East Meets West double conference
On 6 and 7 May 2022, the Zurich section of the Swiss Music Research Society, in collaboration with the Institute for Music Research at the ZHdK, is organizing a double conference on two seemingly incompatible topics in the Toni-Areal: Arnold Schönberg as a teacher and musical Byzantine studies.
Dominik Sackmann, Lukas Näf - Arnold Schönberg, whose biography ran from Vienna to Los Angeles, i.e. from East to West, was famous as a composition teacher. His best-known (and first) private pupils were Alban Berg and Anton Webern in Vienna. From 1925, a large circle of students formed around him at the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin. After emigrating, Schönberg was financially dependent on teaching opportunities in New York and especially in Los Angeles. For this reason, he mentored young composers with different backgrounds and goals in life until his death in 1951. Schönberg himself wrote in his Harmonielehre (1911) that he "learned it from his students". However, far too little is known about the details of his teaching: how did it take place, how did teacher and pupil communicate with each other, what part did the basic craftsmanship play, what did Schönberg value, how great was the influence of his own aesthetics on his pupils? Did Schönberg treat all his students equally? How did the students experience Schönberg as a teacher and how did they later process what they had learned? Answers to such questions can only be provided by studies of individual composers and their memories and musical works.
Iris Eggenschwiler (Zurich) will provide an insight into what has been researched to date about Schönberg's circle of students and the teaching practice of the "master". Completely contrasting composers who experienced Schönberg's teaching at different periods in Vienna or Berlin will be the focus of four portraits: Lukas Näf (Zurich) on the Swiss composer Erich Schmid (1907-2000), Christian Lemmerich (Würzburg) on the German composer Winfried Zillig (1905-1963), Ludwig Holtmeier (Freiburg i. Br.) on Norbert von Hannenheim (1898-1945) from Transylvania and Nina-Maria Wanek (Vienna) on Nikos Skalkottas (1904-1949) from Greece.
Schönberg undoubtedly came into contact with music from the Aegean region through Nikos Skalkottas. However, his early Viennese student Egon Wellesz (1885-1974), who from 1920 onwards founded the research branch of musical Byzantine studies with epoch-making first decipherments, gave him a view beyond the borders of Europe. In this sense, the circle around Schönberg cultivated relationships from West to East.
At the beginning, Nina-Maria Wanek (Vienna) will give an introduction to the special features and history of Byzantine chant. The Choralschola of the ZHdK under the direction of Stephan Klarer will then make the contrasting sound worlds of Byzantine and Gregorian liturgical chant audible live. The second part of the evening is dedicated to the theoretical and practical examination of the "Missa Graeca", a medieval compilation of Gregorian chants with Greek text.
Zurich, Friday, May 6, 2022, 18:00-21:30, Zurich University of the Arts (Toni-Areal), Pfingstweidstrasse 96, Room 7.K06, Concert Hall 2 (Organ Hall), Level 7
Byzantine chants - "Missa Graeca": Lectures by Nina-Maria Wanek (Vienna) and presentation of Western and Eastern chants with the Choralschola of the ZHdK (cond.: Stephan Klarer)
Zurich, Saturday, May 7, 2022, 9.30-16.00, Zurich University of the Arts (Toni-Areal), Pfingstweidstrasse 96, Room 3.K01, Level 3
Arnold Schönberg as a teacher: presentations by Iris Eggenschwiler (introduction) 9.30, Lukas Näf (Erich Schmid) 10.15, Ludwig Holtmeier (Norbert von Hannenheim) 11.15, Nina-Maria Wanek (Egon Wellesz and Nikos Skalkottas) 14.00, Christian Lemmerich (Winfried Zillig) 15.00.
Further information is available at:
> www.zhdk.ch/forschung/imr
