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Tesin 1/1/1898 - Auschwitz
18/10/1944
Viktor Ullmann’s parents were
assimilated German-Czech Jews who
had both converted to Catholicism.
This enabled the father to pursue a
career in the Austrian army leading
to the family’s elevation to the
aristocracy.
Ullmann’s schooling took place in
Vienna where his love of music and
his talent enabled him to study with
Arnold Schönberg while still at school. On
matriculation, Ullmann volunteered
for the army but was granted study
leave after serving on the front.
He enrolled for law at the Vienna
University, while at the same time
continuing his studies in form,
counterpoint and orchestration with
Schönberg. Less than a year later,
Ullmann made the decision to move to
Prague and to concentrate entirely
on composition.
In Prague, he came under the
mentorship of Alexander von
Zemlinsky and worked from 1920-1927
under his tutelage as a conductor in
the Prague German Opera Company. He
became director of the Usti nad
Labem opera company in 1927 and two
years later, Ullmann took up the
position of conductor in Zurich. At
this time he became acquainted with
the philosophical works of Rudolph
Steiner, and in 1931 Ullmann
established a book shop in Stuttgart
dedicated to Steiner’s writings.
His music up to this period
reflected the atonal aesthetic
principles of Schönberg. He was
given the Hertzka-Prize from
Universal Editions in 1934, for the
orchestrated version of the
“Schonberg-Variationen”. His
fascination with Anthroposophy and
the alteration this brought to his
view of life heralded a new
direction in his music in which he
embraced traditionalism while at the
same time, pushing dissonant
harmonies to the boundaries of
tonality, achieving balance out of
seemingly irreconcilable elements,
and forging his own musical
language.
The period between 1920 and 1933 saw
Ullmann’s reputation grow far beyond
the Czech boarders through Germany
as far as London and New York. In
1933, however, Ullmann was forced to
leave Germany and he returned to
Prague. Despite his accomplishments
as a pianist, he did not consider a
career as a soloist, and so turned
to teaching and journalism to
supplement his income. During this
period he became a close friend of
fellow Steiner follower, Alois Haba,
joining his Department of
Quarter-Tone Music at the Prague
Conservatoire.
In 1939, Germany occupied
Czechoslovakia, and in 1942 Ullman
was transpored to Terezin. Here
Ullmann continued to work as if his
life had not changed materially. He
composed, taught, wrote articles,
performed as an accompanist and
organized concert series. The
strength of his, personal Steiner
influenced philosophy enabled him to
illustrate by example, the positive
power through which man can overcome
inhumanity.
On 16th October 1944
Ullmann was transported to Auschwitz
where he died two days later in the
gas chambers. |
