Egon Wellesz


Egon Joseph Wellesz was an Austrian, later British composer, teacher and musicologist, notable particularly in the field of Byzantine music.

Life

Although both parents of Wellesz's were Hungarian Christians, they both had Jewish ancestry. He received a Protestant upbringing, but later converted to Catholicism. Wellesz, who had originally studied law in accordance with his father's wishes, devoted himself entirely to music after attending a performance of Der Freischütz staged by Gustav Mahler at the Vienna Court Opera. He studied in Vienna under Arnold Schoenberg – purportedly his first private pupil – as well as Guido Adler, who founded the musicological institute in Vienna and was a leading editor of the Austrian Denkmaler. These dual influences shaped much of his musical and scholarly thought. In 1913, Wellesz embarked upon what would become a lifelong interest in the musical achievements of Byzantium.
Wellesz left Austria for England in the wake of the Anschluss – more specifically,
Wellesz was in Amsterdam at the time by good fortune, to hear his orchestral piece Prosperos Beschwörungen conducted by Bruno Walter on that day. In England he was interned as an enemy alien, ultimately in Hutchinson Camp in the Isle of Man, but he gained his release in 1943 thanks to the intercession of H. C. Colles, the long-standing chief music critic of The Times. Altogether he wrote nine symphonies and an equal number of string quartets, the former starting, in 1945, only with his arrival in England and the latter series of works spread throughout his life. Other compositions by him include operas, one of which was revived and recorded a few years ago; an octet with the same instrumentation as Schubert's; piano and violin concertos ; and a suite for violin and orchestra. Stylistically his earliest music, somewhat like that of Ernst Krenek, is in a harsh but recognisably tonal style; there is a definite second period of sorts around the time of the first two symphonies in which his music has a somewhat Brucknerian sound – in the symphonies sometimes an equal breadth, though still with something of a 20th-century feel and harmonies – but after his fourth symphony his music is more tonally vague in character, with serial techniques used. This idiom is consistent with hints of tonality, such as can be found in his eighth string quartet.
in Vienna
Despite his composing, Wellesz remains best known for his extensive scholarly contributions to the study of Byzantine music. These contributions brought for him an honorary doctorate from Oxford in 1932.
A portrait was made of Wellesz by Jean Cooke, who had been commissioned for the work by Lincoln College, University of Oxford.

Music

Wellesz's works as a composer amount to at least 112 works with opus numbers as well as some 20 works without opus number. He busied himself in a variety of media.
Rather than follow his teacher Schoenberg's Expressionist style, Wellesz found inspiration in music from the pre-modern era, becoming a forerunner to the anti-Romantic currents of the twenties. He wrote:
In place of the infinite melody, the finite must return, in the place of dissolved, amorphous structures, clear, clearly outlined forms. The opera of the future must tie in with the traditions of Baroque opera. This is the natural form, the innermost essence of opera.
Recently, interest in Wellesz's music has increased. A complete recording of his nine symphonies is available, although his music has generally been sparsely represented on CD or LP. His 3rd symphony, published posthumously, received its world premiere in Vienna in 2000. Several of his symphonies have titles, including the second, and the seventh.

Works for stage