Heinz Karl "Nali" Gruber (born 3 January 1943), who styles himself HK Gruber professionally, is an Austrian composer, conductor, double bass player and singer. He is a leading figure of the so-called
Third Viennese School.
Career
Gruber is said to be a descendant (though the descent remains obscure) of
Franz Xaver Gruber
Franz Xaver Gruber (25 November 1787 – 7 June 1863) was an Austrian primary school teacher, church organist and composer in the village of Lamprechtshausen, Arnsdorf, who is best known for composing the music to "Stille Nacht" ("Silent Night" ...
, composer of the carol ''Stille Nacht'' (Silent Night). He was born in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
. From 1953 to 1957 Gruber was a member of the
Vienna Boys' Choir
The Vienna Boys' Choir (german: Wiener Sängerknaben) is a choir of boy sopranos and altos based in Vienna, Austria. It is one of the best known boys' choirs in the world. The boys are selected mainly from Austria, but also from many other countr ...
, acquiring his nickname 'Nali' (from his snoring, he believes).
He studied at the
Vienna Hochschule für Musik
The University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (german: link=no, Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, abbreviated MDW) is an Austrian university located in Vienna, established in 1817.
With a student body of over three thousa ...
, his composition teachers being
Alfred Uhl
Alfred Uhl (5 June 1909 – 8 June 1992) was an Austrian composer, violist, music teacher and conductor.
Biography
Uhl was born in Vienna and studied with Franz Schmidt at the Vienna Music Academy, receiving a diploma in composition with hon ...
,
Erwin Ratz Erwin Ratz (22 December 1898, Graz – 12 December 1973, Vienna) was an Austrian musicologist and music theorist. He is known especially for his work as president of the ''Gustav Mahler Gesellschaft'' and for his book ''Einführung in die musikalisc ...
and
Hanns Jelinek
Hanns Jelinek (5 December 1901 – 27 January 1969) was an Austrian composer of Czech descent who is also known under the pseudonyms Hanns Elin, H. J. Hirsch, Jakob Fidelbogen.
Biography
Jelinek was born and died in Vienna. His father was a ma ...
, and later
Gottfried von Einem
Gottfried von Einem (24 January 1918 – 12 July 1996) was an Austrian composer. He is known chiefly for his operas influenced by the music of Stravinsky and Prokofiev, as well as by jazz. He also composed pieces for piano, violin and organ.
Biog ...
, with whom he also studied privately. In 1961 Gruber joined the ensemble ''die reihe'' as a double bass player, and became principal bass of the Vienna Tonkünstler Orchestra in 1963. In 1968, with his composer friends
Kurt Schwertsik
Kurt Schwertsik (born 25 June 1935) is an Austrian contemporary composer. He is known for creating the "Third Viennese School" and spreading contemporary classical music.
Life
Schwertsik was born in Vienna. A pupil of Joseph Marx and Karl Schisk ...
and
Otto M. Zykan
Otto Matthäus Zykan (29 April 1935, Vienna – 25 May 2006, Sachsendorf, Burgschleinitz-Kühnring) was an Austrian composer and pianist.
He studied at the Vienna Music Academy, where his teachers included Karl Schiske (composition), Bruno ...
and the violinist
Ernst Kovacic
Ernst is both a surname and a given name, the German, Dutch, and Scandinavian form of Ernest. Notable people with the name include:
Surname
* Adolf Ernst (1832–1899) German botanist known by the author abbreviation "Ernst"
* Anton Ernst (1975- ...
, he co-founded the 'MOB-art & tone-ART' ensemble, partly to perform their own repertoire (which included a short piece by Gruber, ''Bossa Nova'', which rapidly became a hit tune) and partly that of
Mauricio Kagel
Mauricio Raúl Kagel (; 24 December 1931 – 18 September 2008) was an Argentine-German composer.
Biography
Kagel was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, into an Ashkenazi Jewish family that had fled from Russia in the 1920s . He studied music, his ...
. The ensemble may be regarded as the cradle of what has been called the 'Third Viennese School', of which Gruber is now the best-known representative.
Like Schwertsik, Gruber had been taught in the post-
Schoenbergian style of the
Second Viennese School
The Second Viennese School (german: Zweite Wiener Schule, Neue Wiener Schule) was the group of composers that comprised Arnold Schoenberg and his pupils, particularly Alban Berg and Anton Webern, and close associates in early 20th-century Vienna. ...
, but – also like Schwertsik – rapidly came to his own personal accommodation to
tonality
Tonality is the arrangement of pitches and/or chords of a musical work in a hierarchy of perceived relations, stabilities, attractions and directionality. In this hierarchy, the single pitch or triadic chord with the greatest stability is call ...
and older Viennese traditions. The critic
Paul Driver has written of Gruber: ‘Neo-romantic, neo-tonal, neo-expressionistic, neo-Viennese: he isn’t any of those things, so much as a sentient (and downright accomplished) composer who keeps responding to whatever musical stimulus, be it highbrow or lowbrow, 12-tone or 7-tone, bitter or sweet, that comes his way’.
Gruber had been composing – and also playing
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
– from his student days, but achieved international fame in 1978 with ''Frankenstein!!'', a 'pan-demonium' for chansonnier and orchestra (or large ensemble) on poems from ''allerleirausch'', a collection of children's verse by his friend, the absurdist and Viennese-
dialect
The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of Linguistics, linguistic phenomena:
One usage refers to a variety (linguisti ...
poet
H. C. Artmann
Hans Carl Artmann (12 June 1921 – 4 December 2000), also known as Ib Hansen, was an Austrian poet and writer, most popular for his early poems written in Viennese language, Viennese (''med ana schwoazzn dintn'', 1958), which however, ne ...
, which he performed as singer around the world in the following few years. He and Schwertsik shared a 'Composers' Portrait' feature at the 1979 Berlin Festival, and Gruber has subsequently been ranked among Austria's leading composers. As a performer (conductor, singer, bass player) he has been involved in music by
Peter Maxwell Davies
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (8 September 1934 – 14 March 2016) was an English composer and conductor, who in 2004 was made Master of the Queen's Music.
As a student at both the University of Manchester and the Royal Manchester College of Music ...
,
Hanns Eisler
Hanns Eisler (6 July 1898 – 6 September 1962) was an Austrian composer (his father was Austrian, and Eisler fought in a Hungarian regiment in World War I). He is best known for composing the national anthem of East Germany, for his long artisti ...
, and
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fru ...
, and made notable CD recordings of the latter two composers.
In September 2009 Gruber was appointed composer/conductor of the
BBC Philharmonic
The BBC Philharmonic is a national British broadcasting symphony orchestra and is one of five radio orchestras maintained by the British Broadcasting Corporation. The Philharmonic is a department of the BBC North Group division based at Med ...
Orchestra in succession to
James MacMillan
Sir James Loy MacMillan, (born 16 July 1959) is a Scottish classical composer and conductor.
Early life
MacMillan was born at Kilwinning, in North Ayrshire, but lived in the East Ayrshire town of Cumnock until 1977. His father is James MacMi ...
.
Selected worklist
Stage works
* ''Die Vertreibung aus dem Paradies'', melodrama for speakers and instrumentalists (1966)
* ''Gomorra'', opera to a libretto by
Richard Bletschacher
Richard Max Josef Bletschacher (born October 23, 1936 in Füssen, Bavaria) is a German writer, and dramatic advisor.
Bletschacher studied law, philosophy, and literature in Munich, Heidelberg, Paris, and Vienna, without acquiring a degree. From 19 ...
(1970–96)
* ''Gloria von Jaxtberg'' (
Gloria, a Pigtale
Amanda Juliet Holden (; 19 January 1948 – 7 September 2021) was a British pianist, librettist, translator, editor and academic teacher. She is known for translating opera librettos to more contemporary English for the English National Ope ...
), 2-act music-theatre for 5 singers and 9 session musicians, plus harp (1992-4)
* ''Der Herr Nordwind'', opera in 2 parts (2003-5)
Orchestral
* Concerto for Orchestra, op.3 (1960)
* ''Manhattan Broadcasts'' for light orchestra (1962–4)
* ''fürbass'', Concerto for double bass and orchestra (1965)
* ''Revue'' for chamber orchestra, op.22 (1968; first movement recomposed as ''Vergrößerung'' for orchestra, 1971)
* ''Phantom-Bilder auf dem Spur eines verdächtigen Themas'' (Photo-fit Pictures on the trail of a suspected theme) for small orchestra (1977)
* Violin Concerto No.1 ''‘... aus schatten duft gewebt ...’'' (1978)
* ''Rough Music'' – Concerto for percussion and orchestra (1983)
* ''
Charivari
Charivari (, , , alternatively spelled shivaree or chivaree and also called a skimmington) was a European and North American folk custom in which a mock parade was staged through a community accompanied by a discordant mock serenade. Since the cro ...
'' - An Austrian Journal for orchestra (1983)
* Violin Concerto No.2 ''Nebelsteinmusik'' for violin and strings (1988), premièred by Ernst Kovacic who was both soloist and director at the première with the
Vienna Chamber Orchestra
The Vienna Chamber Orchestra (Wiener Kammer Orchester, or WKO) is an Austrian chamber orchestra based at the Vienna Konzerthaus.
History
The WKO was founded in 1946, and its first artistic directors were Franz Litschauer, Heinrich Hollreiser, Pa ...
on 10 July 1988 at the St Florian Festival,
Sankt Florian
Sankt Florian (also ''Florian'' or ''St.Florian'') is a town in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. It is 10 miles (16 km) from Linz.
Sankt Florian is the home of St Florian's Priory, a community of Canons Regular named after Saint Flori ...
, Austria.
* Cello Concerto (1989), written for
Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma (''Chinese'': 馬友友 ''Ma Yo Yo''; born October 7, 1955) is an American cellist. Born in Paris to Chinese parents and educated in New York City, he was a child prodigy, performing from the age of four and a half. He graduated from ...
, who gave the world première with the
Boston Musica Viva
Boston Musica Viva is a Boston, Massachusetts-based music ensemble founded by its Music Director, Richard Pittman, in 1969 and dedicated to contemporary music.
Composers and compositions
In its 44-year history, Boston Musica Viva has performed m ...
under
Richard Pittman on 3 August 1989 at
Tanglewood
Tanglewood is a music venue in the towns of Lenox and Stockbridge in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. It has been the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1937. Tanglewood is also home to three music schools: the T ...
.
* ''Aerial'', concerto for trumpet and orchestra (1998-9), written for
Håkan Hardenberger
Ulf Håkan Hardenberger (born 27 October 1961 in Malmö) is a Swedish trumpeter. Taking up the trumpet at the age of eight under the guidance of hometown teacher Bo Nilsson, Hardenberger pursued further studies at the Paris Conservatoire, with P ...
who premièred the piece with the
BBC Symphony
The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. T ...
under
Neeme Järvi
Neeme Järvi (; born 7 June 1937) is an Estonian American conductor.
Early life
Järvi was born in Tallinn. He initially studied music there, and later in Leningrad at the Leningrad Conservatory under Yevgeny Mravinsky, and Nikolai Rabinovich, ...
at the
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...
, London on 29 July 1999 as part of the
BBC Proms
The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hal ...
.
* ''Zeitfluren'', Concerto for Chamber Orchestra (2001), premièred by the
London Sinfonietta
The London Sinfonietta is an English contemporary chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London.
The ensemble has headquarters at Kings Place and is Resident Orchestra at the Southbank Centre. Since its inaugural concert in 1968—givi ...
conducted by the composer at the Paul Sacher Halle,
Basel
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
on 9 November 2001.
* ''Dancing in the Dark'', orchestra (2002), premièred by the
Wiener Philharmoniker
The Vienna Philharmonic (VPO; german: Wiener Philharmoniker, links=no) is an orchestra that was founded in 1842 and is considered to be one of the finest in the world.
The Vienna Philharmonic is based at the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria. It ...
under Sir
Simon Rattle
Sir Simon Denis Rattle (born 19 January 1955) is a British-German conductor. He rose to international prominence during the 1980s and 1990s, while music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1980–1998). Rattle was principal ...
in the
Musikverein
The ( or ; ), commonly shortened to , is a concert hall in Vienna, Austria, which is located in the Innere Stadt district. The building opened in 1870 and is the home of the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra.
The acoustics of the building's 'Great ...
,
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
on 11 January 2003.
* ''Hidden Agenda'' for orchestra (2006), premièred by the
BBC Symphony
The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. T ...
directed by the composer at KKL Konzertsaal,
Lucerne
Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic German, High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label=Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking po ...
on 20 August 2006 as part of the 2006
Lucerne Festival
Lucerne Festival is one of the leading international festivals in the world of classical music and presents a series of classical music festivals based in Lucerne, Switzerland. Founded in 1938 by Ernest Ansermet and Walter Schulthess, it current ...
.
* ''Busking'' for trumpet solo, string orchestra and accordion & banjo duo (2007), written for Swedish
virtuoso
A virtuoso (from Italian ''virtuoso'' or , "virtuous", Late Latin ''virtuosus'', Latin ''virtus'', "virtue", "excellence" or "skill") is an individual who possesses outstanding talent and technical ability in a particular art or field such as ...
Håkan Hardenberger
Ulf Håkan Hardenberger (born 27 October 1961 in Malmö) is a Swedish trumpeter. Taking up the trumpet at the age of eight under the guidance of hometown teacher Bo Nilsson, Hardenberger pursued further studies at the Paris Conservatoire, with P ...
, who premièred the piece with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta conducted by the composer at the
Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ
Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ (English language, English: "Music Building on the IJ") is the main concert hall for contemporary classical music on the IJ (Amsterdam), IJ in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The building opened in 2005 and is located above the IJt ...
,
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
on 17 May 2008.
* ''Northwind Pictures'' (2003-2005/2010-11), orchestral suite drawn the opera ''der herr nordwind'', premièred by the
Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich under Gruber at the
Grafenegg Music Festival
The Grafenegg Festival is a major international classical music festival in Grafenegg, close to Vienna, Austria. The annual festival takes place on the grounds of Grafenegg Castle. Two venues have been built particularly for the festival in the ...
, near
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
, on 4 September 2011. The U.K. première of the work is given by the
BBC Philharmonic
The BBC Philharmonic is a national British broadcasting symphony orchestra and is one of five radio orchestras maintained by the British Broadcasting Corporation. The Philharmonic is a department of the BBC North Group division based at Med ...
under the composer at
Bridgewater Hall
The Bridgewater Hall is a concert venue in Manchester city centre, England. It cost around £42 million to build in the 1990s, and hosts over 250 performances a year. It is home to the 165-year-old Hallé Orchestra as well as to the Hallé ...
,
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
on 3 February 2012.
*''into The Open ...'' for percussion and orchestra (2010), premièred by the
BBC Philharmonic
The BBC Philharmonic is a national British broadcasting symphony orchestra and is one of five radio orchestras maintained by the British Broadcasting Corporation. The Philharmonic is a department of the BBC North Group division based at Med ...
under
John Storgårds
John Gunnar Rafael Storgårds (born 20 October 1963 in Helsinki) is a Finnish violinist and conductor.
Biography
Storgårds studied violin with Esther Raitio and Jouko Ignatius at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, and continued his violin studies ...
at the
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...
, London, as part of the 2015
BBC Proms
The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hal ...
.
*
Piano Concerto
A piano concerto is a type of concerto, a solo composition in the classical music genre which is composed for a piano player, which is typically accompanied by an orchestra or other large ensemble. Piano concertos are typically virtuoso showpiec ...
(2014-2016), premièred by
Emanuel Ax
Emanuel "Manny" Ax (born 8 June 1949) is a Grammy-winning American classical pianist. He is a teacher in the Juilliard School.
Early life
Ax was born to a Polish-Jewish family in Lviv, Ukraine, (in what was then the Soviet Union) to Joachim and ...
and the
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...
under
Alan Gilbert at
David Geffen Hall
David Geffen Hall is a concert hall in New York City's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts complex on Manhattan's Upper West Side. The 2,200-seat auditorium opened in 1962, and is the home of the New York Philharmonic.
The facility, designe ...
, New York City on 5 January 2017.
Brass
* ''Demilitarized Zones'', March-Paraphrase for brass band (1979)
Vocal and choral
* Mass for chorus and ensemble (1960)
* 3 Songs by
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...
for baritone, ensemble & text (1961)
* ''Frankenstein!!'', a pan-demonium for chansonnier and orchestra (or chamber orchestra) on verses of HC Artmann (1976–77; developed from voice-ensemble ''Frankenstein Suite'', 1971)
* ''Zeitstimmung'' for chansonnier and orchestra (1996)
Chamber ensemble
* Suite for 2 pianos, wind instruments and percussion (1960)
* ''Trio gioco a tre'' for piano trio op.12 (1963)
* ''Bossa Nova'' op.21 (1968)
* ''An einen Haushalt''
* ''Die wirkliche Wut über den verlorenen Groschen'' for 5 players (1972)
* ''Anagramm'' for 6 celli (1987)
* ''3 Mob Stücke'' for 7 interchangeable instruments and percussion (1968; version for trumpet and orchestra arr. 1999)
Instrumental
* 4 Pieces for solo violin, op.11
* ''6 Episoden (aus einer unterbrochenen Chronik)'' for piano, op.20 (1966–67)
* ''Bossa Nova'' for violin and piano, op.21e
* ''Luftschlösser'' (Castles in the Air) for piano (1981)
* ''Exposed Throat'' (solo trumpet)
References
Sources
*
* ''Tempo'' No.126 (September 1978) containing articles 'The Viennese MOB art & tone ART Group' by
Josef Heinzelmann Josef may refer to
*Josef (given name)
*Josef (surname) Josef is the surname of the following people:
* Jens Josef (born 1967), German composer of classical music, a flutist and academic teacher
* Michelle Josef (born 1954), Canadian musician and tr ...
; 'HK Gruber: A formal introduction from Two Sides' by
David Drew, '"Nali" Gruber: Private Impressions by a Friend' by
Otto M. Zykan
Otto Matthäus Zykan (29 April 1935, Vienna – 25 May 2006, Sachsendorf, Burgschleinitz-Kühnring) was an Austrian composer and pianist.
He studied at the Vienna Music Academy, where his teachers included Karl Schiske (composition), Bruno ...
and HK Gruber, 'Music and Politics'.
Bioat Boosey & Hawkes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gruber, Heinz Karl
1943 births
Living people
20th-century classical composers
20th-century Austrian male singers
21st-century classical composers
21st-century double-bassists
21st-century Austrian male singers
Austrian male classical composers
Austrian classical musicians
Male double-bassists
Musicians from Vienna