Walter Kaufmann (1 April 1907 – 9 September 1984) was a
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and def ...
,
conductor, ethnomusicologist, librettist and
educator
A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching.
''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...
. Born in
Karlsbad,
Bohemia
Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...
(at that time part of
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...
), he trained in Prague and Berlin before fleeing the Nazi persecution of Jews to work in
Bombay
Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...
until Indian Independence. He then moved to
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
and
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
before settling in the USA as a professor of musicology at Indiana University,
Bloomington, Indiana
Bloomington is a city in Monroe County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. The population was 79,168 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the List of municipalities in Indiana, seventh-most populous city in Indiana and ...
in 1957. In 1964, he became a
naturalized
Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...
U.S. citizen.
Biography
Kaufmann was born in
Karlovy Vary
Karlovy Vary (; , formerly also spelled ''Carlsbad'' in English) is a spa town, spa city in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 49,000 inhabitants. It is located at the confluence of the Ohře and Teplá (river), Teplá ri ...
to Julius and Josefine Antonia. He studied at the Hochschule für Musik in
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
training under
Franz Schreker and
Curt Sachs
Curt Sachs (; 29 June 1881 – 5 February 1959) was a German musicologist. He was one of the founders of modern organology (the study of musical instruments). Among his contributions was the Hornbostel–Sachs system, which he created with Eric ...
between 1927 and 1930. He then studied in Prague under
Gustav Becking and Paul Nettl (father of the musicologist
Bruno Nettl
Bruno Nettl (March 14, 1930 – January 15, 2020) was an American ethnomusicologist and academic of Czech birth. A central figure of ethnomusicology, he was among the discipline's most influential scholars. Nettl's research interests varied wi ...
). While a student he met and became friends with
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...
. He graduated in 1934 with a dissertation on
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic music, Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and ...
but refused a degree in protest of his ''ordinarius'' (=professor) Gustav Becking who was a Nazi supporter. For a time he worked as an assistant to the conductor
Bruno Walter
Bruno Walter (born Bruno Schlesinger, September 15, 1876February 17, 1962) was a Germany, German-born Conducting, conductor, pianist, and composer. Born in Berlin, he escaped Nazi Germany in 1933, was naturalised as a French people, French cit ...
at the Charlottenburg Opera in Berlin and for
Radio Prague
Radio Prague International () is the official international broadcasting station of the Czech Republic. Broadcasting first began on 31 August 1936 near the spa town of Poděbrady. Radio Prague broadcasts in six languages: English, German, Fr ...
and saw some of his earliest compositions played in Carlsbad, Berlin, Wroclaw, Prague and Vienna.
['Walter Kaufmann', ''Music and the Holocaust'', ORT]
/ref>
He married Gerti (Gertrude) Hermann (d. 1972), a niece of Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of Litera ...
and the family fled Nazi Germany in 1934. His father died when the family reached the Czech border. He moved to India and worked as a director of music at the All India Radio in Bombay from 1937 to 1946. His contemporary John Foulds, known for banning the harmonium from Indian radio, worked in New Delhi. He founded the Bombay Chamber Music Society along with others like Mehli Mehta (Kaufmann also taught the Mehtas' son Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta (born 29 April 1936) is an Indian conductor of Western classical music. He is music director emeritus of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) and conductor :wikt:emeritus, emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Mehta's father ...
). He also researched Indian and Asian music, writing about them in journals. He composed th
signature tune
for All India Radio
All India Radio (AIR), also known as Akashvani (), is India's state-owned public broadcasting, public radio broadcaster. Founded in 1936, it operates under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry of Information and Broa ...
in 1936.
Just before the war Kaufmann spent some time in America, unsuccessfully attempting to establish himself there, but ultimately returned to India. During World War II he served in the British Navy and after the war he tried to return to Prague but settled instead in London, arriving in August 1946, where he scored two documentary films for the Rank Organisation
The Rank Organisation (founded as the J. Arthur Rank Organisation) is a British entertainment conglomerate founded in 1937 by industrialist J. Arthur Rank. It quickly became the largest and most vertically integrated film company in the Uni ...
and (at the invitation of Adrian Boult
Sir Adrian Cedric Boult, CH (; 8 April 1889 – 22 February 1983) was a British conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family, he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London ...
) occasionally conducted the BBC Theatre Orchestra. A year later he left England, moving to Nova Scotia, Canada where he taught at the Halifax Conservatory. With the support of by Sir Ernest MacMillan, Kaufmann was invited to become the first professional conductor of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra from 1948 to 1956. Divorced from his first wife Gerti, he married the pianist Freda Trepel in 1951. After moving to the United States, he served as a professor of musicology at Indiana University
Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...
from 1957 until his death in 1984 in Bloomington.
Music
Kaufmann was a prolific composer. There are over eighty works with orchestra in his catalogue,[Wynberg, Simon]
Notes to ''Chamber Works by Walter Kaufmann'', Chandos CD 20170
(2020) including six symphonies (between 1930 and 1956). There are also eleven numbered string quartets and more than a dozen operas.
Kaufmann adapted to his circumstances. He initially established himself as a composer from 1927 in Prague, Vienna and Berlin with works such as the Symphony No 1, Piano Concerto No 1, Suite for Strings and ''Five Orchestral Pieces''. Once in India he combined Western and Oriental traditions in pieces such as ''Madras Express'', the ''Six Indian Miniatures'' and the Violin Concerto No 3, as well as in many chamber works, applying raga
A raga ( ; , ; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a musical mode, melodic mode. It is central to classical Indian music. Each raga consists of an array of melodic structures with musical motifs; and, fro ...
techniques in some of them. He also contributed to soundtracks for Bombay's pre-Bollywood
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...
film industry with scores such as ''Jagran'' (1936), '' Toofani Tarzan'' (1937) and '' Ek Din Ka Sultan'' (1946).[
While in the UK he began to write light music character pieces such as the ''Fleet Street Tavern'' overture. In Canada his ballet scores ''Visages'' (1948) and ''The Rose and the Ring'' (1949) were commissioned by the ]Royal Winnipeg Ballet
The Royal Winnipeg Ballet is Canada's oldest ballet company and the longest continuously operating ballet company in North America.
History
It was founded in 1939 as the "Winnipeg Ballet Club" by Gweneth Lloyd and Betty Farrally (who also fou ...
,[ and several large orchestral works were written for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. His wife Freda was the soloist for the premiere of his second Piano Concerto, and Kaufmann invited leading performers such as Glenn Gould and ]Szymon Goldberg Szymon Goldberg (1 June 1909 – 19 July 1993) was a Polish-born Jewish classical violinist and conductor, latterly an American.
Born in Włocławek, Congress Poland, Goldberg played the violin as a child growing up in Warsaw. His first teacher ...
to play with the Winnipeg Symphony.[ And in the US his opera ''The Scarlet Letter'' (after Hawthorne) was very well received at its premiere by the Opera Department of the Indiana University School of Music in the early 1960s.
His scores can be found in The Kaufmann Archive at the William and Gayle Cook Music Library at Indiana University, in Harvard University's
]Houghton Library
Houghton Library, on the south side of Harvard Yard adjacent to Widener Library, Lamont Library, and Loeb House, is Harvard University's primary repository for rare books and manuscripts. It is part of the Harvard College Library, the library s ...
.,[ and in the Moldenhauer Archives, Spokane, Washington.
]
Selected list of works
Books
*''Altindien'' (Musikgeschichte in Bildern, Bd. 2; Musik des Altertums, Lfg. 8. Leipzig, Deutscher Verlag für Musik, 1981)
*''Musical Notations of the Orient: Notational Systems of Continental, East, South and Central Asia'' (Indiana University Humanities Series, no. 60. Bloomington, Indiana University Press
Indiana University Press, also known as IU Press, is an academic publisher founded in 1950 at Indiana University that specializes in the humanities and social sciences. Its headquarters are located in Bloomington, Indiana. IU Press publishes ...
, 1967)
*''Musical References in the Chinese Classics'' (Detroit, Information Coordinators, 1976)
*''The Ragas of North India'' (Bloomington, Indiana University Press
Indiana University Press, also known as IU Press, is an academic publisher founded in 1950 at Indiana University that specializes in the humanities and social sciences. Its headquarters are located in Bloomington, Indiana. IU Press publishes ...
, 1968)
*''The Ragas of South India: A Catalogue of Scalar Material'' (Bloomington, Indiana University Press
Indiana University Press, also known as IU Press, is an academic publisher founded in 1950 at Indiana University that specializes in the humanities and social sciences. Its headquarters are located in Bloomington, Indiana. IU Press publishes ...
, 1976)
*''Selected Musical Terms of Non-Western Cultures: A Notebook-Glossary'' (Detroit Studies in Music Bibliography, no. 65. Warren, MI, Harmonie Park Press, 1990)
*''Tibetan Buddhist Chant: Musical Notations and Interpretations of a Song Book by the Bkah Brgyud Pa and Sa Skya Pa Sects'' (Translated by T. Norbu. Indiana University Humanities Series, no. 70. Bloomington, Indiana University Press
Indiana University Press, also known as IU Press, is an academic publisher founded in 1950 at Indiana University that specializes in the humanities and social sciences. Its headquarters are located in Bloomington, Indiana. IU Press publishes ...
, 1975)
He also published a number of research papers and record reviews especially in ethnomusicology. After coming in contact with Verrier Elwin, he studied Gond music.
Recordings
''Chamber Works by Walter Kaufmann''. ARC Ensemble (Chandos)[
''Piano Concerto No. 3, Symphony No. 3, An Indian Symphony, Six Indian Miniatures''. Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra cond. David Robert Coleman (CPO)]
Review by Norman LebrechtReview by Jonathan Woolf
References
External links
at Indiana University.
''Lento'', from String Quartet No 11, performed by ARC Ensemble
*
''Remembering Walter Kauffmann though his music'' - Canadian Broadcasting Corp, 27 August 2020
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaufmann, Walter
1907 births
1984 deaths
Jewish classical composers
Czech male classical composers
Czech film score composers
American film score composers
American male film score composers
American ethnomusicologists
Czech ethnomusicologists
Jewish musicologists
20th-century Austrian musicologists
Czech musicologists
20th-century American composers
20th-century American musicologists
20th-century American male musicians
Naturalized citizens of the United States