 1970s Malaya kamernaya syuita (A Small Chamber Suite) for 2 clarinets, violin, viola, cello and piano
- 1979 Malaya kamernaya syuita (A Small Chamber Suite) for mezzo-soprano, 2 clarinets, violin, 2 violas, cello and
- 1983 Madrigaly (Madrigals)setting the poems of Rainer Maria RilkeRainer Maria RilkeRené 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...
, Federico García LorcaFederico García LorcaFederico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He is believed to be one of thousands who were summarily shot by anti-communist death squads...
and Guillaume ApollinaireGuillaume ApollinaireWilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki, known as Guillaume Apollinaire was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic born in Italy to a Polish mother.... - 1980s Beethoven’s String Quartet in F Major (Hess 34) after his Ninth Piano Sonata (Op.14/1), arranged for string orchestra.
- 1987-8 Drei Gesänge mit Begleitung eines Kammerensembles (Three Songs with Chamber-Ensemble Accompaniment)
Quotations
- "…The words ‘A Great Master’ are not an appraisal, but a theoretical definition."
- "The Great Masters (we are speaking only about the greatest – there are only a few) are a handful of aristocrats who have entered into the history of music like into a tavern."
- "Music is unreal in the terrestrial sense of the word. It is impossible to destroy it! It is a flying saucer. But of course, we need to know what a ‘saucer’ is and what ‘flying’ means."
- "Lupus lupi homo est." (Philip Herschkowitz)
External links
- Herschkowitz at Wikilivres
- http://www.exil-archiv.de/html/biografien/herschkowitz.htm (German)
- A Book on Herschkowitz, at the Kuhn’s page
- Introduction to Herschkowitz