Twentieth Century Composers II [antikvár]

Foreword Geographical concepts are flexible. Lines of demarcation shift with the course of history; peoples and civilizations migrate, merge and go their separate ways again, forming new national sentiments and borders. The term 'Central Europe' fuses Germanic, Slavonic, Gallic and Tartaric elements in an area repeatedly disrupted by armed conflict and intellectual hostility. Although the oneness of the European way of life is an idea that is often put forward, it is extremely difficult to reach agreement on the notion of Central European music. Even when an obvious rapport exists, as between the musicians of Austria and Germany, there are always elements of diversity, as there has been between these two countries since Wagner. If one considers the composers representative of the various trends in Germany and Central Europe one arrives at a sum of cross-connections and influences that transcends geographical boundaries and nationalities. Bavarian composers like Richard Strauss and Max Reger have many technical and stylistic characteristics in common with Gustav Mahler, who came from the province of Moravia in Austria, though each of them speaks in his own unmistakable musical idiom. Together with this group belongs the name Hans Pfitzner, a remarkable figure standing apart from the main tradition of Central European music. The dramatic Franz Schreker, the ideological sectarian Josef Hauer and the promethean genius Arnold Schoenberg, three outstanding Austrian composers, have each exerted a considerable influence, particularly on the techniques and theories of Webem, Berg and Krenek; these musicians, in their turn, have had a marked influence on a modern generation of composers even beyond Central Europe. n