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Josef Rufer (1893–1985) was an Austrian-born
Josef Rufer (1893–1985) was an Austrian-born musicologist
Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...
. He is regarded as a significant figure mainly on account of his association with and writings on Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first Modernism (music), modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-centu ...
.
Rufer was a pupil of Alexander von Zemlinsky
Alexander Zemlinsky or Alexander von Zemlinsky (14 October 1871 – 15 March 1942) was an Austrian composer, conductor, and teacher.
Biography
Early life
Zemlinsky was born in Vienna to a highly diverse family. Zemlinsky's grandfather, Anton ...
and Schoenberg in Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
; when the latter composer moved to Berlin to direct the Masterclass in Composition at the Prussian Academy of Arts
The Prussian Academy of Arts () was a state arts academy first established in 1694 by prince-elector Frederick III of Electorate of Brandenburg, Brandenburg in Berlin, in personal union Duke Frederick I of Prussia, and later king in Kingdom of ...
, Rufer went with him and operated as his Chief Assistant between 1925 and 1933.
Rufer was thus closely involved with Schoenberg during the period of development of serialism
In music, serialism is a method of composition using series of pitches, rhythms, dynamics, timbres or other musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, though some of his contemporaries were also ...
and the 12-note method, and it was during a walk with Rufer that Schoenberg uttered the famous statement, regarding these: "I have made a discovery which will ensure the supremacy of German music for the next hundred years".Stuckenschmidt, Hans Heinz. 1977. ''Schoenberg: His Life, World and Work''. Translated from the German by Humphrey Searle. New York: Schirmer Books, p.277
Rufer's writings on Schoenberg include the introduction to the serial method ''Die Komposition mit Zwölf Tönen'' (Berlin, 1952; translated as ''Composition With Twelve Notes'', London, 1954; reprinted 1969, ), and the catalogue ''Das Werk Arnold Schönberg's'' (Kassel, 1959; translated as ''The Works of Arnold Schoenberg'', London, 1962). Both were seminal in the study of the composer and his music.
See also
* Rufer HouseReferences