Józef Koffler
Encyclopedia
Józef Koffler was a Polish
composer
, music teacher, musicologist and musical columnist
.
He was the first Polish composer living before the Second World War to apply the twelve tone composition technique
(dodecaphony).
, Austria–Hungary. He studied from 1914 to 1916 in Lwów
and from 1918 to 1924 he studied music at the Academy of Music and the Performing Arts in Vienna
. His teachers were Paul Graener
and Felix Weingartner
. From 1928 till 1941 Koffler was professionally active as music teacher in Lwów, teaching at the Lwów Conservatory
. Polish exile composer Roman Haubenstock-Ramati
studied in 1920–1923 composition with Koffler in Lwów.
Koffler was a composer of 20th-century avant-garde Polish music.
When German troops entered the town Koffler was captured with his wife and son and forcibly relocated to the ghetto
in Wieliczka
(Poland
). His further fate, including the date, location and manner of his death are unknown. At the beginning of 1944 he and his family were probably killed by one of the German Einsatzgruppen
near Krosno
(in southern Poland) where he was hiding after the liquidation of the ghetto in Wieliczka.
Most of Koffler's unpublished scores vanished in the turmoil of the Second World War, when he died in the Holocaust. Only two works amongst his numerous compositions were published after the war. They were released by the Polish editing house PWM and are available today. They are: String Trio, Op. 10 and Cantata Love, Op. 14. Several of his works have been released on records.
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, music teacher, musicologist and musical columnist
Columnist
A columnist is a journalist who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs....
.
He was the first Polish composer living before the Second World War to apply the twelve tone composition technique
Twelve-tone technique
Twelve-tone technique is a method of musical composition devised by Arnold Schoenberg...
(dodecaphony).
Biography
He was born on 28 November 1896 in StryjStryi
Stryi is a city located on the left bank of the river Stryi in the Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine . Serving as the administrative center of the Stryi Raion , the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast. Thus, the city has two administrations - the city and the raion...
, Austria–Hungary. He studied from 1914 to 1916 in Lwów
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
and from 1918 to 1924 he studied music at the Academy of Music and the Performing Arts in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. His teachers were Paul Graener
Paul Graener
Paul Graener was a German composer and conductor.-Biography:Graener was born in Berlin and orphaned as a young child. A boy soprano, he taught himself composition and in 1896 moved to London, where he gave private lessons and served briefly as conductor at the Haymarket Theatre...
and Felix Weingartner
Felix Weingartner
Paul Felix von Weingartner, Edler von Münzberg was an Austrian conductor, composer and pianist.-Biography:...
. From 1928 till 1941 Koffler was professionally active as music teacher in Lwów, teaching at the Lwów Conservatory
Lviv Conservatory
The Lviv National Musical Academy, M. Lysenko is a state conservatory of Ukraine based in Lviv.-History:...
. Polish exile composer Roman Haubenstock-Ramati
Roman Haubenstock-Ramati
Roman Haubenstock-Ramati was a composer and music editor who worked in Kraków, Tel Aviv and Vienna.Haubenstock-Ramati studied composition, music theory, violin and philosophy in Kraków and Lemberg from 1937 to 1940. Among his teachers were Artur Malawski and Józef Koffler. From 1947 to 1950 he was...
studied in 1920–1923 composition with Koffler in Lwów.
Koffler was a composer of 20th-century avant-garde Polish music.
When German troops entered the town Koffler was captured with his wife and son and forcibly relocated to the ghetto
Ghetto
A ghetto is a section of a city predominantly occupied by a group who live there, especially because of social, economic, or legal issues.The term was originally used in Venice to describe the area where Jews were compelled to live. The term now refers to an overcrowded urban area often associated...
in Wieliczka
Wieliczka
-External links:***...
(Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
). His further fate, including the date, location and manner of his death are unknown. At the beginning of 1944 he and his family were probably killed by one of the German Einsatzgruppen
Einsatzgruppen
Einsatzgruppen were SS paramilitary death squads that were responsible for mass killings, typically by shooting, of Jews in particular, but also significant numbers of other population groups and political categories...
near Krosno
Krosno
Krosno is a town and county in Subcarpathian Voivodeship, Poland with 47,455 inhabitants, as of 2 June 2009.Notably Krosno is the site of the first oil well in the world....
(in southern Poland) where he was hiding after the liquidation of the ghetto in Wieliczka.
Most of Koffler's unpublished scores vanished in the turmoil of the Second World War, when he died in the Holocaust. Only two works amongst his numerous compositions were published after the war. They were released by the Polish editing house PWM and are available today. They are: String Trio, Op. 10 and Cantata Love, Op. 14. Several of his works have been released on records.
List of compositions by date and opus number
- Slave songs (Chanson Slave) (before 1918)
- Two songs(Zwei Lieder) – for soprano and piano op.1 (1917)
- Ouverture "Hanifa" op.2 (vanished)
- Oriental Suite op.3 (vanished)
- Sielanka („Idyl”) for chamber orchestra op.4 (vanished)
- String quartet” op.5 (vanished)
- 40 Polish folk songs op.6 (1925)
- Musique de ballet op.7 (1926)
- Musique. Quasi una sonata op.8, to Karol SzymanowskiKarol SzymanowskiKarol Maciej Szymanowski was a Polish composer and pianist.-Life:Szymanowski was born into a wealthy land-owning Polish gentry family in Tymoszówka, then in the Russian Empire, now in Cherkasy Oblast, Ukraine. He studied music privately with his father before going to Gustav Neuhaus'...
(1927) - 15 variations on a 12 tone series (15 variations d'après une suite de douze tons) op.9 (1927)
- String trio op.10 (1928)
- I Symphony op.11 (1930)
- Sonatina op.12 (1930)
- 15 variations on a 12 tone series op.9a, string orchestration of the opus 9 (1931)
- Piano concerto op.13 (1932)
- Cantata Love (Die Liebe) for voice, viola, cello and clarinet op.14 with text of Corinthian 1. Letter Ode to Love and St. Poul (1931)
- Ballet-OratoriumAlles durch M.O.W. (Institute of Daily Correspondence) for dancers, soprano and baritone solo, choir and orchestra op.15 (1932)
- Divertimento (Little serenade) for oboe, clarinet and bassoon op.16 (1931, vanished)
- II Symphony op.17 (1933)
- Capriccio for violin and piano op.18 (1936)
- Piano sonata op.19 (1935, vanished)
- String quartet op. 20 (1934, vanished)
- III Symphony op.21 (1935)
- Quatre poèmes for violin and piano op.22 (1935)
- Variations sur une valse de Johann StraussJohann Strauss IIJohann Strauss II , also known as Johann Baptist Strauss or Johann Strauss, Jr., the Younger, or the Son , was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas...
op.23 (1935) - Elaboration of Polish Christmas carols for choir (1934–1936)
- Polish suite for chamber orchestra op.24 (1936)
- Little suite according to Klavierbüchlein für Anna Magdalena Bach of J. S. Bach (approximately 1937, vanished)
- Orchestration of the Goldberg variationsGoldberg VariationsThe Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, is a work for harpsichord by Johann Sebastian Bach, consisting of an aria and a set of 30 variations. First published in 1741, the work is considered to be one of the most important examples of variation form...
of J. S. Bach for small orchestra (1938) - Händeliana, 30 variations on the theme of Passacaglia of HändelGeorge Frideric HandelGeorge Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
(before 1940, vanished) - Joyful ouverture op.25 (1940, vanished)
- IV Symphony op.26 (1940)
- Four pieces for children (Cztery utwory dziecięce) for piano (before 1940)
- Ukrainian sketches (Szkice ukraińskie) op.27 for string quartet (before 1941)
- Music for scene dramas (vanished)
Works fully preserved
- Slave song (before 1918)
- Zwei Lieder – Two songs for soprano and piano op.1 (1917)
- 40 Polish folk songs op.6 (1925)
- Musique de ballet op.7 (1926)
- Musique. Quasi una sonata op.8, to Karol SzymanowskiKarol SzymanowskiKarol Maciej Szymanowski was a Polish composer and pianist.-Life:Szymanowski was born into a wealthy land-owning Polish gentry family in Tymoszówka, then in the Russian Empire, now in Cherkasy Oblast, Ukraine. He studied music privately with his father before going to Gustav Neuhaus'...
(1927) - 15 variations on a 12 tone series (15 variations d'après une suite de douze tons) op.9 (1927)
- 15 variations on a 12 tone series op.9a, orchestration of the opus 9 for string orchestra (1931)
- String trio op.10 (1928)
- I Symphony op.11 (1930)
- Sonatina op.12 (1930)
- Piano concerto op.13 (1932)
- Love (Die Liebe) cantata for voice, viola, cello and clarinet op.14 (1931)
- Ballet-Oratorium “Alles durch M.O.W. (Institute of Daily Correspondence) for dancers, soprano and baritone solo, choir and orchestra op.15 (1932)
- II Symphony op.17 (1933)
- Capriccio for violin and piano op.18 (1936)
- III Symphony op.21 (1935)
- Quatre poèmes for violin and piano op.22 (1935)
- Variations sur une valse de Johann Strauss op.23 (1935)
- Elaboration of Polish Christmas carols for choir (1934–1936)
- Orchestration of the Goldberg variations of J. S. Bach for small orchestra (1938)
- IV Symphony op.26 (1940)
- Four pieces for children (Cztery utwory dziecięce) for piano; before 1940)
- Ukrainian sketches (Szkice ukraińskie) op.27 for string quartet (before 1941)
Lost works
- Ouverture "Hanifa" op.2 (vanished)
- Oriental suite op.3 (vanished)
- Sielanka („Idyl”) for chamber orchestra op.4 (vanished))
- String quartet op.5 (vanished)
- Divertimento (Little serenade) for oboe, clarinet and bassoon op.16 (vanished)
- Piano sonata op.19 (1935)
- String quartet op. 20 (1934)
- Polish suite for chamber orchestra op.24 (1936)
- Little suite according to Klavierbüchlein für Anna Magdalena Bach of J. S. Bach (approximately 1937, vanished)
- Joyful overture op.25 (1940, vanished)
- Händeliana, 30 variations on the theme of Passacaglia of Händel (before 1940, vanished)
Piano music
- Slave song (before 1918)
- 40 Polish folk songs op.6 (1925) (the songs can be performed without the solo voice)
- Musique de ballet op.7 (1926)
- Musique. Quasi una sonata op.8, to Karol SzymanowskiKarol SzymanowskiKarol Maciej Szymanowski was a Polish composer and pianist.-Life:Szymanowski was born into a wealthy land-owning Polish gentry family in Tymoszówka, then in the Russian Empire, now in Cherkasy Oblast, Ukraine. He studied music privately with his father before going to Gustav Neuhaus'...
(1927) - 15 variations on a 12 tone series (15 variations d'après une suite de douze tons) op.9 (1927)
- Sonatina op.12 (1930)
- Piano sonata op.19 (1935, vanished)
- Variations sur une valse de Johann StraussJohann Strauss IIJohann Strauss II , also known as Johann Baptist Strauss or Johann Strauss, Jr., the Younger, or the Son , was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas...
op.23 (1935) - Four pieces for children (Cztery utwory dziecięce) for piano; before 1940)
Chamber music
- String quartet op.5 (vanished)
- String trio op.10 (1928)
- Divertimento (Little serenade) for oboe, clarinet and bassoon op.16 (1931, vanished)
- Capriccio for violin and piano op.18 (1936)
- String quartet op. 20 (1934, vanished)
- Quatre poèmes for violin and piano op.22 (1935)
- Ukrainian sketches (Szkice ukraińskie) op.27 for string quartet (before 1941)
Orchestral music
- Uverture "Hanifa" op.2 (vanished)
- Oriental suite op.3 (vanished)
- Sielanka („Idyl”) for chamber orchestra op.4 (vanished)
- 15 variations on a 12 tone series (15 variations d'après une suite de douze tons) op.9 (1927)
- I Symphony op.11 (1930)
- Piano concerto op.13 (1932)
- II Symphony op.17 (1933)
- III Symphony op.21 (1935)
- Polish suite for chamber orchestra op.24 (1936, vanished)
- IV Symphony op.26 (1940)
- Joyful ouverture op.25 (1940, vanished)
- Händeliana, 30 variations on the theme of Passacaglia of Händel , before 1940, vanished)
- Little suite according to Klavierbüchlein für Anna Magdalena Bach of J. S. Bach (approximately 1937, vanished)
- Orchestration of the Goldberg variations of J. S. Bach for small orchestra (1938)
- Music for scene dramas (vanished)
Vocal music
- Zwei Lieder – Two Songs for soprano and piano op.1 (1917)
- 40 Polish folk songs op.6 (1925) (see also under piano works)
- Love (Die Liebe) cantata for voice, viola, cello and clarinet op.14 (1931)
- Ballet-OratoriumAlles durch M.O.W. (Institute of Daily Correspondence) for dancers, soprano and baritone solo, choir and orchestra op.15 (1932)
- Elaboration of Polish Christmas carols for choir (1934–1936)
Discography
- Józef Koffler, Musique de ballet, Op. 7, Steffen Schleiermacher – piano, MDG MDG6131433, 1996, The Viennese School – Teachers and Followers
- Józef Koffler, Sonatine for piano op.12, Joseph Holt, piano, Darkness & Light, Vol. 2, JDT 3086, 1182819, Music Performed in Concert from The Chamber Music Series at the Holocaust Memorial Museum, 1997
- Józef Koffler, Piano Works I, Sternlicht Elzbieta, piano, Acte Préalable, AP0123, 2005, booklet: prof. Boguslaw Schaeffer (Polish, English French), Total Time: 52'11"
- Józef Koffler, Piano Works II, Sternlicht Elzbieta, piano, Acte Préalable, AP0122, 2005, booklet: prof. Boguslaw Schaeffer (Polish, English French),Total Time: 40'32"
See also
- 20th century classical music20th century classical music20th century classical music was without a dominant style and highly diverse.-Introduction:At the turn of the century, music was characteristically late Romantic in style. Composers such as Gustav Mahler and Jean Sibelius were pushing the bounds of Post-Romantic Symphonic writing...
- Twelve-tone techniqueTwelve-tone techniqueTwelve-tone technique is a method of musical composition devised by Arnold Schoenberg...
- SerialismSerialismIn music, serialism is a method or technique of composition that uses a series of values to manipulate different musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, though his contemporaries were also working to establish serialism as one example of...
- List of Jewish musicians
- List of Polish composers
- Music of PolandMusic of PolandArtists from Poland, including famous composers like Chopin or Lutosławski and traditional, regionalized folk musicians, create a lively and diverse music scene, which even recognizes its own music genres, such as poezja śpiewana.- Beginning :...
- List of composers influenced by the Holocaust
- List of victims of Nazism
- List of Polish Jews
- History of Jews in Poland