Leo Spies (4 June 1899 – 1 May 1965) was a Russian-born German

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

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

active in the musical and theatrical life of Germany, and especially 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 ...

Life and career

Spies was born in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

to a German diplomat and his wife. He had an older brother

Walter Spies Walter Spies (15 September 1895 – 19 January 1942) was a German primitivist painter, composer, musicologist, and curator. In 1923 he moved to Java, Indonesia. He lived in Yogyakarta and then in Ubud, Bali starting from 1927, when Indonesia ...

, who became an artist and musicologist, and from 1923 lived in Indonesia (then Dutch who spent most of his career in

Bali Bali (English:; Balinese language, Balinese: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller o ...

, and sister Daisy Spies, who became a ballet dancer. He and his siblings were educated in Moscow before the family returned to Germany, where they settled in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

. There Spies trained with Johannes Schreyer and Oskar von Riesemann. He studied at the under Engelbert Humperdinck and

Robert Kahn Robert Kahn may refer to: * Robert Kahn (composer) (1865–1951), composer and music teacher * Robert Louis Kahn (1918–2019), psychologist and social scientist * Robert Ludwig Kahn (1923–1970), professor of German studies and poet * Robert Kahn ...

from 1916 to 1917. In his early career Spies worked as a repetiteur in various German theatres and for

Universum Film AG UFA GmbH, shortened to UFA (), is a film and television production company that unites all production activities of the media conglomerate Bertelsmann in Germany. The original UFA was established as on December 18, 1917, as a direct response t ...

. During the late 1920s, he became involved with

Hanns Eisler Hanns Eisler (6 July 1898 – 6 September 1962) was a German-Austrian composer. He is best known for composing the national anthem of East Germany, for his long artistic association with Bertolt Brecht, and for the scores he wrote for films. The ...

's circle and the workers' choral movement, for which he composed several choral works. He was the ballet conductor of the

Berlin State Opera The Staatsoper Unter den Linden ( State Opera under the Lime Trees), also known as the Berlin State Opera (), is a listed building on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic center of Berlin, Germany. The opera house was built by order of P ...

from 1928 to 1935 and the from 1935 to 1944, when the country was ruled by the Nazi Party. After the war, Spies served as director of studies and conductor at the from 1947 to 1954.Sadie, Stanley and Latham Alison (1988). "Spies, Leo". ''The Norton/Grove Concise Dictionary of Music'', p. 718. W.W. Norton & Co. During this period of the divided Germany, the opera was located within East Germany (

German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

His music

Spies was influenced by Russian

romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...

and the works of Janáček in his own compositions. He composed in virtually all the classical genres: ballets, concertos, symphonies, chamber music, piano sonatas, lieder, and choral music. His principal ballet works are (1936), (1936), (1937), (1942), ''Pastorale'' (1943), (1944), and ''Don Quijote'' (1944). He also composed

incidental music Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, or some other presentation form that is not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as th ...

for plays, including the 1946 Berlin production of (the German language adaptation of

Marcel Pagnol Marcel Paul Pagnol (, also ; ; 28 February 1895 – 18 April 1974) was a French novelist, playwright, and filmmaker. Regarded as an auteur, in 1946, he became the first filmmaker elected to the . Pagnol is generally regarded as one of France's ...

's ). In 1956 Spies was awarded the

National Prize of the German Democratic Republic The National Prize of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) () was an award of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) given out in three different classes for scientific, artistic, and other meritorious achievement. With scientific achievem ...

(East Germany).Slonimsky, Nicolas and Kuhn, Laura (2005)
"Spies, Leo"
''

Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians ''Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians'' is a major reference work in the field of music, originally compiled by Theodore Baker, PhD, and published in 1900 by G. Schirmer, Inc. The ninth edition, the most recent edition, was published in ...

''. via

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9 September 2013. He died in

Ahrenshoop Ahrenshoop is a municipality in the Vorpommern-Rügen district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany on the Fischland-Darß-Zingst peninsula of the Baltic Sea. It used to be a small fishing village, but is today known for its tourism and as a holi ...

shortly before his 65th birthday and is buried in the Dorotheenstadt cemetery.Stiftung Historische Kirchhöfe und Friedhöfe in Berlin-Brandenburg
Friedhof der Gemeinden Dorotheenstadt und Friedrichswerder
. Retrieved 9 September 2013

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spies, Leo 1899 births 1965 deaths 20th-century German conductors (music) German male conductors (music) 20th-century German composers 20th-century German male musicians Artists from Moscow German expatriates in the Russian Empire