Sengstschmid, Steinbauer, Hauer

[allison]

These composers are possibly out of place on this forum, nonetheless, here are a few interesting pages on some mid-20th century Austrian composers, with several mp3s available to listen (mostly chamber or choral or organ). Also some information on the several schools of "twelve-tone" music. I particularly enjoyed the orchestral works by Hauer. For some reason the homepage of the site www.musiker.at doesn't have functional links, but there is an intriguing one "Komponisten" that I would like to check. I will try to email and see what the problem is, and if I get a meaningful response, will share it.


Information on Johann Sengstschmid http://www.musiker.at/sengstschmidjohann/

Information on Othmar Steinbauer: http://www.musiker.at/steinbauerothmar/

Information on Joseph Matthias Hauer:http://www.burgmueller.com/tondichterhauer.html

[Patrick Murtha]

I like that Hauer Orchestersuite Nr. 7, which probably dates from around 1925. Hauer shows up in all the history books as Schoenberg's "rival" in the development of the twelve-tone method.

[eschiss1]

Probably an oversimplification of the case to the extent it made sense (since their approaches differed so widely and they started on them independently.)

[Patrick Murtha]

Oh, absolutely, that's why I put scare quotes around the word rival.

This web-page is interesting, particularly in its discussion of how Hauer rejected the concept of self-expression in composition - a rather more radical idea than the twelve-tone system itself, which as Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern practiced it is perfectly compatible with the Romantic conception of the composer as heroically self-expressive. I wonder whether Sengstschmid and Steinbauer, who are in the line of Hauer's pedagogy, shared this attitude of his?

http://www.ibiblio.org/johncovach/hauerbio.htm

Schoenberg held Hauer's ideas in high regard in the early and mid 1920s, and Hauer's music--including op. 19--was performed in the Verein für musikalische Privataufführungen.  The two composers for a time discussed the idea of jointly authoring a book, and even of opening a school for twelve-tone composition.  Hauer's new ideas about the role of the composer, however, differed markedly from those of Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern, who held to the traditional role of the composer as expressive artist.  Hauer continued to argue that the composer's role was to suppress any will to personal expression in music and to work only at expressing the spiritual truth inherent in the twelve notes themselves; he eventually went so far as to reject the title of composer, thinking of himself instead as an "interpreter of the twelve tones."

Hauer's Wikipedia page interestingly mentions that he and Theodor Adorno did not get along, although it is not clear from the reference whether the disagreement was more theoretical or personal.