Richard Goldner
Encyclopedia
Richard Goldner was a Romania
n-born, Viennese
-trained Australia
n violist
, pedagogue and inventor. He founded Musica Viva Australia
in 1945, which became the world's largest entrepreneurial chamber music
organisation. The Goldner String Quartet
was named in his memory.
when he was six months old. He took up the violin
at the age of four or five. After leaving school, he studied architecture at university, but also secretly enrolled at the New Vienna Conservatory
, where he studied under Simon Pullman
. He later received another diploma from the Academy of Music. He received instruction at master classes from Bronisław Huberman and other violinists. He played the viola
in the Simon Pullman Ensemble from 1931 to 1938, and became Pullman's assistant and closest friend. (Pullman was later to die in a Nazi extermination camp.) Goldner and his brother escaped the Nazi oppression of Jews in Austria
and arrived in Australia in 1939, shortly after the start of World War II
. There, although designated an enemy alien he soon became involved in musical life in his new country. He founded the Monomeeth String Quartet, basing its name on an indigenous word for peace and harmony. However, because the Australian Musicians Union's restrictions on employing foreigners meant he could not take up an offer of a position with an Australian Broadcasting Commission
orchestra, he had to find other ways of making a living. He worked as a jeweller with his brother and also invented a new style of zipper
that was immune to sand and would not break under war-time conditions, and which was vitally needed for use in the manufacture of parachute
s. For this, he was attached to the Army Inventions Directorate and the Royal Australian Air Force
. This invention made him a lot of money, and was acknowledged in the official history of Australia's war effort.
During the war, the then Minister for Immigration, Harold Holt
, was personally very helpful in arranging passage for Richard Goldner's parents to Australia.
in Sydney
on 8 December 1945, to an audience of over 1,000 people. The first item they played was Beethoven
's Große Fuge
, Op. 133, in honour of his teacher Simon Pullman
. (Pullman's makeshift chamber ensemble had been playing the Große Fuge in the Warsaw Ghetto
in August 1942 when they were rounded up and sent to Treblinka
, only one of them surviving.) During Goldner's concert there was a power blackout, and car headlights, an Army generator and hurricane lamps were used for illumination. The success of the concert inspired Goldner to form an organisation for the promotion of chamber music in all its forms. In this he was supported by Hephzibah Menuhin
(then married to an Australian and living in Victoria) and assisted by a fellow refugee named Walter Dullo, a German lawyer-turned-chocolate maker and musicologist. Together, Goldner and Dullo found 17 musicians (mostly also southern or central European refugees, and mostly Jewish) and formed them into four separate chamber groups under the name Musica Viva (later becoming Musica Viva Australia
). The initial funding for the organisation came from Goldner himself, from the proceeds of the manufacture of his zipper. They developed a punishing playing schedule throughout Australia and New Zealand
, giving 170 concerts and travelling 50,000 miles a year. Although they were always financially successful, this schedule became exhausting. This, plus the fact that Goldner had injured the first finger of his left hand while making another invention, led to Goldner retiring from playing in 1952, and the group was disbanded, but it reformed in 1954.
, the Director of the NSW Conservatorium, approached him about teaching there, but he was far too busy with Musica Viva's playing schedule at that time. He was again approached in the early 1960s, this time by the new Director, Sir Bernard Heinze
, and he was now in a position to accept a teaching position. He lectured in violin and viola.
In 1966 he moved to the United States
with his former pupil Charmian Gadd. They taught at Pittsburgh and Washington (state). They married in 1970, when he was 62, and returned to Australia in 1981. Richard Goldner collected one of the most extensive chamber music libraries in Australia, which he donated to the NSW Conservatorium.
He died in Balmain
, Sydney
on 27 September 1991, aged 83.
suburb of Melba
was named Goldner Circuit.
The Richard Goldner Award was founded by the Balmain Sinfonia in 1993, and goes to the winner of a biennial concerto
competition for the player of an orchestral string instrument. Charmian Gadd is the patron of the competition.
A documentary film about Goldner's story is being prepared by the Academy Award-winning Australian producer and writer Suzanne Baker. It has the working title "Beethoven and the Zipper".
and Dimity Hall (violins), Irina Morozova (viola; an ex-pupil of Goldner) and Julian Smiles (cello).
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, Viennese
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...
-trained Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n violist
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
, pedagogue and inventor. He founded Musica Viva Australia
Musica Viva Australia
Musica Viva Australia is the oldest independent performing arts organisation in Australia and the world's largest entrepreneur of chamber music. It was formed in 1945 in Sydney by violist Richard Goldner...
in 1945, which became the world's largest entrepreneurial 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...
organisation. The Goldner String Quartet
Goldner String Quartet
The Goldner String Quartet is an Australian string quartet formed in 1995 in honour of Richard Goldner, the founder of Musica Viva Australia.The Quartet consists of Dene Olding and Dimity Hall , Irina Morozova and Julian Smiles...
was named in his memory.
Biography
Richard Goldner was born in a small town in Romania in 1908. His family moved to 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...
when he was six months old. He took up 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....
at the age of four or five. After leaving school, he studied architecture at university, but also secretly enrolled at the New Vienna Conservatory
Neues Wiener Konservatorium
The Neues Wiener Konservatorium was a music school established in Vienna by Theobald Kretschmann in 1909. In 1929 it had the largest number of enrolled students during its lifetime....
, where he studied under Simon Pullman
Simon Pullman
Simon Pullman was a violinist, conductor, music teacher and founder and Director of the Pullman Ensemble and Orchestra, and a seminal figure in the evolution of chamber music performance....
. He later received another diploma from the Academy of Music. He received instruction at master classes from Bronisław Huberman and other violinists. He played the viola
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
in the Simon Pullman Ensemble from 1931 to 1938, and became Pullman's assistant and closest friend. (Pullman was later to die in a Nazi extermination camp.) Goldner and his brother escaped the Nazi oppression of Jews in 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...
and arrived in Australia in 1939, shortly after the start of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. There, although designated an enemy alien he soon became involved in musical life in his new country. He founded the Monomeeth String Quartet, basing its name on an indigenous word for peace and harmony. However, because the Australian Musicians Union's restrictions on employing foreigners meant he could not take up an offer of a position with an Australian Broadcasting Commission
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
orchestra, he had to find other ways of making a living. He worked as a jeweller with his brother and also invented a new style of zipper
Zipper
A zipper is a commonly used device for temporarily joining two edges of fabric...
that was immune to sand and would not break under war-time conditions, and which was vitally needed for use in the manufacture of parachute
Parachute
A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag, or in the case of ram-air parachutes, aerodynamic lift. Parachutes are usually made out of light, strong cloth, originally silk, now most commonly nylon...
s. For this, he was attached to the Army Inventions Directorate and the Royal Australian Air Force
Royal Australian Air Force
The Royal Australian Air Force is the air force branch of the Australian Defence Force. The RAAF was formed in March 1921. It continues the traditions of the Australian Flying Corps , which was formed on 22 October 1912. The RAAF has taken part in many of the 20th century's major conflicts...
. This invention made him a lot of money, and was acknowledged in the official history of Australia's war effort.
During the war, the then Minister for Immigration, Harold Holt
Harold Holt
Harold Edward Holt, CH was an Australian politician and the 17th Prime Minister of Australia.His term as Prime Minister was brought to an early and dramatic end in December 1967 when he disappeared while swimming at Cheviot Beach near Portsea, Victoria, and was presumed drowned.Holt spent 32 years...
, was personally very helpful in arranging passage for Richard Goldner's parents to Australia.
Musica Viva
In 1945 he founded "Richard Goldner's Sydney Musica Viva", whose first concert was held at the New South Wales Conservatorium of MusicSydney Conservatorium of Music
The Sydney Conservatorium of Music is one of the oldest and most prestigious music schools in Australia...
in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
on 8 December 1945, to an audience of over 1,000 people. The first item they played was Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig 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...
's Große Fuge
Große Fuge
The Große Fuge , Op. 133, is a single-movement composition for string quartet by Ludwig van Beethoven. A massive double fugue, it originally served as the final movement of his Quartet No. 13 in B major but he replaced it with a new finale and published it separately in 1827 as Op...
, Op. 133, in honour of his teacher Simon Pullman
Simon Pullman
Simon Pullman was a violinist, conductor, music teacher and founder and Director of the Pullman Ensemble and Orchestra, and a seminal figure in the evolution of chamber music performance....
. (Pullman's makeshift chamber ensemble had been playing the Große Fuge in the Warsaw Ghetto
Warsaw Ghetto
The Warsaw Ghetto was the largest of all Jewish Ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II. It was established in the Polish capital between October and November 15, 1940, in the territory of General Government of the German-occupied Poland, with over 400,000 Jews from the vicinity...
in August 1942 when they were rounded up and sent to Treblinka
Treblinka extermination camp
Treblinka was a Nazi extermination camp in occupied Poland during World War II near the village of Treblinka in the modern-day Masovian Voivodeship of Poland. The camp, which was constructed as part of Operation Reinhard, operated between and ,. During this time, approximately 850,000 men, women...
, only one of them surviving.) During Goldner's concert there was a power blackout, and car headlights, an Army generator and hurricane lamps were used for illumination. The success of the concert inspired Goldner to form an organisation for the promotion of chamber music in all its forms. In this he was supported by Hephzibah Menuhin
Hephzibah Menuhin
Hephzibah Menuhin was an American-Australian pianist and human rights campaigner. She was sister to the violinist Lord Menuhin and to the pianist, painter, and poet Yaltah Menuhin...
(then married to an Australian and living in Victoria) and assisted by a fellow refugee named Walter Dullo, a German lawyer-turned-chocolate maker and musicologist. Together, Goldner and Dullo found 17 musicians (mostly also southern or central European refugees, and mostly Jewish) and formed them into four separate chamber groups under the name Musica Viva (later becoming Musica Viva Australia
Musica Viva Australia
Musica Viva Australia is the oldest independent performing arts organisation in Australia and the world's largest entrepreneur of chamber music. It was formed in 1945 in Sydney by violist Richard Goldner...
). The initial funding for the organisation came from Goldner himself, from the proceeds of the manufacture of his zipper. They developed a punishing playing schedule throughout Australia and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, giving 170 concerts and travelling 50,000 miles a year. Although they were always financially successful, this schedule became exhausting. This, plus the fact that Goldner had injured the first finger of his left hand while making another invention, led to Goldner retiring from playing in 1952, and the group was disbanded, but it reformed in 1954.
Later life
He had always wanted to teach violin and viola, and to conduct young people's orchestras. In the early 1950s, Eugene GoossensEugène Aynsley Goossens
Sir Eugene Aynsley Goossens was an English conductor and composer.-Biography:He was born in Camden Town, London, the son of the Belgian conductor and violinist Eugène Goossens and the grandson of the conductor Eugène Goossens...
, the Director of the NSW Conservatorium, approached him about teaching there, but he was far too busy with Musica Viva's playing schedule at that time. He was again approached in the early 1960s, this time by the new Director, Sir Bernard Heinze
Bernard Heinze
Sir Bernard Thomas Heinze, AC was an Australian Professor of Music, conductor, and Director of the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music....
, and he was now in a position to accept a teaching position. He lectured in violin and viola.
In 1966 he moved to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with his former pupil Charmian Gadd. They taught at Pittsburgh and Washington (state). They married in 1970, when he was 62, and returned to Australia in 1981. Richard Goldner collected one of the most extensive chamber music libraries in Australia, which he donated to the NSW Conservatorium.
He died in Balmain
Balmain, New South Wales
Balmain is a suburb in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Balmain is located slightly west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Municipality of Leichhardt....
, Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
on 27 September 1991, aged 83.
Honours
In June 1992, less than nine months after his death, a street in the CanberraCanberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
suburb of Melba
Melba, Australian Capital Territory
Melba is a suburb of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia. Melba is in the district of Belconnen.The suburb of Melba is named after Dame Nellie Melba , the first internationally-recognised Australian opera soprano...
was named Goldner Circuit.
The Richard Goldner Award was founded by the Balmain Sinfonia in 1993, and goes to the winner of a biennial 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...
competition for the player of an orchestral string instrument. Charmian Gadd is the patron of the competition.
A documentary film about Goldner's story is being prepared by the Academy Award-winning Australian producer and writer Suzanne Baker. It has the working title "Beethoven and the Zipper".
Goldner String Quartet
The Goldner String Quartet was formed in honour of Richard Goldner in 1995, and consists of Dene OldingDene Olding
Dene Olding is an Australian violinist. He has had a distinguished career as a soloist in Australia, New Zealand and the United States, performing over forty concertos in recent years, including many world premieres...
and Dimity Hall (violins), Irina Morozova (viola; an ex-pupil of Goldner) and Julian Smiles (cello).