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Viktor Ullmann

Viktor Ullmann

Pays d'origine: République tchèque
Date d'anniversaire: 1 janvier 1898
Date de décès: 18 octobre 1944

À venir

Konzert
Chef d'orchestre: Aleksander Marković
Orchestre: Štátna filharmónia Košice
11 avril 2024 | Košice (République tchèque) , Dom umenia
Der Kaiser von Atlantis oder Die Tod-Verweigerung
Chef d'orchestre: N.N.
Orchestre: Studierende der Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf
18 avril 2024 | Düsseldorf (Allemagne) , Robert Schumann Hochschule, Partikasaal — Première soirée

À propos de Viktor Ullmann

I have written quite a lot of new music in Theresienstadt: it must be underlined … that we do not merely sit on the banks of the waters of Babylon, and that our endeavour with respect for arts was commensurate with our will to live. (Viktor Ullmann)

Viktor Ullmann was born in Teschen (Cieszyn) on 1 January 1898. He moved with his mother to Vienna in 1909 where he received his first lessons in music theory with Josef Polnauer in 1914. In 1916, he was called up to perform his military service. After the end of the war, he initially enrolled to study law at the University of Vienna, but also participated in Arnold Schoenberg’s composition seminars in Mödling from October 1918. He additionally received further piano tuition from Eduard Steuermann. Following Schoenberg’s recommendation, he was admitted into the foundation committee of the "Verein für musikalische Privataufführungen” [Society for Private Musical Performance] on 6 December 1918, but relocated to Prague a year later. Following further tuition in composition with Heinrich Jalowetz, he took over Anton Webern’s position as choir director and répétiteur at the New German Theatre in 1920 where, two years later, he was promoted to the position of Kapellmeister by Alexander von Zemlinsky. In 1927, Ullmann became head of opera for one season in Aussig and subsequently undertook an engagement as Kapellmeister and composer of incidental music from 1929 to 1931 at the Schauspielhaus in Zurich. Influenced by Rudolf Steiner’s anthroposophy, Ullmann later managed an anthroposophic bookshop for two years in Stuttgart (1931/32) before returning to Prague as a freelance musician, teacher, composer and journalist. He attended Alois Hába’s courses in quartertone composition between 1935 and 1937. Following the establishment of the “German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia” in 1939, all public performances of composers of Jewish origin were prohibited. Ullmann was incarcerated in the concentration camp Theresienstadt on 8 September 1942 where he undertook the organisation of the so-called "Freizeitgestaltung" [leisure time administration] together with Hans Krása, Gideon Klein and Rafael Schächter. On 16 October 1944, Ullmann was deported to Auschwitz where he was killed only a few days later.

The rediscovery of Ullmann’s works has a direct connection with the success story of the Kaiser von Atlantis. Ullmann composed this one-act opera in 1943/44 against the background of his impressions of the Theresienstadt ghetto. The libretto was written by one of his fellow inmates Peter Kien: as a result of war and mass slaughter, death refuses to carry out its services. The dictator who has thereby lost his greatest weapon – deterrence – loses all his powers. Death only regains its real purpose at the end and becomes the comforter of humans. Unlike the melodrama Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornet Christoph Rilke for narrator and piano or orchestra based on a text by Rilke (1944), the opera was not performed in Theresienstadt and the posthumous première did not take place until 1975 in Amsterdam.

Ullmann did however achieve consummate success during his lifetime with his Schoenberg Variations: the Variationen und Doppelfuge über ein Thema von Arnold Schönberg have survived in two versions for piano (1929 and 1933/34) in addition to versions for string quartet (1939) and orchestra (1934) and among Ullmann’s entire output display the greatest affinity to the Second Viennese School. A large proportion of Ullmann’s compositions from the 1920s and 1930s must be considered as having been lost, but surviving works include the Concerto for piano and orchestra (1939) and the seven Piano Sonatas, of which Nos. 5 and 7 also exist as a reconstructed symphony. The broad spectrum of Ullmann’s compositional development can be observed in the Lieder for voice and piano: from Wendla im Garten based on Wedekind’s “Frühlings Erwachen” (1918/1943) and the Liederbuch des Hafis based on Bethge (1940) to the Hölderlin Lieder composed in Theresienstadt, Late Romantic influences can be discerned alongside echoes of Zemlinsky’s tonal language and the Neue Sachlichkeit [New Objectivity] of Kurt Weill.

Ullmann was awarded the Hertzka Prize for his compositions on two occasions: 1934 for the orchestral version of the Schoenberg Variations and 1936 for the opera Der Sturz des Antichrist composed a year previously on a libretto by Albert Steffens.

Liste d'œuvres

Chronologie

1898
Born in Teschen (Cesky Tesin, North Moravia) on 1 January
1909
Spent his childhood and school years in Teschen
Moved with his mother to Vienna
1914
First lessons of musical theory with Dr. Josef Polnauer
1916
Passed his grammar school examinations in Vienna, followed by two years'military service
1918

Piano lessons with Eduard Steuermann
Registered as law student at the University of Vienna
At the end of the year Ullmann joined Arnold Schoenberg's seminar on composition
On 6 December, at the suggestion of Schoenberg, he became a member of the foundation committee of the "Society for Private Musical Performances"

1919
In May Ullmann married for the first time and moved with this wife Martha to Vienna
1920
Active as a choir director and répétiteur, later also as a conductor at the New German Theatre under the direction of Alexander von Zemlinsky
The large number of compositions created during this period have to be regarded as lost, with the exception of a later version of "Variationen, Phantasie und Doppelfuge über ein kleines Klavierstück von Arnold Schönberg"
1927
In autumn Ullmann took over the direction of the Aussig Opera for one season
1928
Return to Prague
1929
Worked as a conductor and composer of incidental music at the Zurich Schauspielhaus
1931
First encounter with and intensive involvement in Rudolf Steiner's anthroposophic movement; Ullmann gave up any musical activities, running an anthroposophic book shop in Stuttgart together with his second wife Anna whom he hab married in 1931
After the Nazis had seized power, he fled to Prague with his wife and his one-year old son Max; there he worked as a free-lance musician as from mid 1933
Worked in Leo Kestenberg's "International Society for Music Education"
1934
Hertzka-Price for "Variationen, Phantasie und Doppelfuge über ein kleines Klavierstück von Arnold Schönberg" (version for orchestra)
1935
Attended Alois Hába's courses in quarter-tone composition
1936
Hertzka-Price for "Der Sturz des Antichrist"
Negotiations on planned performances (Vienna 1935 and Prague 1937) failed
1939
The establishment of the "Reich Protectorate of Bohemian-Moravia" deprived Ullmann of any chance of performing his works
1941
Ullmann married for the third time
1942
Ullmann gave the prints of his compositions published by himself to his friend Alexander Waulin who had made the piano reduction of his opera "Der Sturz des Antichrist"
On 8 September Ullmann, his third wife Elisabeth (together with a daughter from her first marriage) and his first wife Martha were deported to the concentration camp at Theresienstadt
At Theresienstadt Ullmann continued to work intensively as a composer, interpreter and reviewer. He was director of the Studio for New Music which had a great influence on the musical life at Theresienstadt. Among the numerous works created there, most of which are lost, were the opera "Der Kaiser von Atlantis" and the "String Quartet No.3"
1944
On 16 October Ullmann and his third wife Elisabeth were taken to Ausschwitz where he was killed in the gas chamber probably two days later Before his death Ullmann gave the Theresienstadt manuscripts to his friend Emil Utitz, asking him to forward them to Hans Günther Adler – in case both of them survived

Produits

représentations

Par ordre décroissant
  • Konzert
    Chef d'orchestre: Aleksander Marković
    Orchestre: Štátna filharmónia Košice
    11 avril 2024 | Košice (République tchèque) , Dom umenia
  • Der Kaiser von Atlantis oder Die Tod-Verweigerung
    Chef d'orchestre: N.N.
    Orchestre: Studierende der Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf
    18 avril 2024 | Düsseldorf (Allemagne) , Robert Schumann Hochschule, Partikasaal — Première soirée
  • Der Kaiser von Atlantis oder Die Tod-Verweigerung
    Chef d'orchestre: N.N.
    Orchestre: Studierende der Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf
    20 avril 2024 | Düsseldorf (Allemagne) , Robert Schumann Hochschule, Partikasaal
  • Der Kaiser von Atlantis oder Die Tod-Verweigerung
    Chef d'orchestre: N.N.
    Orchestre: Studierende der Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf
    21 avril 2024 | Düsseldorf (Allemagne) , Robert Schumann Hochschule, Partikasaal
  • Der Kaiser von Atlantis oder Die Tod-Verweigerung
    Chef d'orchestre: N.N.
    Orchestre: Studierende der Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf
    23 avril 2024 | Düsseldorf (Allemagne) , Robert Schumann Hochschule, Partikasaal
  • Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke
    Chef d'orchestre: N.N.
    Orchestre: Orchester der Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf
    25 avril 2024 | Düsseldorf (Allemagne) , Robert Schumann Hochschule, Partikasaal
  • Der Kaiser von Atlantis oder Die Tod-Verweigerung
    Chef d'orchestre: N.N.
    Orchestre: Studierende der Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf
    26 avril 2024 | Düsseldorf (Allemagne) , Robert Schumann Hochschule, Partikasaal
  • Der Kaiser von Atlantis oder Die Tod-Verweigerung
    Chef d'orchestre: N.N.
    Orchestre: Studierende der Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf
    27 avril 2024 | Düsseldorf (Allemagne) , Robert Schumann Hochschule, Partikasaal
  • Don Quixote tanzt Fandango
    Chef d'orchestre: Daniele Squeo
    Orchestre: Pfalzphilharmonie Kaiserslautern
    3 mai 2024 | Kaiserslautern (Allemagne) , Fruchthalle
  • Don Quixote tanzt Fandango
    Chef d'orchestre: Mihkel Kütson
    Orchestre: Niederrheinische Sinfoniker
    14 mai 2024 | Krefeld (Allemagne) , Seidenweberhaus
  • Don Quixote tanzt Fandango
    Chef d'orchestre: Mihkel Kütson
    Orchestre: Niederrheinische Sinfoniker
    15 mai 2024 | Mönchengladbach (Allemagne) , Theater, Konzertsaal
  • Don Quixote tanzt Fandango
    Chef d'orchestre: Mihkel Kütson
    Orchestre: Niederrheinische Sinfoniker
    16 mai 2024 | Mönchengladbach (Allemagne) , Kaiser-Friederich-Halle
  • Don Quixote tanzt Fandango
    Chef d'orchestre: Mihkel Kütson
    Orchestre: Niederrheinische Sinfoniker
    17 mai 2024 | Krefeld (Allemagne) , Seidenweberhaus
  • Don Quixote tanzt Fandango
    Chef d'orchestre: Lawrence Foster
    Orchestre: Bruckner Orchester Linz
    20 juin 2024 | Linz (L'Autriche) , Brucknerhaus
  • String quartet No. 3
    4 mai 2025 | München (Allemagne) , Münchner Künstlerhaus, Festsaal
  • Par ordre décroissant