Ernst Toch (German:[ˈtɔχ]; 7 December 1887 – 1 October 1964) was an Austrian composer of classical music and film scores. He sought throughout his life to introduce new approaches to music.
Austrian composer (1887–1964)
Ernst Toch in 1919
Biography
Toch was born in Leopoldstadt, Vienna, into the family of a humble Jewish leather dealer[1] when the city was at its 19th-century cultural zenith. He studied philosophy at the University of Vienna, medicine at Heidelberg and music at the Hoch Conservatory (1909–1913) in Frankfurt.[2] His main instrument was the piano, and he was a pianist of considerable stature, performing to acclaim throughout much of western Europe. Much of his writing was intended for the piano.
Toch continued to grow as an artist and composer throughout his adult life, and in America came to influence whole new generations of composers. His first compositions date from c. 1900 and were pastiches in the style of Mozart (quartets, 1905 album verses for piano). His first quartet was performed in Leipzig in 1908, and his sixth (Opus 12, 1905) in the year 1909. In 1909, his Chamber Symphony in F major (written 1906) won the Frankfurt/Main Mozart prize. From this time onwards, Toch dedicated himself to being a full-time composer. He won the Mendelssohn prize for composition in 1910. In 1913, he was appointed lecturer of both piano and composition at the College of Music in Mannheim. After winning a further five major prizes for his works, he served four years in the army on the Italian Front during World War I. In 1916, he married Lilly Zwack, the daughter of a banker.
After World War I, he returned to Mannheim to compose, developing a new style of polyphony. He received his Ph.D. degree from Heidelberg University in 1921. He then taught on the faculty of the Mannheim Conservatory where one of his pupils was Hugo Chaim Adler.
Following Hitler's seizure of power in 1933, Toch went into exile, first to Paris and then London, where he wrote film scores. In 1935, he accepted an invitation from the New School for Social Research to go to New York City. He could, however, only secure his living in California by composing film music for Hollywood. Unlike his colleague Erich Wolfgang Korngold, however, Toch never got much attention in the industry and was rarely top-billed, although his score for Peter Ibbetson was nominated for an Academy Award in 1936. His score for the chase scene in Shirley Temple's 1937 Heidi perhaps remains his best-known piece of film music.
During his residence in California, he was a professor at the University of Southern California, where he taught both music and philosophy. He was also a guest lecturer at Harvard University. He wrote a book on music theory, The Shaping Forces in Music (1948). From 1950 on, he composed seven symphonies, the third of which (Opus 75, 1954) received the Pulitzer Prize three years later.
In 1958, he received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (Grand Merit Cross).
His works often exhibit a humorous aspect (Bunte Suite (1929)). In 1930 he invented "Gesprochene Musik," the idiom of the "spoken chorus". His most performed work is the Geographical Fugue or Fuge aus der Geographie, which he himself regarded as an unimportant diversion. He wrote music for films, symphonies, chamber music, chamber operas. He also wrote books dealing with musical theory: Melodielehre (1923) and The Shaping Forces in Music (1948).
Toch was considered one of the great avant-garde composers in the pre-Nazi era. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1956 for his Third Symphony (premiered by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra on December 2, 1955). For his notable students, See: List of music students by teacher: T to Z#Ernst Toch.
Works
Symphonies
Symphony No. 1, Op. 72 (1950) (pub. 1951)
Symphony No. 2, Op. 73 (1951) (pub. 1953)
Symphony No. 3, Op. 75 (1955) (pub. 1957)
Symphony No. 4, for orchestra and speaker, Op. 80 (1957) (pub. 1960)
Tanz-und-Spielstücke (Pieces for Dancing and Playing), Op. 40 (c. 1926) (pub. 1927)
Sonata for Piano, Op. 47 (1928) (pub. 1928)
Kleinstadtbilder (Echoes From a Small Town), 14 Moderately Easy Piano Pieces, Op. 49 (1929) (pub. 1929)
5 × 10 Etudes, Op. 55–59 (1931) (pub. 1931)
Profiles, Op. 68 (1946) (pub. 1948)
Ideas, Op. 69 (1946) (pub. 1947)
Diversions, Op. 78a (1956) (pub. 1958)
Sonatinetta, Op. 78b (1956) (pub. 1958)
(Untitled canon) (1959) (Unpublished)
Three Little Dances, Op. 85 (1961) (pub. 1962)
Reflections, Op. 86 (1962) (pub. 1962)
Sonata for Piano Four-Hands, Op. 87 (1962) (pub. 1963)
Toch's piano music has been recorded by Austrian pianist Anna Magdalena Kokits.[3]
Other solo instrumental works
Three Original Pieces for the Electric Welte-Mignon Piano (1926) (Unpublished)
Studie, for mechanical organ (1927) (Unpublished)
Two Études for Violoncello Solo (1930) (pub. 1931)
Operas
Die Prinzessin auf der Erbse [The Princess and the Pea], Op. 43 (1927) (pub. 1927) Musical fairy tale in one act; text after H. C. Andersen by Benno Elkan; English and German versions exist
Egon und Emilie [Edgar and Emily], Op. 46 (c. 1928) (pub. 1938) Chamber opera in one act; "Not a family drama" (Kein Familiendrama); text by Christian Morgenstern; English and German versions exist
Der Fächer [The Fan], Op. 51 (1929 or 1930) (pub. 1930) Opera-capriccio in three acts; text by Ferdinand Lion. Der Fächer was rediscovered and produced for the first time since the 1930s by the Bielefeld Opera conducted by Geoffrey Moull in 1995.[4]
Scheherazade: The Last Tale [Das letzte Märchen], Op. 88 (1962) (pub. 1965) Opera in one act; text by Melchior Lengyel, English translation by Cornel Lengyel[5]
Choral
An mein Vaterland (To My Fatherland), Op. 23 (1913) (Unpublished) for large orchestra, organ, solo soprano, mixed chorus & boys’ chorus
Gesprochene Musik (Speaking Music), (1930). Only No. 1 of 3 published:
Geographical Fugue, for speaking chorus (1930) (pub. 1950) No. 1 of 3 from Gesprochene Musik
Der Tierkreis (The Zodiac), for women's chorus (1930) (Nos. 1 and 2 pub. 1930; No. 3 unpublished)
Das Wasser (The Water), Cantata after a text by A. Döblin, Op. 53 (1930) (pub. 1930) for tenor, baritone, narrator, chorus, flute, trumpet, percussion & strings
Cantata of the Bitter Herbs, Op. 65 (1938) (pub.?) for solo soprano, alto, tenor & baritone, narrator, chorus & orchestra
Ich wollt, ich wär ein fisch (I wish I were a fish), for high voice & piano (1920) (Unpublished)
Die Chinesische Flöte (The Chinese Flute), Op. 29 (1922) (pub. 1923) for soprano, 2 flutes, clarinet, bass clarinet, percussion, celesta & strings. Exists in German and English versions
Nine Songs for Soprano and Piano, Op. 41 (1926) (pub. 1928). Exists in German and English versions
Music for Orchestra and Baritone, Op. 60 (1931) (pub. 1932)
Chansons sans paroles, for voice and piano (1940) (Unpublished)
Poems to Martha, for medium voice & string quartet (1942) (pub. 1943)
There Is a Season for Everything, for mezzo-soprano, flute, clarinet, violin & cello (c. 1953) (pub. 1953)
Vanity of Vanities, for soprano, tenor, flute, clarinet, violin, viola & cello (1954) (pub.?)
Lange schon haben meine Freunde versucht (My friends have long tried), for soprano & baritone (1958) (Unpublished)
Incidental music
Der Kinder Neujahrstraum (The Children’s New Year’s Dream) (stage play), Op. 19, for solo soprano, alto, tenor & baritone, chorus & orchestra (1910)
Im fernen Osten (In the Far East) (radio play), for flute, 2 trumpets in C, mandolin, guitar, 2 violins, viola, cello, percussion, chorus & male solo voice (1931)
Die Heilige von U.S.A. (The Saint of the U.S.A.) (stage play), for wind ensemble, percussion, piano, harmonium, alto solo & chorus (1931)
König Ödipus (Oedipus Rex) (radio play), for 2 clarinets, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, percussion & strings (1931)
Theater in Bielefeld 1975–1998, Kerber Verlag, Bielefeld, Redaktion Heidi Wiese, Heiner Bruns, Alexander Gruber, Fritz Stockmeier 1998, ISBN3-933040-03-5
Toch, Ernst: "The Shaping Forces in Music", pg. 240–257, Dover Publications, Inc., 1977, Library of Congress: 76-9950, Checklist of Compositions by Lawrence Weschler
Jung, Hermann, ed. (2007). Spurensicherung: Der Komponist Ernst Toch (1887–1964) — Mannheimer Emigrantenschicksale. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. ISBN978-3-631-57400-3.
Weschler, Lawrence (1974). Ernst Toch, 1887–1964: A Biographical Essay Ten Years After His Passing. UCLA, Los Angeles.
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