Karel Reiner (27 June 1910 – 17 October 1979) was a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

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 ...

and

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

, persecuted by

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

as a

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

and by

communists Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, d ...

as a

formalist Formalism may refer to: * Legal formalism, legal positivist view that the substantive justice of a law is a question for the legislature rather than the judiciary * Formalism (linguistics) * Scientific formalism * A rough synonym to the Formal sys ...

, but he was member of communist party to 1968. He was the only classical composer to survive the concentration camp in

Theresienstadt Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ( German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstadt served as a waystation to the extermination c ...

Life

He was born in

Žatec Žatec (; ) is a town in Louny District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 19,000 inhabitants. It lies on the Ohře River. Žatec is famous for an over-700-year-long tradition of growing Saaz hops, Saaz noble hops u ...

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 ...

into a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family. His father Josef was a kantor in

's synagogue. He studied law, and acquired his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

in 1934. In 1929 he also studied composition privately with

Alois Hába Alois Hába (21 June 1893 – 18 November 1973) was a Czech composer, music theorist and teacher. He belongs to the important discoverers in modern classical music, and to the major composers of microtonal music, especially using the quarter-to ...

and composed ''Fantasia for Quarter - tone piano''. In 1931 he graduated from the Master School of Composition with ''Orchestral suite'', as a student of Josef Suk. Reiner was also a concert pianist who cooperated with Theatre of

Emil František Burian Emil František Burian (11 June 1904 – 9 August 1959) was a Czech poet, journalist, singer, actor, musician, composer, dramatic adviser, playwright and director. He was also a longtime activist in the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. Ear ...

(1934–38). During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

; he was imprisoned in

Nazi concentration camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps (), including subcamp (SS), subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately af ...

, first in

(deported on 7 July 1943), he participated in musical activities there, created incidental music for the play Esther, directed by Norbert Frýd. Later, on 28 September 1944, he was deported to

Auschwitz-Birkenau Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...

, afterwards to Landsberg and finally to Kaufering, a subcamp of the

Dachau Dachau (, ; , ; ) was one of the first concentration camps built by Nazi Germany and the longest-running one, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents, which consisted of communists, s ...

camp. Following the

death march A death march is a forced march of prisoners of war, other captives, or deportees in which individuals are left to die along the way. It is distinct from simple prisoner transport via foot march. Article 19 of the Geneva Convention requires tha ...

and liberation he returned to

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

, where he reunited with his wife Hana (she also survived the imprisonment in concentration camps). He had problems with gaining his Czech citizenship after the war, even though as an adult he considered himself always as a Czech, not a Jew or German. He began to participate in music life again, but soon after the communist Victorious February in 1948 he was accused of formalism. Reiner was member of the

Communist Party of Czechoslovakia The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ( Czech and Slovak: ''Komunistická strana Československa'', KSČ) was a communist and Marxist–Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992. It was a member of the Com ...

since 1948, but he left in 1969. He died in Prague in 1979.

Style

Reiner's musical output was created during fifty years, since 1928/9 to 1979, and was firmly connected with the political situation in Czechoslovakia in the 20th century. His first artistic period was influenced by his teachers and models (

, Josef Suk, Emil František Burian, and

Erwin Schulhoff Erwin Schulhoff (; 8 June 189418 August 1942) was an Austro-Czech composer and pianist. He was one of the figures in the generation of European musicians whose successful careers were prematurely terminated by the rise of the Nazi regime in Germ ...

), it was part of Czech artistic

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

, and it was later rejected by communists as formalism.Kuna, p. 379 After the critique of the party he was forced to find new, more traditional and conservative ways of composing. This period lasted roughly to 1960. The last period (1960–79) is considered the most artistically valuable. The musical trends in Czechoslovakia were freer in that time and Reiner thus was able to show his expressive musical thinking. He composed almost in all musical categories, created vocal works (songs, choirs), instrumental works (for solo instrument, chamber, symphonic), vocal-instrumental works (cantata, opera), film music, incidental music, composed popular dance songs at the start of his career, and was inspired also by jazz and folk music. He composed for almost all instruments, including

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common Soprano clarinet, soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays no ...

dulcimer The term dulcimer refers to two families of musical string instruments. Hammered dulcimers The word ''dulcimer'' originally referred to a trapezoidal zither similar to a psaltery whose many strings are struck by handheld "hammers". Variants of ...

, solo drums and for

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone (sometimes abbreviated to "bari sax") is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass saxophone, bass. It is the lowe ...

. A re-interpretation of songs from the Květěný kůň cycle and a performance from the Terezín ghetto Staročeská Esther was prepared by Aida Mujačič.

Selected works

*''9 veselých improvizací'' (9 Gladsome Improvisations) for piano (1929) *''5 jazzových studií'' (5 Jazz Studies) for piano (1930) *Suite for large orchestra (1931) *''Koncertantní suita'' (Concertant Suite) for wind instruments and percussion (1947) *Symphony No.1 (1959) *''Symfonická předehra'' (Symphonic Overture) for large orchestra (1963) *Trio for flute, bass clarinet and percussion (1964) *Concerto for bass clarinet, string orchestra and percussion (1965) *''Hudba'' (Music) for 4 clarinets (1965) *''Koncertantní suita'' (Concertant Suite) for large orchestra (1967) *Concertino for bassoon, wind instruments and percussion (1969) *''Repliky'' (Replicas), Trio for flute, viola and harp (1973) *''Allocuzioni per orchestra da camera'' (1975) *''Sloky'' (Verses) for viola and piano (1975) *''Tři symfonické věty'' (3 Symphonic Movements) for orchestra (1978)

Notes

References

* * *

External links

Basic information, references

List of works at the Czech Music Fund

Re-interpretations of Aida Mujačič
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reiner, Karel 1910 births 1979 deaths People from Žatec Czech Jews Czech classical composers Czech opera composers Czech male opera composers Czechoslovak classical composers Microtonal musicians Jewish classical musicians Theresienstadt Ghetto survivors Auschwitz concentration camp survivors Dachau concentration camp survivors 20th-century Czech male musicians