An Unexpected Evening in Germany
While on tour in Germany, I found some time to stroll through the streets of Frankfurt after practicing at the Palmengarten ( a wonderful Bechstein piano had been made available for me there).
It was early evening, and I found myself on a side street. I halted in front of a small art gallery, which was closed, and was very taken by a collection of small prints and paintings by an artist named Richtl. I then noticed a small placard on the front door announcing a recital the next night. The music to be played was music by Ernst Krenek, the powerful eclectic composer from Austria, and well-known in the world of music, especially for his twelve-tone music, which had come out of his admiration for the giant Schoenberg.
I became excited, as I admired the musical thinking of Krenek, and so planned on the following evening.
At the appointed time I and a man by the name of Everett Helm, who had been assigned me as manager of my tour (brilliant man; a composer and writer well-known in Europe, with many articles published in Etude magazine and various historical anthologies) were ushered into the gallery and led downstairs to a rather large room with about 75 chairs having been set up for the occasion.
I cannot remember the pieces of Krenek that were performed that evening, as it was so long ago, but the performances were quite wonderful, much of which was chamber music played by the Griller Quartet.
During the intermission, I was dumbfounded to see Krenek himself in this room, speaking and mingling casually with various people, almost all of whom I'm quite sure were German, as all conversation I heard was in German.
Shortly before the second part of the recital, the artist Richtl, whose art I had admired the evening before, was introduced to the people. It was then that I realized that this occasion was given in Richtl's honor for his work (he was quite elderly), and planned by Krenek himself, who had been a long-time friend of his.
And so this memorable evening I had stumbled onto is another example of serendipity, an entity which seems to follow me around, happily, from time to time.
It was early evening, and I found myself on a side street. I halted in front of a small art gallery, which was closed, and was very taken by a collection of small prints and paintings by an artist named Richtl. I then noticed a small placard on the front door announcing a recital the next night. The music to be played was music by Ernst Krenek, the powerful eclectic composer from Austria, and well-known in the world of music, especially for his twelve-tone music, which had come out of his admiration for the giant Schoenberg.
I became excited, as I admired the musical thinking of Krenek, and so planned on the following evening.
At the appointed time I and a man by the name of Everett Helm, who had been assigned me as manager of my tour (brilliant man; a composer and writer well-known in Europe, with many articles published in Etude magazine and various historical anthologies) were ushered into the gallery and led downstairs to a rather large room with about 75 chairs having been set up for the occasion.
I cannot remember the pieces of Krenek that were performed that evening, as it was so long ago, but the performances were quite wonderful, much of which was chamber music played by the Griller Quartet.
During the intermission, I was dumbfounded to see Krenek himself in this room, speaking and mingling casually with various people, almost all of whom I'm quite sure were German, as all conversation I heard was in German.
Shortly before the second part of the recital, the artist Richtl, whose art I had admired the evening before, was introduced to the people. It was then that I realized that this occasion was given in Richtl's honor for his work (he was quite elderly), and planned by Krenek himself, who had been a long-time friend of his.
And so this memorable evening I had stumbled onto is another example of serendipity, an entity which seems to follow me around, happily, from time to time.
Labels: Krenek
posted by LH at
1:47 PM
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