The Violin Music of East Germany Part IV: Hanns Eisler.

This month the spotlight is on Hanns Eisler, arguably the most famous East German composer. Eisler had an equally fraught and illustrious career. No other composer from my project seems to have combined politics and music so completely, which caused both trials and tribulations in his musical career. Musicologist David Blake notes that ‘no composer suffered more from the post-1945 cultural cold war,’ than Eisler. However, in recent years his work has been celebrated.

He is best known for composing the national anthem of East Germany, for his long artistic association with Bertolt Brecht, his film scores, and the book he co-wrote with Adorno. Plus, The Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" is named after him. Not bad. 

His violin music was the easiest to find, although admittedly, he didn't write much for violins and strings. Now that I own it, I’ve quickly learned that it is not easy to play. His music is difficult and challenging and sits awkwardly on the violin. I blame his teacher, Schoenberg, but no doubt there is more to it. 

Read on to learn more.

About Eisler

Eisler was born in Leipzig, July 6, 1898 (happy belated birthday!), but grew up in Vienna, where his father, an Austrian Jew, worked as an editor and translator. Both of his parents were amateur musicians, and from an early age, Eisler immersed himself in music. 

During WWI, He served as a soldier on the front-lines in the Austro-Hungarian army and was wounded several times during combat. After his discharge from the military in 1918, Eisler studied composition with Karl Weigl at the New Vienna Conservatory and supported himself with proofreading work at the Universal Editions publishing house. During his first few months as a civilian, Eisler composed prolifically. From 1919-1923 He was a pupil of Arnold Schoenberg and was the first of Schoenberg's disciples to compose in the twelve-tone or serial technique. His music from the early 1920s very much shows the influence of his mentor. 

In 1925 Eisler accepted a teaching position at the Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory in Berlin and in 1926 he applied for membership in the German Communist Party but was denied membership mostly because he failed to pay his dues on time. In 1926 he started writing articles on music for the Communist periodical Die Rote Fahne. He also created anthems, marching songs, and pieces for unaccompanied men's chorus that were not just overtly supportive of the proletariat in their texts but also self-consciously 'accessible' in their musical content. (all of this was recorded in FBI files – more on that later).

A disagreement in musical and political values led to a break with his esteemed teacher, Schoenberg, who moved to Berlin in January 1926 to teach at the Prussian Academy of Arts. Schoenberg accused Eisler of being disloyal, and Eisler, in turn, accused, Schoenberg of being bourgeois. 

Eisler was in Vienna in January 1933 when Hitler became German Chancellor. Those involved with the German Workers' movement were forced to cease their activities immediately, and Eisler decided not to return to Berlin. The Nazi Party subsequently banned his music. During the early 1930s, Eisler moved around Europe and traveled to and from New York regularly, where he spoke publicly against Fascism in Germany. In 1937 Eisler accepted a teaching position at the New School for Social Research in New York in the hopes of moving to the United States permanently.

In 1942 Eisler moved from New York to Hollywood to teach at USC and write music for films. He continued his collaborations with Brecht while living in California, and in 1947 co-wrote Composing for the Films with Theodore Adorno. His reputation and contacts enabled a fruitful career as a Hollywood composer, and he was nominated for an Academy Award in 1942 for the score for Hangmen also Die (1942), which depicts the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, Reichsprotektor in charge of Czechoslovakia and the Czech people’s resistance to Nazi occupation. Eisler was one of the first Hollywood composers to use atonality and tone rows in film music.

Eisler's promising career in the U.S. was interrupted by the Cold War. He was one of the first artists placed on the Hollywood blacklist by the film studio bosses. In two interrogations by the House Committee on Un-American Activities, the composer was accused of being "the Karl Marx of music" and the chief Soviet agent in Hollywood. His supporters, including his friend Charlie Chaplin and the composers Igor Stravinsky, Aaron Copland, and Leonard Bernstein, organized benefit concerts to raise money for his defense fund, but he was deported in early 1948. Folksinger Woody Guthrie protested the composer's deportation in his lyrics for "Eisler on the Go"—recorded fifty years later by Billy Bragg and Wilco on the Mermaid Avenue album (1998). 

Eisler on the Go

Words by Woody Guthrie, Music by Billy Bragg

Eisler on the go, 
Eisler on the move 
Brother is on the Vinegar truck and 
I don't know what I'll do 

I don't know what I'll do, 
I don't know what I'll do 
Eisler's on the come and go and
I don't know what I'll do

Eisler on the farm,
Eisler on the town 
Sister in the tickly bush and 
I don't know what I'll do

Eisler on the boat, 
Eisler on the ship 
Daddy on the henhouse roof and 
I don't know what I'll do

Eisler in the jailoe, 
Eisler back at home, 
Ranking scratch his head and cry and 
I don't know what I'll do

Eisler him write music, 
Eisler him teach school, 
Truman him don't play so good and 
I don't know what I'll do

On March 26, 1948, Eisler and his wife departed the United States and returned to Germany, where they settled in East Berlin, attracted by its promise of a socialist society. Before leaving, he read the following statement:

I leave this country, not without bitterness and infuriation. I could well understand it when in 1933, the Hitler bandits put a price on my head and drove me out. They were the evil of the period; I was proud of being driven out. But I feel heartbroken over being driven out of this beautiful country in this ridiculous way.

Upon his arrival in East Germany, one of his first compositional activities was setting Johannes Becher's poem "Auferstanden aus Ruinen," (Risen from Ruins) to music, which became the national anthem for the newly established German Democratic Republic. He was then elected to the German Academy of Arts and served as an esteemed professor of composition at the Hochschule für Musik for twelve years.  

 Eisler died of a heart attack (his second) in East Berlin in September 1962 and. His grave is near Brecht's in the Dorotheenstadt cemetery.

Eisler (left) pictured here with good friend and collaborator Bertolt Brecht.

His Legacy

After his death, the Hochschule für Musik was renamed the Eisler Conservatory in his honor, and in 1994 the reunified Germany officially supported both the founding of an International Hanns Eisler Society and the launch of a critical edition of Eisler's collected works.

The Hanns Eisler Music Conservatory in Berlin.

On January 25, 2009, Leon Botstein at Bard College conducted a concert at New York's Avery Fisher Hall, titled "Music of the Other Germany," which included the music of Eisler, Dessau, Wagner-Regeny, Zimmermann, and Matthus.

Eisler’s Violin Music 

Prelude and Fugue on B–A–C–H (string trio) (1934) acquired

Sonate für Violine und Klavier "Die Reisesonate" (1937) acquired

Duo Op.7 for Violin and Cello acquired

Sources:

http://orelfoundation.org/composers/article/hanns_eisler

http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/resistance-and-exile/hanns-eisler/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanns_Eisler

• private communications with friends of the Wende Museum.

Finlandia - A Song of Peace

In the Fall of 2019, which feels like decades ago, I selected the Finlandia Theme for the Beginning Orchestra at Longfellow Elementary School in Pasadena, where I am a Music Director for the Harmony Project. I have fond memories of playing Finlandia in my youth orchestra days, summer festivals, and professional ensembles, so I was excited to find a simple arrangement of the theme that my group could play.

For those of you who have experience training young, beginning musicians in an orchestra setting, you might be familiar with the trials and tribulations of the rehearsal process. Things were slow going as we crafted our version for the December Concert. Still, the students shined in the performance, and during the early spring semester, regularly asked to play Finlandia. Several said it was their favorite piece. I just had to chuckle at this because the learning process did not kindle nearly this much passion for the composition. However, after they mastered it, they couldn’t stop playing it.

When Coronavirus hit, and all educational endeavors moved online – including music education – I felt so removed from many of my students. I started arranging their orchestra pieces for 4 part violins to share videos and music with them and keep their motivation high. When our online Spring Recital rolled around, I was touched to hear several students play Finlandia as their solo selection. It was so moving and a good reminder that as teachers we often plant seeds that germinate, grow, and blossom beautifully and sometimes unexpectedly…and sometimes those blooms take a little longer than expected.

In the same way that I highlighted the Theme from Jupiter when my students worked on it this Spring, I thought I would take this opportunity to dive into Finlandia and tell you a little more about it. No, I did not sing this song in school. No, I was not reprimanded for goofing off in assembly. I will admit that while I knew it was fiercely patriotic, I was naive to the fact that it was written as a response to czarist Russia in a celebration of the Finnish free press. I’m glad I learned something in this endeavor as well.

The History:

Sibelius wrote Finlandia for the Finnish Press Pension Celebration of 1899, a thinly veiled rally in support of freedom of the Finnish press, then primarily controlled by czarist Russia. Sibelius's contribution to the three-day pageant was a set of nationalistic musical tableaux. He later recycled several of these pieces into the suite, Historic Scenes No. 1, but the grand finale, originally called "Finland Awakens," became what is now known as Finlandia. The title “Finland Awakens” attracted negative attention from the czarist régime, so the piece was initially known as Impromptu. The Helsinki Philharmonic gave its first performances as Finlandia at the Paris World Exhibition of 1900.

I love that opening - don’t you? Those chords make the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

In program notes for the LA Phil, Susan Key writes, 

 “Like all successful symphonic poems, Finlandia’s extra-musical meaning generates the music's formal shape. The composer described this meaning in stirring words: "We fought 600 years for our freedom, and I am part of the generation which achieved it. Freedom! My Finlandia is the story of this fight. It is the song of our battle, our hymn of victory.” His genius is that this story functions simultaneously on both exterior and interior levels – capturing just that intersection where patriotism feeds personal identity and vice versa.” 

What an interesting sentiment. Are there parallels in today’s world? Based on how many times this tune has been re-imagined in different contexts and with different lyrics, her words certainly strike a chord.

 The Hymn

Sibelius later reworked the Finlandia Hymn into a stand-alone piece. This hymn, with words written in 1941 by Veikko Antero Koskenniemi, is one of Finland's most important national songs. Today, during performances of the full-length Finlandia, a choir sometimes sings the Finnish lyrics with the hymn section.

Finnish lyrics:
Oi Suomi, katso, sinun päiväs koittaa,
yön uhka karkoitettu on jo pois,
ja aamun kiuru kirkkaudessa soittaa,
kuin itse taivahan kansi sois.
Yön vallat aamun valkeus jo voittaa,
sun päiväs koittaa oi synnyinmaa.

Oi nouse, Suomi, nosta korkealle
pääs seppelöimä suurten muistojen,
oi nouse, Suomi, näytit maailmalle
sa että karkoitit orjuuden
ja ettet taipunut sa sorron alle
on aamus alkanut synnyinmaa.

English translation:
Oh Finland, behold, thy daylight is dawning,
the threat of night has now been driven away.
The skylark sings across the light of morning,
like the firmament itself was chiming,
and now the day the powers of night is scorning:
thy daylight dawns, oh fatherland!

Oh Finland arise, and raise towards the highest
thy head now crowned with mighty memories.
Oh Finland arise, for to the world thou criest
that thou hast thrown off thy slavery,
beneath oppression's yoke thou never liest.
Thy morning's come, motherland!

It is also sung as a Christian hymn (Be Still My Soul, Hail, Festal Day, A Song of Peace, and in Italian evangelical churches: Veglia al Mattino). In Wales, Lewis Valentine uses the tune for the patriotic hymn Gweddi Dros Gymru (A Prayer for Wales).

This is My Song / A Song of Peace

One of the more famous renditions of this hymn is "This is My Song," also known as "A Song of Peace," with lyrics written in 1934 by Lloyd Stone. It often appears in hymnals with substituted and additional verses by Georgia Harkness (1891–1974). It is sometimes called "A Song of Peace," taken from the second line of the song.

Lloyd Stone (1912 – 1993) was born in California and attended the University of Southern California as a music major, with the intent of becoming a teacher. Instead, he joined a circus bound for Hawaii and remained there for the rest of his life, writing poems and songs. "A Song of Peace" is his best-known work. He wrote Stanzas 1 and 2 when he was only 22 years old.

Georgia Elma Harkness (1891- 1974) was a Methodist theologian with a passion for poetry and the arts. Born in Harkness, New York, Georgia was a graduate of Cornell and also studied at Yale and Harvard. A trailblazer for generations of women to follow, Georgia was the first female theologist to teach in a seminary. She wrote nearly forty books in the course of her career.

Lyrics:

This is my song, O God of all the nations,

a song of peace for lands afar and mine;

this is my home, the country where my heart is;

here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine:

but other hearts in other lands are beating

with hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean,

and sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine;

but other lands have sunlight too, and clover,

and skies are everywhere as blue as mine:

O hear my song, thou God of all the nations,

a song of peace for their land and for mine.

May truth and freedom come to every nation;

may peace abound where strife has raged so long;

that each may seek to love and build together,

a world united, righting every wrong;

a world united in its love for freedom,

proclaiming peace together in one song.*
*Third stanza by Georgia Harkness.

This version was recorded and performed by many artists, including (my favorites) The Indigo Girls.

Finlandia in Pop Culture

References to Finlandia can also be found in pop culture although admittedly, I had never heard of or seen most of these (no offense to The Walking Dead or the Die Hard Series.):

• Finnish film director Renny Harlin featured Finlandia prominently in the film score for his 1990 film Die Hard 2: Die Harder.

• Finlandia is used in Finders Keepers, Lovers Weepers! by Russ Meyer.

• Finnish symphonic power metal band Nightwish has used Finlandia as an intro to their live concerts, such as shows that are a part of their Imaginaerum World Tour.

• Before joining Nightwish, Troy Donockley had already played a version of Finlandia as a guest musician for Mostly Autumn. It also appears on his album The Unseen Stream.

• Joan Baez featured the Finlandia Hymn on her 2005 live album Bowery Songs. Baez's live performance also appeared on the album Mitä Vapaus, a compilation of protest songs by various artists, released by Amnesty.

• On 8 December 2015, Sibelius' 150th birthday, Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki, gathered over 1000 people on the Senate Square to sing Finlandia.

• The Walking Dead features Finlandia in episode 5 of season 7 as Sasha and Maggie awaken at Hilltop in the night to a recording of Finlandia blasting from a parked car and zombies coming in.

Sources: 

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Finlandia

https://www.laphil.com/musicdb/pieces/354/finlandia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finlandia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finlandia_hymn

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_is_my_song_(1934_song

http://yourdailypoem.com/listpoem.jsp?poem_id=497

The Violin Music of East Germany Part III: Johannes Paul Thilman

The spotlight in this installment of my East German Violin Music blog series is dedicated to Johannes Paul Thilman. While information about Thilman is quite hard to find, some of his scores were more readily available. Unfortunately for me, several of my recent acquisitions are stuck in Germany due to COVID-19 related shipping restrictions between the EU and United States. The sellers assure me that they are holding them for me and will send them as soon as the holds are lifted. I cannot wait to explore these scores and the waiting only makes my excitement grow more ferocious. 

I’ll start with a few personal notes regarding my exploration of the music I already own.

I really like Thilman’s musical style and harmonies. He is considered a conservative composer and his music is reminiscent of the Romantic Era tonalities, and maybe I just like that stuff, but it fits nicely on the violin. Some works, like the 8 Duets for violin and piano, are quite simplistic and use folk-like melodies. The virtuosic technique is very manageable and makes this music well suited for younger music students. This is similar to some of Schwaen’s music – one could conceivably put together a student recital consisting solely of music from East Germany...that would be a cool history lesson/experience! The Kleine Suite for Solo violin is difficult and virtuosic in a similar way to the solo music of Bach, Prokofiev, and Ysaye. I had to sit at the piano and play through many of the harmonies to get a better sense of the sonorities. I think it is particularly challenging because I have no recordings to refer to for style, articulation, tempo, etc.

The Research:

Johannes Paul Thilman - German composer and pedagogue; b. Dresden, Jan. 11, 1906; d. there, Jan. 29, 1973.

Thilman, who actually wanted to become a teacher, encountered music at the age of 18 and was initially self-taught. He was a pupil of Hindemith, Grabner, and Scherchen and attended the Leipzig Conservatory in 1929. He also studied at the Dresden Technical Univ. During the Nazi era (1933-5) he was declared an unacceptable composer, and it was only after the fall of the 3rd Reich that he was permitted to pursue his career in earnest. In 1940, he became the instructor of composition at the "Carl Maria von Weber" School of Music (also called the Dresden Conservatory) in his hometown, Dresden. He was a professor there from the year 1956 until he became an Emeritus professor in 1968. Among his students were composers Friedrich Goldmann and Udo Zimmermann. Besides his academic activities, he was also involved in the musical life of Dresden. He was the founder-director of the “New Music in Dresden” concert series (1947-51) and later taught at the University of Dresden. Thilman went on to become the Professor of composition at the Dresden Hochschule für Musik beginning in 1965.* In 1960, he was the recipient of the coveted National Prize of East Germany. 

*these schools listed above may be related in some way. I’m not 100% certain about the University/Conservatory setup in Germany and how it may have changed.

His academic publications include, Probleme der neuen Polyphonie (1949), Neue Musik: Polemische Beiträge (1950), and Musikalische Formenlehre (1952). 

Among his compositions are 7 symphonies and other orchestral works, chamber music, choral works, piano pieces, and numerous works for school and “domestic use” (I assume this means to be sang or played at home by amateur musicians?).

During his life, his 4th Symphony was very popular. It really is beautiful - as are the images in the video.

Musical Style:

Thilman was a conservative Composer. His music is tonal and refers to the form and harmony of Romantic music. His melody is always catchy and uncomplicated. Thilman was particularly inspired by folk music. This influence can be heard clearly in many of his works. Most of his works are short. Generally, his tone is fresh and uncomplicated rather than dramatic. Undoubtedly, Thilman oriented his works towards the aesthetics of the Socialist realism. 

 ~Just in case you need a refresher on Socialist Realism, here is what Wikipedia says: 

Socialist realism is a style of idealized realistic art that was developed in the Soviet Union and was the official style in that country between 1932 and 1988, as well as in other socialist countries after World War II. Socialist realism is characterized by the glorified depiction of communist values, such as the emancipation of the proletariat.

In his later works, he often chose unusual settings and freer forms for his works. Thilman was very respected in East Germany. Today, however, he is mostly forgotten. This last point seems to be sad but true for many composers in East Germany, even those that were popular, famous, or highly regarded. The quest to find his music and information about him has been surprisingly limited, and as I said at the beginning, his scores are some of the easier ones to find. I’ll be sharing clips of his work on social media soon so make sure to follow me on Instagram (@activeviolinist ) to watch some of those stories.

Repertoire I am looking for:

Solos:

Concerto for Violin and Orchestra Op. 59, 1952 FOUND – stuck in Germany

Lichtenberger Konzert for violin and string orchestra, 1958

Concerto for Violin and Chamber Orchestra, 1972

Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano Op. 50 FOUND – stuck in Germany

Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano Op. 80

Kleine Suite for Solo Violin, 1955 ACQUIRED

Sonatine for Violin and Piano Op. 82 FOUND – Stuck in Germany

8 Duos for Violin and Piano ACQUIRED

Duo Drama for Violin and Piano

Chamber Music:

Sontatine for String Quartet Op. 49

String Quartet No. 1

String Quartet No.2, 1954

Piano Quartet No. 2 Op. 70  

Piano Quintet, 1955

String Quartet No. 3 in D major Op. 81

String Quartet No. 4 “in einem satz” Op. 84, 1958

Piano Trio, 1963

Dramatische Szenen for String Quartet, 1969

Kammerspiel for String Quartet, 1970

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Paul_Thilman

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_realism

https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/thilman-johannes-paul

https://www.hofmeister-musikverlag.com/authors/s-t/t/thilman-johannes-paul.html

https://www.abebooks.com