Toch Ernst Toch
Ernst Toch (pronounced [toʜ]) (7 December 1887 - 1 October 1964) was a
composer of classical music and film scores.
Toch was born in Vienna. He sought to introduce new ideas and approaches to
music. He studied philosophy at the university of Vienna and medicine at
Heidelberg. His main instrument was the piano, and he was a pianist of concert
stature. Much of his creative output aimed toward the piano. He was a
self-taught composer, and in America he came to instruct new generations of
composers. His first compositions date from circa 1900 and were pastiche pieces
in the style of Mozart (quartets, 1905 album verses for piano). His first
quartet was performed in Leipzig in 1908, and his sixth (Opus 12, 1905) in the
year 1909. In 1909, his chamber symphony in F major (written 1906) won the
Frankfurt/Main Mozart prize. From this time onwards Toch dedicated himself to
being a full-time composer. He won the Mendelssohn prize for composition in
1910. In 1913 he was appointed lecturer of both piano and composition at the
College of Music in Mannheim. After winning a further five major prizes for his
works, Toch served 4 years in the army on the Italian Front. In 1916 he married
Lilly Zwack, the daughter of a banker. After World War I had ended, he returned
to Manheim to compose, devoping a new style of polyphony.
This period lasted from 1934 to 1958. His works often exhibit a humorous aspect
(Bunte Suite (1929)). In 1930 he invented "Gesprochene Musik," the idiom of the
"spoken chorus"; his most performed work is the Geographical Fugue or Fuge aus
der Geographie, though he regarded it as an unimportant diversion. He wrote
music for films, symphonies, chamber music, chamber operas. He also wrote books
dealing with musical theory: Melodielehre (1923) and "The Shaping Forces in
Music" (1948).
Toch was considered one of the great avant-garde composers in the pre-Nazi era,
and, like many other artists and musicians, went into exile when Hitler came to
power.
Toch won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1956 for his Third Symphony (premiered
by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra on December 2, 1955). He died in Los
Angeles and was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los
Angeles. He is the grandfather of author Lawrence Weschler.
Opera
* 1927 Die Prinzessin auf der Erbse Libretto by Benno Elkan
* 1928 Egon und Emilie
* 1930 Der Fächer
* 1962 The Last Tale
Orchestral work
* 1906 Kammersymphonie
* 1923 Tanz-Suite, opus 30
* 1924-1925 Concerto for Cello and Chamber Orchestra, opus 35
* 1926 Klavierkonzert, opus 26
* 1928 Das Kirschblütenfest
* 1933 Symphony for Piano and Orchestra (Piano Concerto No. 2), opus 61
* 1935 Big Ben (Orchestervariationen)
* 1950-1964 7 Symphonien including Symphony 5 Jephta
Works for Wind band
* 1926 Spiel opus 39 (Donaueschingen première)
* 1932 Miniatur Ouvertüre
* Sinfonietta opus 97
Film music
* 1934 Catherine the Great
* 1934 The Private Life of Don Juan
* 1935 Peter Ibbetson
* 1938 The Rebel Son
* 1939 The Cat and the Canary
* 1940 The Ghost Breakers
* 1940 Dr. Cyclops
* 1941 Ladies in Retirement
* 1944 Address Unknown
* 1945 The Unseen
Choral works
* 1930 Gesprochene Musik
Chamber music
* 1902-1954 13 string quartets
* 1928 Violin sonata opus 44
* 1929 Cello sonata opus 50
Lieder
* 1945/1953 Zyklus The Inner Circle
Piano works
* 1923 Burlesques opus 31
* 1925 Capriccetti opus 36
* 1928 Piano sonata opus 47
* 1929 Echoes from a small town : fourteen moderately easy piano pieces opus 49
* 1931 Ten concert etudes opus 55
