Max Deutsch (17 November 1892 – 22 November 1982) was an Austrian-French composer, conductor, and academic teacher. He studied with

Arnold Schönberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...

and was his assistant. Teaching at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

and the

École Normale de Musique de Paris The École Normale de Musique de Paris "Alfred Cortot" (ENMP) is a leading conservatoire located in Paris, Île-de-France, France. At the time of the school's foundation in 1919 by Auguste Mangeot, Alfred Cortot. The term ''école normale'' (Engl ...

, he influenced notable students such as Philippe Capdenat, Donald Harris,

György Kurtág György Kurtág (; born 19 February 1926) is a Hungarian classical composer and pianist. He was an academic teacher of piano at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music from 1967, later also of chamber music, and taught until 1993. Biography György ...

and

Philippe Manoury Philippe Manoury (born 19 June 1952) is a French composer. Biography Manoury was born in Tulle and began composition studies at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris with Gérard Condé and Max Deutsch. He continued his studies from 1974 to ...

Career

Born in Vienna, Deutsch was a pupil of and assistant to

Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...

. He studied under him in Vienna before the First World War; and followed Schönberg as his assistant to Amsterdam in 1921. Deutsch was a Fellow and taught at UNESCO, and taught at the

( Paris IV) from 1970 to 1971, and finally, from 1972 to the

. He founded in Paris the

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actor, actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The p ...

' (''The Jewish Mirror''), where many works of composers such as Schönberg,

Anton Webern Anton Friedrich Wilhelm von Webern (3 December 188315 September 1945), better known as Anton Webern (), was an Austrian composer and conductor whose music was among the most radical of its milieu in its sheer concision, even aphorism, and stea ...

and

Alban Berg Alban Maria Johannes Berg ( , ; 9 February 1885 – 24 December 1935) was an Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School. His compositional style combined Romantic lyricism with the twelve-tone technique. Although he left a relatively sma ...

were first performed.

Konstantin Stanislavsky Konstantin Sergeyevich Stanislavski ( Alekseyev; russian: Константин Сергеевич Станиславский, p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin sʲɪrˈgʲejɪvʲɪtɕ stənʲɪˈslafskʲɪj; 7 August 1938) was a seminal Russian Soviet Fe ...

commissioned a work which was to become the opera ' (Chess). His "film symphony" ' (The Treasure) came from a commission from German film director

Georg Wilhelm Pabst Georg Wilhelm Pabst (25 August 1885 – 29 May 1967) was an Austrian film director and screenwriter. He started as an actor and theater director, before becoming one of the most influential German-language filmmakers during the Weimar Republic. ...

to provide an original musical score for his 1923 film. In structure, ' was crafted in two formats: a

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

and a stand-alone symphonic work. The five act symphony survived because the manuscript in the latter form was donated to the

Deutsches Filminstitut The Deutsches Filminstitut – DIF ("German Film Institute") is an institute for the study of film, based in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. History The Deutsches Filminstitut was founded on 13 April 1949 as the Deutsches Institut für Filmkunde (DIF ...

in 1982, shortly before Deutsch died. A score of years later, DeutschlandRadio Berlin collaborated with the

Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz The Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz (State Philharmonic of Rhineland-Palatinate) is the largest and leading symphony orchestra of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, based in Ludwigshafen am Rhein. It gives concerts in Rhineland-Palati ...

, conducted by

Frank Strobel Frank Strobel (born in 1966 in Munich) is a German conductor known for premieres and performances of works by composers Sergei Prokofiev, Franz Schreker and Siegfried Wagner. He is authorized arranger and editor of works by the composer Alfred ...

, to produce a record of "this extremely rare and totally unknown symphonic work". The recording became the foundation of a "synchronized restoration" of the film. As film music the "piece is scored for a theater orchestra of the kind typically found in European cinemas of the day". It brings to mind the work of

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

Stefan Wolpe Stefan Wolpe (25 August 1902, Berlin – 4 April 1972, New York City) was a German-Jewish-American composer. He was associated with interdisciplinary modernism, with affiliations ranging from the Bauhaus, Berlin agitprop theater and the kibbutz mo ...

, and foreshadows

Max Steiner Maximilian Raoul Steiner (May 10, 1888 – December 28, 1971) was an Austrian composer and conductor who emigrated to America and went on to become one of Hollywood's greatest musical composers. Steiner was a child prodigy who conducted ...

's modernist film scores, adopting

expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

atonal Atonality in its broadest sense is music that lacks a tonal center, or key. ''Atonality'', in this sense, usually describes compositions written from about the early 20th-century to the present day, where a hierarchy of harmonies focusing on a s ...

twelve tone The twelve-tone technique—also known as dodecaphony, twelve-tone serialism, and (in British usage) twelve-note composition—is a method of musical composition first devised by Austrian composer Josef Matthias Hauer, who published his "law o ...

leitmotif A leitmotif or leitmotiv () is a "short, recurring musical phrase" associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical concepts of ''idée fixe'' or ''motto-theme''. The spelling ''leitmotif'' is an anglici ...

s. Mood setting and character are developed; pianos appear throughout. From 1940 to 1945, Deutsch served in the

French Foreign Legion The French Foreign Legion (french: Légion étrangère) is a corps of the French Army which comprises several specialties: infantry, Armoured Cavalry Arm, cavalry, Military engineering, engineers, Airborne forces, airborne troops. It was created ...

. He formed long lasting friendships with

Georges Bernanos Louis Émile Clément Georges Bernanos (; 20 February 1888 – 5 July 1948) was a French author, and a soldier in World War I. A Catholic with monarchist leanings, he was critical of elitist thought and was opposed to what he identified as defea ...

and

Jean Cassou Jean Cassou (9 July 1897 – 15 January 1986) was a French writer, art critic, poet, member of the French Resistance during World War II and the first Director of the Musée national d'Art moderne in Paris. Biography Jean Cassou was born at Bi ...

. He was close to

Tristan Tzara Tristan Tzara (; ; born Samuel or Samy Rosenstock, also known as S. Samyro; – 25 December 1963) was a Romanian and French avant-garde poet, essayist and performance artist. Also active as a journalist, playwright, literary and art critic, comp ...

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the su ...

and

Vladimir Jankelevitch Vladimir may refer to: Names * Vladimir (name) for the Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Macedonian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak and Slovenian spellings of a Slavic name * Uladzimir for the Belarusian version of the name * Volodymyr for the Ukra ...

. Max Deutsch was a friend of

Ferruccio Busoni Ferruccio Busoni (1 April 1866 – 27 July 1924) was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor, editor, writer, and teacher. His international career and reputation led him to work closely with many of the leading musicians, artists and literary ...

. He died in Paris. After the Second World War, he devoted himself mainly to teaching music, chiefly following the principles of Schönberg. In Paris, among his hundreds of students, there were composers:

Jorge Arriagada Jorge Arriagada (born 1943) is a Chilean film composer. He is perhaps best known for his long-term collaboration with director Raúl Ruiz (director), Raúl Ruiz. He has also worked with directors Patricio Guzman, Barbet Schroeder and Olivier Assay ...

Girolamo Arrigo Girolamo is an Italian language, Italian variant of the name Hieronymus. Its English language, English equivalent is Jerome (given name), Jerome. It may refer to: * Girolamo Cardano (1501–1576), Italian Renaissance mathematician, physician, ast ...

Colette Bailly Colette Bailly (born 27 August 1928) is a French pianist and composer, a student of Max Deutsch in Paris. Selected works * Chamber symphony (1968) * ''Ko-hi-nhor'' for orchestra (1974) * ''Trio de chambre'' for piano, violin and cello (196 ...

Sylvano Bussotti Sylvano Bussotti (1 October 1931 – 19 September 2021) was an Italian composer of contemporary classical music, also a painter, set and costume designer, opera director and manager, writer and academic teacher. His compositions employ graphic n ...

, Philippe Capdenat,

Gérard Condé Gérard Condé (born 26 January 1947) is a French composer and music critic. Life Born in Nancy, Condé was first self-taught until 1965 then studied harmony at the before following the teaching of Max Deutsch (composition) in Paris between ...

, Ahmed Essyad, Jacqueline Fontyn,

Sylvia Hallett Sylvia Hallett (born 1953) is an English musician and composer. She plays many instruments including the violin and she is known for improvisations on unusual instruments. She has appeared at international festivals, often in collaboration with ...

, Donald Harris,

Félix Ibarrondo Félix Ibarrondo (born 12 June 1943) is a French composer of Basque origin. Life Ibarrondo was born in Oñati in the Gipuzkoa province of the Basque Country (greater region), Basque country in Spain. Coming from a musical family, he learned mus ...

Patrick Marcland Patrick may refer to: *Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name * Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People *Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint *Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick o ...

Luis de Pablo Luis de Pablo Costales (28 January 1930 – 10 October 2021) was a Spanish composer belonging to the generation that Cristóbal Halffter named ''the Generación del 51''. Mostly self-taught as a composer and influenced by Maurice Ohana and Max ...

, Yves-Marie Pasquet,

Kyriakos Sfetsas Kyriakos Sfetsas ( el, Κυριάκος Σφέτσας; born September 29, 1945) is a Greek composer. His body of work consists of a large number of compositions: symphonic, choral, ballet and theatre music, chamber, electronic, film scores, pie ...

, Raymond Vaillant; American composers

David Chaitkin David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

, Edmund Cionek,

Eugene Kurtz Eugene Allen Kurtz (December 27, 1923 – July 7, 2006) was an Americans, American composer of contemporary classical music. He received an M.A. in music from the Eastman School of Music in 1949. His instructors included Arthur Honegger, Darius M ...

Allen Shearer Allen Raymond Shearer (born October 5, 1943 in Seattle, Washington) is an American composer and baritone. Life Shearer’s early musical experiences were as a singer; the majority of his works are for the voice or voices, with a later emphasis ...

, and Dean C. Taylor; British composer

Nicholas Maw John Nicholas Maw (5 November 1935 – 19 May 2009) was a British composer. Among his works are the operas '' The Rising of the Moon'' (1970) and ''Sophie's Choice'' (2002). Biography Born in Grantham, Lincolnshire, Maw was the son of Clarence ...

; Canadian-born Srul Irving Glick; Italian

; the conductor

Alexandre Myrat Alexandre may refer to: * Alexandre (given name) * Alexandre (surname) * Alexandre (film) See also * Alexander * Xano (disambiguation) Xano is the name of: * Xano, a Portuguese hypocoristic of the name "Alexandre (disambiguation) Alexandre may re ...

; and music critic

Heinz-Klaus Metzger Heinz-Klaus Metzger (6 February 1932 – 25 October 2009) was a German music critic and theorist. Born in Konstanz, Metzger studied piano under Carl Seemann in Freiburg im Breisgau and composition under Max Deutsch in Paris. Later, he met Theod ...

Family

A love of music and

music theory Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the "rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (ke ...

ran in the family. His brother was Frederick Dorian (1902-1991). Frederick's name metamorphosed from Friederich Deutsch before he became a

naturalized Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

American. Both Deutsch brothers studied under Schönberg in Vienna. Frederick too was a master of music and learned the subject from a number of other sources. Frederick was taught musicology by

Guido Adler Guido Adler (1 November 1855, Ivančice (Eibenschütz), Moravia – 15 February 1941, Vienna) was a Bohemian-Austrian musicologist and writer. Biography Early life and education Adler was born at Eibenschütz in Moravia in 1855. He moved ...

. He earned a PhD in 1924 with his thesis, "Fugue in the works of Beethoven" ("").

Eduard Steuermann Eduard Steuermann (June 18, 1892 in Sambor, Austro-Hungarian Empire – November 11, 1964 in New York City) was an Austrian (and later American) pianist and composer. Steuermann studied piano with Vilém Kurz at the Lemberg Conservatory and Fer ...

taught him piano.

taught him how to conduct and

. He spent a four-year stint, beginning in 1930, as a music critic which was capped by a year as a correspondent of the ''

Frankfurter Zeitung The ''Frankfurter Zeitung'' () was a German-language newspaper that appeared from 1856 to 1943. It emerged from a market letter that was published in Frankfurt. In Nazi Germany, it was considered the only mass publication not completely controlle ...

'' in Paris. Thereafter he became a

Carnegie-Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

music professor.

Legacy

Before he died, Deutsch attempted to destroy all of his compositions, so that his only surviving legacy would be his students. However, some of his work survived. In late 2013, a recording of Deutsch conducting the

Suisse Romande Orchestra The Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (OSR) is a Swiss symphony orchestra, based in Geneva at the Victoria Hall. In addition to symphony concerts, the OSR performs as the opera orchestra in productions at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. History Er ...

in a performance of three "master works" by

was released. It includes short lectures by Deutsch on each of the pieces.

Works

* ', opera (1923) * ', revue (Moulin Rouge) and film music for Georg Wilhelm Pabsts (1923) * ' (1925) * ', opera (1972) * ''The Flight'', incidental music for the play ''Tristan Tzara'' * ''Prayer for us carnal'', choral symphony with a text by Charles Peguy * ''Choirs of men from Vinci''

References

Notes

Citations

Sources

External links

*
Max Deutsch photograph
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deutsch, Max Austrian conductors (music) Male conductors (music) French male conductors (music) Austrian male composers French male composers 1892 births 1982 deaths 20th-century Austrian people Pupils of Arnold Schoenberg 20th-century Austrian Jews Soldiers of the French Foreign Legion Musicians from Vienna Academics of the École Normale de Musique de Paris 20th-century Austrian musicians 20th-century Austrian male musicians 20th-century French composers 20th-century French conductors (music) 20th-century French male musicians Austrian emigrants to France