Karl Amadeus Hartmann
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Karl Amadeus Hartmann | |
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Munich Academy | |
Occupation | Classical composer |
Karl Amadeus Hartmann (2 August 1905 – 5 December 1963) was a German composer.[1] Sometimes described as the greatest German symphonist of the 20th century,[2] he is now largely overlooked, particularly in English-speaking countries.
Life
Born in Munich, the son of Friedrich Richard Hartmann, and the youngest of four brothers of whom the elder three became painters, Hartmann was himself torn, early in his career, between music and the visual arts. He was much affected in his early political development by the events of the unsuccessful Workers’ Revolution in Bavaria that followed the collapse of the German empire at the end of World War I (see Bavarian Soviet Republic). He remained an idealistic socialist for the rest of his life.
At the
During World War II, though already an experienced composer, Hartmann submitted to a course of private tuition in Vienna by Schoenberg’s pupil Anton Webern (with whom he often disagreed on a personal and political level). Although stylistically their music had little in common, he clearly felt that he needed, and benefited from, Webern's acute perfectionism.
After the fall of
He was accorded numerous honours after the war, including the Musikpreis of the city of Munich in March 1949. This was followed by the Kunstpreis of the Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste (1950), the Arnold Schönberg Medal of the IGNM (1954), the Große Kunstpreis of the Land
Hartmann continued to base his activities in Munich for the remainder of his life, and his administrative duties came to absorb much of his time and energy. This reduced his time for composition, and his last years were dogged by serious illness. In 1963, he died of stomach cancer at the age of 58, leaving his last work – an extended symphonic Gesangsszene for voice and orchestra on words from Jean Giraudoux’s apocalyptic drama Sodom and Gomorrah – unfinished.
Output and style
Hartmann completed a number of works, most notably eight symphonies. The first of these, and perhaps emblematic of the difficult genesis of many of his works, is Symphony No. 1, Essay for a Requiem (Versuch eines Requiems). It began in 1936 as a
Hartmann attempted a synthesis of many different idioms, including
Reputation and legacy
Significantly, no major West German conductor[
Hans Werner Henze said of Hartmann's music:
Symphonic architecture was essential for him... as a suitable medium for reflecting the world as he experienced and understood it – as an agonizingly dramatic battle, as contradiction and conflict – in order to be able to achieve self-realization in its dialectic and to portray himself as a man among men, a man of this world, and not out of this world.[6]
The English composer John McCabe wrote his Variations on a Theme of Karl Amadeus Hartmann (1964) in tribute. It uses the opening of Hartmann's Fourth Symphony as its theme. Henze made a version of Hartmann's Piano Sonata No. 2 for full orchestra.
List of works
Operas
- Wachsfigurenkabinett, five short operas (1929–30; three not completed), libretti by Erich Bormann
- Das Leben und Sterben des heiligen Teufels
- Der Mann, der vom Tode auferstand (unfinished; completed by Günter Bialas and Hans Werner Henze)
- Chaplin-Ford-Trott, 'scenic jazz cantata' (unfinished; completed by Wilfried Hiller)
- Fürwahr? (unfinished; completed by Henze)
- Die Witwe von Ephesus
- Des Simplicius Simplicissimus Jugend (1934–35; revised 1956–57 as Simplicius Simplicissimus), libretto by Hermann Scherchen, Wolfgang Petzer and Hartmann after Jakob von Grimmelhausen
Symphonic works
(i) Up to 1945 – mostly later suppressed
- Miserae, Symphonic Poem (1933–4)
- Symphony L'Oeuvre (1937–38; material re-used in Symphony No. 6)
- Symphonic Concerto for string orchestra and soprano (1938; later partly used in Symphony No. 4)
- Sinfonia Tragica (1940, rev. 1943; first movement re-used in Symphony No. 3)
- Symphoniae Drammaticae (1941–43), consisting of:
- Overture China kampft (1942, rev. 1962 as Symphonische Ouvertüre)
- Symphonische Hymnen (1941–43)
- Symphonic Suite Vita Nova for reciter and orchestra (1941–42, unfinished)
- Adagio for large orchestra (1940–44, revised as Symphony No. 2)
- Symphony Klagegesang (1944; portions re-used in Symphony No. 3)
(ii) After 1945
- Symphony No. 1, Versuch eines Requiems for alto and orchestra (1955) – revised version of Symphonisches Fragment (on texts by Walt Whitman)
- Symphony No. 2 (1946) – revised version of Adagio
- Symphony No. 3 (1948–49) – adapted from portions of Symphony Klagegesang and Sinfonia Tragica
- Symphony No. 4 for string orchestra (1947–48) – adapted from Symphonic Concerto for strings
- Symphony No. 5, Symphonie concertante (1950) – adapted from Concerto for wind and double basses
- Symphony No. 6 (1951–53) – adapted from Symphony L'Oeuvre
- Symphony No. 7 (1957–58)
- Symphony No. 8 (1960–62)
Concertos
- Lied for trumpet and wind instruments (1932)
- Concerto for wind instruments and solo trumpet (1933); recomposed as Concerto for wind instruments and double basses (1948–9), whence Symphony No.5
- Cello Concerto (1933, lost, probably unfinished)
- Symphonie-Divertissement for bassoon, tenor trombone, double bass and chamber orchestra (c. 1934, unfinished)
- Kammerkonzert for clarinet, string quartet and string orchestra (1930–35)
- Concerto funebre for violin and string orchestra (1939, rev. 1959) (originally entitled Musik der Trauer)
- Concerto for piano, wind instruments and percussion (1953)
- Concerto for viola, piano, wind instruments and percussion (1954–6)
Vocal works
- Cantata (1929) for 6-part a cappella choir on texts by Johannes R. Becher and Karl Marx
- Profane Messe (1929) for a cappella chorus on a text by Max See
- Kantate for soprano and orchestra on texts by Walt Whitman (1936); later retitled Lamento and in 1938 revised as Symphonisches Fragment, whence Symphony No.1
- Friede Anno '48 (1936–37) for soprano solo, mixed chorus and piano; revised 1955 as Lamento for soprano and piano
- Gesangsszene (1962–63) for baritone and orchestra on a text from Sodom and Gomorrah by Jean Giraudoux
Chamber and instrumental
- 2 Kleine Suiten for piano (c. 1924–6)
- 2 Sonatas for unaccompanied violin (1927)
- 2 Suites for Unaccompanied violin (1927)
- Jazz Toccata and Fugue for piano (1927–8)
- Tanzsuite for clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet and trombone (1931)
- Kleines Konzert for string quartet and percussion (1932)
- Burleske Musik for wind instruments, percussion and piano (1931)
- Sonatina for piano (1931)
- Toccata variata for wind instruments, piano and percussion (1931–2)
- Piano Sonata No.1 (1932)
- String Quartet No.1, Carillon (1933)
- Piano Sonata No.2, 27.IV.45 (1945)
- String Quartet No.2 (1945–6)
References
- ^ "Hartmann Telarc - Classics Today".
- ^ "Karl Amadeus Hartmann - One Good German".
- ^ "Karl Amadeus Hartmann". Politics & Propaganda: Karl Amadeus Hartmann. Music and the Holocaust. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
- ^ "Karl Amadeus Hartmann - One Good German".
- ^ "Ferdinand Leitner Interview with Bruce Duffie . . . . ."
- ^ Hartmann discography – PDF from Schott Music