Composers | Music Restored

Ernst Krenek

1900-1991

Ernst Krenek (1900-1991) was one of the most prolific musical figures of his time. Born with the century in 1900, he lived until 1991 and was active as a composer […]

Ernst Toch

1887–1964

Across his final years, in Southern California in the early 1960s, Ernst Toch used to characterize himself as “the world’s most forgotten composer,” and even though the joke betrayed a […]

Franz Schreker

23 March 1878–21 March 1934

Franz Schreker (23 March 1878–21 March 1934) was an Austrian composer, conductor, teacher and administrator. In his lifetime he went from being hailed as the future of German opera to […]

Alexander Zemlinsky

October 14, 1871 – March 15, 1942

Alexander Zemlinsky (October 14, 1871 – March 15, 1942) was one of the most powerful musical voices of his time. A remarkably influential musician, he had connections with both the […]

Eric Zeisl

1905-1959

Eric Zeisl (1905-1959) was a composer whose career unfolded along a well-trodden path of exile. In the early 1930’s he was a promising young Viennese composer just starting to make […]

Jaromír Weinberger (1896-1967) was the composer of one of the most successful operas between the wars, the comedy Švanda Dudák (Schwanda the Bagpiper). While unable to duplicate that level of success in […]

Mieczyslaw Weinberg

Mieczysław Weinberg’s flight from Nazi-occupied Europe was rather different from the customary exile to the West – to England or the United States. His move to the Soviet Union meant […]

Kurt Weill

Despite the relative brevity of his life, composer Kurt Weill forged a far-reaching career that challenged the purity of preexisting styles. As a famous German Jew, he fled Nazi Germany, […]

Viktor Ullmann

1898-1944

Viktor Ullmann (1898–1944) was born on 1 January 1898 in the garrison town of Teschen in Silesia, in what belonged to the Austro–Hungarian Empire and is now a part of […]

Marcel Tyberg

1893–1944

Marcel Tyberg (1893–1944) was an accomplished composer, conductor and pianist. Notable conductors such as Rafael Kubelik and Rodolfo Lipizer premiered his pieces at venues in Prague and Italy. His eclectic […]

Erwin Schulhoff

1894-1942

Erwin Schulhoff (1894-1942) was a prolific and multi-faceted creative figure whose work embraced a full panoply of styles and influences. Like Kafka and Mahler, a German Jew in a Czech […]

Franz Reizenstein

June 7, 1911 – October 15, 1968

When Franz Theodor Reizenstein (June 7, 1911 – October 15, 1968) left Berlin in 1934, England presented an obvious sanctuary. His uncle Bruno, who had been injured in the First […]

Bohuslav Martinu

1890–1959

Despite the fact he spent his last two decades in exile, Bohuslav Martinů (1890–1959) was among the most prolific composers of the twentieth century. Born in a church tower above […]

Walter Braunfels

b Frankfurt, 19 Dec 1882; d Cologne, 19 March 1954

Braunfels, Walter (b Frankfurt, 19 Dec 1882; d Cologne, 19 March 1954) was an important composer in Germany in the 1920’s and 30’s until his music was banned as “degenerate” […]

Hans Krasa

1899-1944

Hans Krása (1899–1944) played an active role in Prague’s multi–ethnic musical life between the wars. During WWII, Krása was deported to the Terezín concentration camp, where a remarkable musical community […]

Erich Wolfgang Korngold

1897-1957

Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957) was a child prodigy, a remarkable interwar talent in the musical life of German-speaking Europe, and in his later years, one of the most famous figures […]

Gideon Klein

1919-1945

Gideon Klein (1919-1945) was a pianist, composer, writer and educator. In his short life he combined a dizzying array of skills, experiences, musical styles and activity. He arranged Hebrew folk […]

Vitezslava Kapralova

1915-40

When she died in exile in France at the age of twenty–five, Vítĕzslava Kaprálová (1915–40) was on the threshold of a successful international career as a composer and conductor. During […]

Jaroslav Jezek

1906-1942

Jaroslav Ježek [1906-1942] was an important composer, performer and conductor during the inter-war period in Czechoslovakia. As leader of the Ježek Big Band and composer for the Liberated Theater, his […]

Karl Amadeus Hartmann

Karl Amadeus Hartmann, composer and organizer of Munich’s postwar contemporary music series Musica Viva, has received much attention in association with notions of inner emigration. Emerging in the postwar correspondence […]

Pavel Haas

Pavel Haas was born into a wealthy and prominent Jewish family in the Moravian capital of Brno. This was a city with a rich cultural life, and it was during […]

Berthold Goldschmidt

1903-1996

Berthold Goldschmidt (1903-1996) could well be a poster boy for one kind of composer in exile. A rising superstar in Germany, his move to England certainly ensured his survival and […]

Hans Gal

1890-1987

Hans Gál (1890-1987) was a prolific composer, teacher and scholar throughout his long life. At the height of his powers and his popularity, he was forced to leave Germany and […]

Veniamin Fleishman

1913-1941

Veniamin Fleishman [Вениамин Иосифович Флейшман] (1913-1941) was a Russian composer and a student of Dmitri Shostakovich. After Fleishman was killed during the Siege of Leningrad, Shostakovich completed his opera, Rothschild’s […]

Hanns Eisler

1898-1962

The reputation of Hanns Eisler (1898-1962) in his native Germany is remarkably different from his reputation in the United States, where he lived from 1937 until 1948. After his American […]