Ernst Krenek's legacy
From the lectures and manuscripts of a 20th century composer
Although primarily known as a composer, Ernst Krenek's (1900-1991) oeuvre goes far beyond the creative shaping of tones and sounds. As an “intellectual and composer”, as Igor Stravinsky called him, Ernst Krenek was predestined not only to compose music, but also to reflect on it theoretically. These skills made him a valued teacher and lecturer.
Teaching activities from 1936
From 1936, Ernst Krenek lectured on music relatively continuously. After emigrating to the USA, he began teaching at various universities in 1939. Even after the end of his academic positions, Ernst Krenek continued to give regular lectures and talks on music theory and music history at American and European universities and at summer courses, for example at Black Mountain College and the Darmstadt Summer Courses.
Many of his lectures were aimed at a specialized audience consisting of aspiring composers, music critics or performers. Ernst Krenek's contributions to various radio stations were aimed at a broader audience of music lovers, often containing not only an analytical examination of his own and other people's works but also autobiographical memories, for example of his experiences with National Socialism, emigration and exile.
Dealing with the history of music
The lecture manuscripts and typescripts made available online for the first time as part of this project include various types of lectures, from didactic material to radio broadcasts and greetings at events.
In these lectures, Ernst Krenek deals with music history from the 16th century to composing with computers in his own time. As an emigrated composer who sought to reconnect with European musical life after the Second World War, he also understood how to develop different perspectives on American and European musical life and their different commercial strategies.
The lectures also document Ernst Krenek's own extremely dynamic compositional development from the 1940s to the 1970s.
Composer of the 20th century
In journalism, the phrase “one-man-history-of-20th-century-music” was repeatedly used to describe him. Ernst Krenek's compositional development was shaped along the central compositional techniques of the 20th century.
Beginning with a late-romantic musical language influenced by his teacher at the Vienna Academy of Music (now the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna), Ernst Krenek soon developed atonal-expressionist, then neoclassical and neoromantic modes of expression in the 1920s and did not ignore the popular forms of light music of the time, culminating in the sensational success of his opera “Jonny spielt auf”. From 1930 onwards, he turned to the twelve-tone technique, from which he moved on to serial, aleatoric and electronic methods after the Second World War.
What is serial and aleatoric music?
Ernst Krenek utilised these different approaches as well as the emerging electronic technology to shape his music in an entirely new way and to expand traditional concepts of sound.
Underestimated estate
The material made available comes from Ernst Krenek's estate and has so far hardly been noticed outside of a very specialized research audience.