Rolf Liebermann (14 September 1910 – 2 January 1999), was a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

composer and music administrator. He served as the Artistic Director of the

Hamburg State Opera The Hamburg State Opera (in German: Staatsoper Hamburg) is a German opera company based in Hamburg. Its theatre is near the square of Gänsemarkt. Since 2015, the current ''Intendant'' of the company is Georges Delnon, and the current ''General ...

from 1959 to 1973 and again from 1985 to 1988. He was also Artistic Director of the

Paris Opera The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be ...

from 1973 to 1980.

Life

Liebermann was born in

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

, and studied composition and conducting with Hermann Scherchen in Budapest and Vienna in the 1930s, and later with

Wladimir Vogel Wladimir Rudolfowitsch Vogel (17 February/29 February 1896 – 19 June 1984) was a Swiss composer of German and Russian descent. Life Born in Moscow, Vogel first studied composition in Moscow with Alexander Scriabin, then between 1918 and 192 ...

in Basel. His compositional output involved several different musical genres, including

chansons A (, , french: chanson française, link=no, ; ) is generally any lyric-driven French song, though it most often refers to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval and Renaissance music. The genre had origins in the monophonic so ...

, classical, and light music. His classical music often combines myriad styles and techniques, including those drawn from

baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

, classical, and

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 ...

music. Liebermann was the director of the Hamburg Staatsoper from 1959 to 1973, and again from 1985 to 1988. During his tenure in Hamburg, he commissioned 24 new operas, including ''The Devils'' by

Krzysztof Penderecki Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki (; 23 November 1933 – 29 March 2020) was a Polish composer and conductor. His best known works include ''Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima'', Symphony No. 3, his '' St Luke Passion'', ''Polish Requiem'', ''A ...

, '' Der Prinz von Homburg'' by

Hans Werner Henze Hans Werner Henze (1 July 1926 – 27 October 2012) was a German composer. His large oeuvre of works is extremely varied in style, having been influenced by serialism, atonality, Stravinsky, Italian music, Arabic music and jazz, as well as t ...

, and '' Help, Help, the Globolinks!'' by

Gian Carlo Menotti Gian Carlo Menotti (, ; July 7, 1911 – February 1, 2007) was an Italian composer, librettist, director, and playwright who is primarily known for his output of 25 operas. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept h ...

. In the intervening years he served as director of the

from 1973 to 1980. He died in Paris. At the inaugural

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

in 1956, Liebermann acted as the president of the jury; being responsible for moderating and finalising the results of the seven international juries judging the competition. In 1992 he served on the jury of the Paloma O'Shea Santander International Piano Competition in Spain. In 1989, he was the head of the jury at the 39th Berlin International Film Festival.

Works

*1943 ''Polyphone Studien'' for chamber orchestra *1944 ''Une des fins du monde'', cantata for baritone and orchestra after

Jean Giraudoux Hippolyte Jean Giraudoux (; 29 October 1882 – 31 January 1944) was a French novelist, essayist, diplomat and playwright. He is considered among the most important French dramatists of the period between World War I and World War II. His wo ...

*1945 ''Chinese Love Songs''; ''Furioso'' *1947 ''Swiss Folk Song Suite'' (Schweizerische Volksliedersuite) *1949 ''Music'' for Orchestra and Reciter; ''Chinese Song''; ''Symphony No 1'' *1950 ''Streitlied zwischen Leben und Tod'' (Combat Song of Life and Death) *1951 Sonata for piano *1952 ' (opera). First performance: Basel *1954 ''Penelope'' (opera). First performance:

Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival (german: Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer (for five weeks starting in late July) in the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amad ...

(

George Szell George Szell (; June 7, 1897 – July 30, 1970), originally György Széll, György Endre Szél, or Georg Szell, was a Hungarian-born American conductor and composer. He is widely considered one of the twentieth century's greatest condu ...

/Schuh/Neher/

Anneliese Rothenberger Anneliese Rothenberger (19 June 191924 May 2010) was a German operatic soprano who had an active international performance career which spanned from 1942 to 1983. She specialized in the lyric coloratura soprano repertoire, and was particularly adm ...

/ Walter Berry/ Peter Klein (tenor)/

Rudolf Schock Rudolf Johann Schock (4 September 1915 – 13 November 1986) was a German tenor. Rudolf Schock was born in Duisburg, in the Prussian Rhine Province. He sang a wide repertoire from operetta to ''Lohengrin'', recording among others opera and lieder, ...

Max Lorenz (tenor) Max Lorenz (born Max Sülzenfuß; 10 May 1901 – 11 January 1975) was a German heldentenor famous for Wagnerian roles. Career Lorenz was born in Düsseldorf, and studied with Ernst Grenzebach in Berlin in the 1920s. He later was a pupil of E ...

Kurt Böhme Kurt Böhme (5 May 1908 – 20 December 1989) was a German bass. He was born in Dresden, Germany, where he studied with Adolf Kluge at the Dresden Conservatory. He made his debut in 1930 in Bautzen in Der Freischütz, singing both Kaspar (a sign ...

Kurt Equiluz Kurt Equiluz (13 June 1929 – 20 June 2022) was an Austrian classical tenor in opera and concert. He was a member of the Vienna State Opera as a tenor buffo from 1957 until 1983, remembered for roles such as Pedrillo in Mozart's ''Die Entfüh ...

) *1954 ''Concerto for Jazzband and Symphony Orchestra''. First performance: Donaueschingen, cond.

Hans Rosbaud Hans Rosbaud (22 July 1895 – 29 December 1962) was an Austrian conductor, particularly associated with the music of the twentieth century. Biography Rosbaud was born in Graz. As children, he and his brother Paul Rosbaud performed with thei ...

. American première: the

Sauter-Finegan Orchestra The Sauter-Finegan Orchestra was an American swing jazz band popular in the 1950s. The orchestra was led by Eddie Sauter and Bill Finegan, who were both experienced big band arrangers. Sauter played mellophone, trumpet, and drums, and had attende ...

with the

Chicago Symphony Orchestra The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) was founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891. The ensemble makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival. The music director is Riccardo Muti, who began his tenure ...

, cond.

Fritz Reiner Frederick Martin "Fritz" Reiner (December 19, 1888 – November 15, 1963) was a prominent conductor of opera and symphonic music in the twentieth century. Hungarian born and trained, he emigrated to the United States in 1922, where he rose to ...

(also recorded for

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

at that time) *1955 ''The School for Wives'' (opera). First performance of the one-act version: Louisville, Kentucky *1956 Executive supervisor for the

Eurovision Song Contest 1956 The Eurovision Song Contest 1956 was the first edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest, organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcasters the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR) and (RSI). The contest, origin ...

*1957 ''Die Schule der Frauen'' (opera). European premiere: Salzburg Festival (Szell/Schuh/Neher/ Walter Berry/

Nicolai Gedda Harry Gustaf Nikolai Gädda, known professionally as Nicolai Gedda (11 July 1925 – 8 January 2017), was a Swedish operatic tenor. Debuting in 1951, Gedda had a long and successful career in opera until the age of 77 in June 2003, when he made h ...

/ Christa Ludwig) *1958 ''Geigy Festival Concerto'' for

Basler drum The Basel drum (also known as the Basler or Basle drum) is a two-headed rope-tension drum. It takes its name from its origin in Basel. This percussion instrument is best known from the Carnival of Basel, where it is played by more than 2000 drumm ...

and orchestra *1959 ''Capriccio'' for soprano, violin and orchestra *1964 ''Concert des Echanges'', Swiss National Exhibition, Lausanne *1981 ''Essai 81'' for cello and piano *1984 ''Ferdinand'', parable for speaker and instruments *1987 ''La Forêt'' (opera). First performance: Geneva (Tate/Deflo/Orlandi) *1988 ''Herring Quintet''; ''Cosmopolitan Greetings'' (Gruntz/Wilson/Ginsberg) *1989 ''Medea Monologue'' for soprano, female choir and orchestra *1990 ''3x1 = CH+X'' for mezzo-soprano, choir, and orchestra *1992 ''Freispruch für Medea'' (opera). First performance: Hamburg 1995 *1994 ''Enigma''; Violin Concerto *1995 Piano Concerto *1996 ''Die schlesischen Weber'' (text: Heinrich Heine) for mixed choir, string quartet, and piano *1997 ''Variations on a Theme from Appenzell'' for five instruments *1998 ''Mouvance'' for nine percussion players and piano

References

External links

Rolf Liebermann
biography and works on the UE website (publisher)

at Sikorski Publishing {{DEFAULTSORT:Liebermann, Rolf 1910 births 1999 deaths Jewish classical composers Swiss classical composers Swiss Jews Musicians from Zürich Opera managers Directors of the Paris Opera Swiss opera composers Male opera composers Jewish opera composers Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Composers awarded knighthoods Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur 20th-century classical composers Jews from Hamburg Swiss male classical composers 20th-century male musicians Eurovision Song Contest people 20th-century Swiss composers