Rudolf Kolisch (July 20, 1896 – August 1, 1978) was a Viennese violinist and leader of string quartets, including the

Kolisch Quartet The Kolisch Quartet was a string quartet musical ensemble founded in Vienna, originally (early 1920s) as the New Vienna String Quartet for the performance of Arnold Schoenberg, Schoenberg's works, and (by 1927) settling to the form in which it was l ...

and the Pro Arte Quartet.

Early life and education

Kolisch was born in Klamm, Schottwien,

Lower Austria Lower Austria ( , , abbreviated LA or NÖ) is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Major cities are Amstetten, Lower Austria, Amstetten, Krems an der Donau, Wiener Neustadt and Sankt Pölten, which ...

and raised 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. ...

, the son of Henriette Anna Theresia (Hoffmann) and Dr. Rudolf Rafael Kolisch, a prominent physician and Dozent at the

University A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

. One of his two sisters was Gertrud Schoenberg. His father and maternal grandfather were Jewish, while his maternal grandmother was Catholic. Due to a childhood injury to the middle finger of his left hand, Kolisch, who had already begun to play the violin, relearned the instrument with the functions of the hands reversed. Following service in World War I, Kolisch attended both the University and the Musikakademie, where he studied violin with

Otakar Ševčík Otakar Ševčík (22 March 185218 January 1934) was a Czechs, Czech violinist and influential teacher. He was known as a Solo (music), soloist and an Musical ensemble, ensemble player, including his occasional performances with Eugène Ysaÿe. ...

, composition with

Franz Schreker Franz Schreker (originally ''Schrecker''; 23 March 1878 – 21 March 1934) was an Austrian composer, conductor, librettist, teacher and administrator. Primarily a composer of operas, Schreker developed a style characterized by aesthetic pluralit ...

and conducting with

Franz Schalk Franz Schalk (27 May 18633 September 1931) was an Austrian conductor. From 1918 to 1929 he was director of the Vienna State Opera, a post he held jointly with Richard Strauss from 1919 to 1924. He was later involved in the establishment of the ...

, intending at first to make a career as a conductor.

Career

In 1919 he began studying composition with

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 ...

, who later became his brother-in-law (1924). He put Kolisch to work in the "

Society for Private Musical Performances The Society for Private Musical Performances (in German, the ) was an organization founded in Vienna in the autumn of 1918 by Arnold Schoenberg with the intention of making carefully rehearsed and comprehensible performances of newly composed musi ...

in Vienna" (). This led to the creation of a string quartet ("") to perform both Schoenberg's music and the classical string quartet repertoire in a manner that would take into account the principles of Schoenberg's teaching. Schoenberg directed many rehearsals of this quartet. By 1927 the ensemble had become known as the

. Numerous works were written for this ensemble by composers including

Alban Berg Alban Maria Johannes Berg ( ; ; 9 February 1885 – 24 December 1935) was an Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School. His compositional style combined Romantic lyricism with the twelve-tone technique. Although he left a relatively sma ...

Anton Webern Anton Webern (; 3 December 1883 – 15 September 1945) was an Austrian composer, conductor, and musicologist. His music was among the most radical of its milieu in its lyric poetry, lyrical, poetic concision and use of then novel atonality, aton ...

, Schoenberg, and

Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hunga ...

. Stranded in New York by the entrance of the United States into

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 ...

, Kolisch at first tried to keep the Quartet together. When this failed, he took a position on the faculty of

The New School The New School is a Private university, private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for p ...

, lecturing on "Musical Performance: The Realization of Musical Meaning". With

Otto Klemperer Otto Nossan Klemperer (; 14 May 18856 July 1973) was a German conductor and composer, originally based in Germany, and then the United States, Hungary and finally, Great Britain. He began his career as an opera conductor, but he was later bet ...

, he co-founded a chamber orchestra at the school, with which he gave the first U.S. performances of Bartók's ''

Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta ''Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta'', Sz. 106, BB 114 is one of the best-known compositions by the Hungarian composer Béla Bartók. Commissioned by Paul Sacher to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the chamber orchestra '' Basler Kam ...

'',

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century c ...

's ''l'

Histoire du Soldat ', or ''Tale of the Soldier'' (as it was first published), is an hour-long 1918 theatrical work to be "read, played and danced ''()''" by three actors, one or more dancers, and a septet of instruments. Its music is by Igor Stravinsky, its libret ...

'' and Schoenberg's ''Chamber Symphony No. 1''. During this time he prepared the ensemble and participated in the recording of Schoenberg's '' Pierrot lunaire'', conducted by the composer. He researched and wrote an article, "Tempo and Character in Beethoven's Music" which was presented to the New York chapter of the

American Musicological Society The American Musicological Society (AMS) is a musicological organization which researches, promotes and produces publications on music. Founded in 1934, the AMS was begun by leading American musicologists of the time, and was crucial in legiti ...

and later published in two installments in the magazine ''Musical Quarterly''. In 1944 Kolisch was invited to the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

to become the new leader of the Pro Arte String Quartet (recorded as the first "Quartet in Residence" at any U.S. university). He was also granted a full Professorship. In the 1950s he began to tour in Europe again as a recitalist. He became a member of the faculty at the ''Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik'' in Darmstadt, Germany, along with his close friends and long-time associates

Eduard Steuermann Eduard Steuermann (June 18, 1892, Sambor, Austria-Hungary – November 11, 1964, New York City) was an Austrian-born American pianist and composer. Steuermann studied piano with Vilém Kurz at the Lemberg Conservatory and Ferruccio Busoni in ...

and

Theodor Adorno Theodor is a masculine given name. It is a German form of Theodore. It is also a variant of Teodor. List of people with the given name Theodor * Theodor Adorno, (1903–1969), German philosopher * Theodor Aman, Romanian painter * Theodor Blue ...

. Except for one year (1956) spent in Darmstadt, he remained active in Madison until reaching the mandatory retirement age in 1966. At that time he was invited by

Gunther Schuller Gunther Alexander Schuller (November 22, 1925June 21, 2015) was an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, educator, publisher, and jazz musician. Biography and works Early years Schuller was born in Queens, New York City ...

to become head of the Chamber Music department at the

New England Conservatory The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a Private college, private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. The conservatory is located on Huntington Avenue along Avenue of the Arts (Boston), the Avenue of the Arts near Boston Symphony Ha ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. He remained on the faculty until the end of his life. During the summers of 1974 through 1977, he also taught chamber music performance at the annual Schoenberg Seminars in Mödling, Austria near Vienna.

Marriage and family

Kolisch was married in the 1930s to Josefa Rosanska (b. 1904, d. 1986), a concert pianist; the marriage ended in divorce. In the early 1940s he married Lorna Freedman (1917–2006), a professional violinist and violist.

Legacy and honors

* The papers of Rudolf Kolisch are held in the Manuscript Department of the Houghton Library at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. * The

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

Music Division holds the Rudolf Kolisch collection, a gift from Lorna Kolisch in 1983. The collection contains valuable correspondence between Kolisch and composers Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, and Anton Webern.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kolisch, Rudolf 1896 births 1978 deaths Austrian Jews Austrian violinists American people of Austrian-Jewish descent American male violinists Jewish classical violinists Second Viennese School American people of Austrian descent People from Neunkirchen District, Austria Pupils of Arnold Schoenberg 20th-century classical composers Austrian male classical composers 20th-century classical violinists 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians Austrian male classical violinists 20th-century American violinists