Ernst Toch


Ernst Toch was an Austrian composer of European classical music and film scores, who from 1933 worked as an émigré in Paris, London and New York. He sought throughout his life to introduce new approaches to music.

Biography

Toch was born in Leopoldstadt, Vienna, into the family of a humble Jewish leather dealer 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 in Frankfurt. 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. His first quartet was performed in Leipzig in 1908, and his sixth in the year 1909. In 1909, his Chamber Symphony in F major 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 Berthold Viertel and Elisabeth Bergner helped him find work as a composer for the cinema. Films scored during this period included Catherine the Great, Little Friend and The Private Life of Don Juan. In 1935, he accepted an invitation from Alvin Johnson of 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, completing 16 scores. Unlike his colleague Erich Wolfgang Korngold Toch never got much attention in the industry and was rarely top-billed, although he did win three Academy Award nominations - for Peter Ibbetson, Ladies in Retirement and Address Unknown. 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. In 1958, he received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. He died in Santa Monica, California, and was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles. He is the grandfather of authors Lawrence Weschler and Toni Weschler.

Work

Toch wrote eight string quartets before the war and five afterwards. No 9 marked a significant stylistic change, shifting from the influence of Brahms towards a more radical, extended tonality and linear development. During the 1920s Toch was considered one of the great avant-garde composers. His work during that decade included the Cello Concerto and the humorous Bunte Suite, but also two short operas, Die Prinzessin auf der Erbse and Egon und Emilie, notable examples of the short-lived Zeitoper genre. These led him towards the full-length three act opera Der Fächer of 1930.
That year he also invented "Gesprochene Musik," the idiom of the "spoken chorus", a technique used in his most performed work, Fuge aus der Geographie, which he himself regarded as an unimportant diversion.
Between 1950 and 1964 he wrote seven symphonies. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1956 for his Third Symphony. He also wrote books dealing with musical theory: Melodielehre and The Shaping Forces in Music. His notable students included Vagn Holmboe, André Previn and Richard Wernick.

List of works

Symphonies

  • Symphony No. 1, Op. 72
  • Symphony No. 2, Op. 73
  • Symphony No. 3, Op. 75
  • Symphony No. 4, for orchestra and speaker, Op. 80
  • Symphony No. 5 ‘Jephtha, Rhapsodic Poem’, Op. 89
  • Symphony No. 6, Op. 93
  • Symphony No. 7, Op. 95

Concertos

  • Concerto for Cello and Chamber Orchestra, Op. 35
  • Concerto for Piano and Orchestra,, Op. 38
  • Symphony for Piano and Orchestra,, Op. 61

Other orchestral works

  • Scherzo in B minor, orchestral version, Op. 11 Phantastishche Nachtmusik, for orchestra, Op. 27
  • Five Pieces for Chamber Orchestra, Op. 33 Komödie für Orchester in Einem Satz , Op. 42 Vorspiel zu einem Märchen, for orchestra, Op. 43a Fanal for Organ and Orchestra, Op. 45 Bunte Suite, for orchestra, Op. 48 Kleine Ouvertüre zu der Fächer, for orchestra, Op. 51 Kleine Theater-Suite, for orchestra, Op. 54 Big Ben: Variation-Fantasy on the Westminster Chimes, for orchestra, Op. 62 Pinocchio: A Merry Overture for Orchestra The Idle Stroller Suite, for orchestra The Covenant, for orchestra and narrator Hyperion: A Dramatic Prelude for Orchestra, Op. 71 Circus: An Overture, for orchestra Notturno, for orchestra, Op. 77 Peter Pan, for orchestra, Op. 76 Intermezzo for orchestra Epilogue for orchestra Short Story for orchestra The Enamoured Harlequin, for orchestra, Op. 94
  • Sinfonietta for String Orchestra, Op. 96
  • Variations on the Swabian Folk Song "Muss i denn zum Städtele hinaus", for orchestra

Chamber

  • String Quartet no. 6 in A minor, Op. 12
  • Chamber Symphony in F major, for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, 2 violins, cello and bass
  • String Quartet no. 7 in G major, Op. 15 Vom sterbenden Rokoko , for violin and piano, Op. 16
  • Duos for Two Violins, Op. 17
  • Romanze, for violin and piano
  • Serenade for Three Violins, Op. 20
  • Sonata for Violin and Piano, Op. 21
  • Serenade for Two Violins and Viola, Op. 25
  • String Quartet no. 8 in D-flat major, Op. 18
  • String Quartet no. 9 in C major, Op. 26
  • String Quartet no. 10 on the Name ‘Bass’, Op. 28 Tanz-Suite, for flute, clarinet, violin, viola, bass and percussion, Op. 30
  • String Quartet no. 11, Op. 34
  • Two Divertimentos for String Duet, Op. 37
  • Sonata for Violin and Piano, Op. 44
  • Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 50
  • String Trio, for violin, viola and cello, Op. 63
  • Quintet for Piano, Two Violins, Viola and Cello, Op. 64
  • String Quartet no. 12, Op. 70 Dedication, for string quartet or string orchestra Adagio Elegiaco, for clarinet & piano
  • String Quartet no. 13, Op. 74
  • Sonatinetta, for flute, clarinet and bassoon, Op. 84
  • Three Impromptus for Unaccompanied String Instruments, Op. 90a, 90b, 90c
  • Quartet for Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon and Viola, Op. 98

Wind ensemble

Spiel für Blasorchester, Op. 39 Miniatur Ouvertüre for 2 flutes, oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet, 2 trumpets, trombone and percussion
  • Five Pieces for Wind Instruments and Percussion, Op. 83
for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, 2 horns and percussion
  • Sinfonietta for Wind Instruments and Percussion, Op. 97
for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets and percussion

Piano

Melodische Skizzen, Op. 9
  • Three Preludes, Op. 10
  • Scherzo in B minor, original piano version, Op. 11 Stammbuchverse, Op. 13 Begegnung Reminiszenzen, Op. 14
  • Canon Burlesken, Op. 31
  • *Gemächlich
  • *Lebhaft
  • *"Der Jongleur"
  • Three Piano Pieces, Op. 32 Capriccetti, Op. 36 Tanz-und-Spielstücke, Op. 40
  • Sonata for Piano, Op. 47 Kleinstadtbilder, 14 Moderately Easy Piano Pieces, Op. 49 5 × 10 Etudes, Op. 55–59 Profiles, Op. 68 Ideas, Op. 69 Diversions, Op. 78a Sonatinetta, Op. 78b
  • Three Little Dances, Op. 85 Reflections, Op. 86
  • Sonata for Piano Four-Hands, Op. 87
Toch's piano music has been recorded by Austrian pianist Anna Magdalena Kokits.

Other solo instrumental works

Operas

Die Prinzessin auf der Erbse, Op. 43
Musical fairy tale in one act; text after H. C. Andersen by Benno Elkan; English and German versions existEgon und Emilie, Op. 46
Chamber opera in one act; "Not a family drama" ; text by Christian Morgenstern; English and German versions existDer Fächer, Op. 51
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.Scheherazade: The Last Tale, Op. 88
Opera in one act; text by Melchior Lengyel, English translation by Cornel Lengyel

Choral

An mein Vaterland, Op. 23
for large orchestra, organ, solo soprano, mixed chorus & boys’ chorusGesprochene Musik,. Only No. 1 of 3 published:Geographical Fugue, for speaking chorus No. 1 of 3 from Gesprochene MusikDer Tierkreis, for women's chorus Das Wasser, Cantata after a text by A. Döblin, Op. 53
for tenor, baritone, narrator, chorus, flute, trumpet, percussion & stringsCantata of the Bitter Herbs, Op. 65
for solo soprano, alto, tenor & baritone, narrator, chorus & orchestraThe Inner Circle, six a cappella choruses for mixed chorus, Op.67
Cui bono / The Lamb / Extinguish my eyes / O World, thou chosest not / Have you not heard his silent step / 6. Goodbye, proud world Phantoms, Op.81
for male and female speakers, women's speaking chorus, flute, clarinet, vibraphone, xylophone, timpani & percussionSong of Myself, for mixed chorus Valse, for speaking chorus & optional percussion

Other vocal works

Ich wollt, ich wär ein fisch, for high voice & piano Die chinesische Flöte, Op. 29
for soprano, 2 flutes, clarinet, bass clarinet, percussion, celesta & strings. Exists in German and English versionsNine Songs for Soprano and Piano, Op. 41 . Exists in German and English versionsMusic for Orchestra and Baritone, Op. 60 Chansons sans paroles, for voice and piano Poems to Martha, for medium voice & string quartet There Is a Season for Everything, for mezzo-soprano, flute, clarinet, violin & cello Vanity of Vanities, for soprano, tenor, flute, clarinet, violin, viola & cello Lange schon haben meine Freunde versucht , for soprano & baritone

Incidental music

Der Kinder Neujahrstraum, Op. 19, for solo soprano, alto, tenor & baritone, chorus & orchestra Anabasis, for flute, clarinet, 2 trumpets, trombone, tuba, percussion & chorus Im fernen Osten, for flute, 2 trumpets in C, mandolin, guitar, 2 violins, viola, cello, percussion, chorus & male solo voice Die Heilige von U.S.A., for wind ensemble, percussion, piano, harmonium, alto solo & chorus König Ödipus, for 2 clarinets, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, percussion & strings Medea, for wind ensemble, percussion & speaking chorus Die Räuber, for 2 trumpets in C, bass trumpet or trombone & percussion Die Rollen des Schauspielers Seami, for flute, clarinet, violin, banjo, guitar & percussion Turandot, for flute, clarinet, trumpet in C, cello, piano & percussion Uli Wittewüpp, for clarinet, trumpet, percussion, piano & strings Napoleon, oder die 100 Tage Das Kirschblütenfest, for timpani, percussion, harmonium & strings The Gates of Carven Jade or The Garden of Jade, for flute, clarinet, banjo, guitar, violin & soprano solo William Tell, for flute, 2 clarinets, bassoon, trumpet, horn, 2 trombones, percussion and chorus
All incidental music listed is unpublished except Das Kirschblütenfest.

Film music

Catherine the Great The Private Life of Don Juan Little Friend Peter Ibbetson Outcast On Such a Night The Rebel Son The Story of Alexander Graham Bell The Cat and the Canary The Ghost Breakers Dr. Cyclops Ladies in Retirement First Comes Courage None Shall Escape Address Unknown

Books

Beiträge zur Stilkunde der Melodie – dissertation for Heidelberg UniversityMelodielehre – based upon the dissertationThe Shaping Forces in Music: An Inquiry into the Nature of Harmony, Melody, Counterpoint, Form – uses material from the dissertation