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{{Short description|Polish and French musician (1913–1972)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
[[File:Leibowitz.png|thumb|alt=black and white photograph of middle-aged man, balding|Leibowitz, c. mid-1960s]]
[[File:Leibowitz.png|thumb|alt=black and white photograph of middle-aged man, balding|Leibowitz, c. mid-1960s]]


'''René Leibowitz''' ({{IPA-fr|ʁəne lɛbɔwits|lang}}; 17 February 1913 – 29 August 1972) was a Polish, later naturalised French, composer, conductor, music theorist and teacher. He was historically significant in promoting the music of the [[Second Viennese School]] in Paris after the Second World War, and teaching a new generation of [[Serialism|serialist]] composers.
'''René Leibowitz''' ({{IPA|fr|ʁəne lɛbɔwits|lang}}; 17 February 1913 – 29 August 1972) was a Polish and French composer, conductor, music theorist and teacher. He was historically significant in promoting the music of the [[Second Viennese School]] in Paris after the Second World War, and teaching a new generation of [[Serialism|serialist]] composers.


Leibowitz remained firmly committed to the musical aesthetic of [[Arnold Schoenberg]], and was to some extent sidelined among the French avant-garde in the 1950s, when, under the influence of Leibowitz's former student, [[Pierre Boulez]] and others, the music of Schoenberg's pupil [[Anton Webern]] was adopted as the orthodox model by younger composers.
Leibowitz remained firmly committed to the musical aesthetic of [[Arnold Schoenberg]], and was to some extent sidelined among the French avant-garde in the 1950s, when, under the influence of Leibowitz's former student, [[Pierre Boulez]] and others, the music of Schoenberg's pupil [[Anton Webern]] was adopted as the orthodox model by younger composers.
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==Life and career==
==Life and career==
===Early years===
===Early years===
The facts about Leibowitz's early years are problematical, complicated by his practice of reinventing his history,<ref name=Radcliffe>Radcliffe, David. ''American Record Guide'', Volume. 68, Issue 4, July/August 2005, p. 264</ref>{{refn|The musicologist [[Reinhard Kapp]] commented in 1988, "Trustworthy biographical data are almost impossible to find; instead there is a jumble of contradictions, assumptions, myths, and ill-considered conjectures."<ref name=rk>Kapp, Reinhard.[https://www.jstor.org/stable/945132 "Shades of the Double's Original: René Leibowitz's Dispute with Boulez"], ''Tempo'', June 1988, p. 4</ref>|group= n}} but it is known that he was born in Warsaw, [[Congress Poland|Poland]].<ref name=grove>Meine, Sabine. [https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.16331 "Leibowitz, René"], ''Grove Music Online'', Oxford University Press, 2001, retrieved 4 May 2018 {{subscription}}</ref> According to his pupil and translator, [[Janet Maguire|Jan Maguire]], who wrote two studies of him for ''[[Tempo (journal)|Tempo]]'' magazine in the late 1970s, Leibowitz was of Russian Jewish parentage; his father was an art historian.<ref name=m1>Maguire, Jan. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/944986 "Rene Leibowitz (1913–1972)"], ''Tempo'', December 1979, pp. 6–10 {{subscription}}</ref> During the First World War the family was obliged to move from Warsaw to Berlin, where, Maguire writes, Leibowitz began a career as a concert violinist at the age of ten.<ref name=m1/> That career was interrupted when the family moved to Paris three years later. By Maguire's account Leibowitz taught himself "the fundamentals of harmony, counterpoint and score-reading" while in high school, and took his [[Baccalauréat]] when he was seventeen.<ref name=m1/> At this point, his history becomes unclear. By his own account, credited by Maguire and others, he then went to Vienna to study with [[Anton Webern]].<ref name=m1/> By other accounts he studied with [[Arnold Schoenberg]].<ref name=grove-boulez>Hopkins, G. W., and Paul Griffiths, [http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000003708 "Boulez, Pierre"], ''Grove Music Online'', Oxford University Press, 2001, retrieved 4 May. 2018 {{subscription}}</ref> Neither is now believed to be correct: Sabine Meine wrote in the ''[[Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]'' in 2001, "Leibowitz’s claims of having met Schoenberg and studied with Webern in the early 1930s remain unsubstantiated",<ref name=grove/> and in 2012 Nicole Gagné wrote in the ''Historical Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Classical Music'', "despite his claims to the contrary, he never studied with Arnold Schoenberg or Anton Webern".<ref>Gagné, p. 158</ref> Other claims about Leibowitz's teachers – that he studied composition with [[Maurice Ravel]] and conducting with [[Pierre Monteux]] – have been discounted by some writers in the present century,<ref name=Radcliffe/> although as recently as 2010 in a study mainly focused on American composers Deborah Fillerup Weagel repeated the statement that Leibowitz was a pupil of Webern and Ravel.<ref>Weagel, p. 35</ref> There is no mention of Leibowitz in the biographies of Ravel by [[Arbie Orenstein]] (1991) and [[Roger Nichols (musical scholar)|Roger Nichols]] (2011) or of Monteux by John Canarina (2003).<ref>Orenstein, index, p. 286; Nichols, index, p. 420; and Canarina, index, p. 349</ref>
The facts about Leibowitz's early years are problematical, complicated by his practice of reinventing his history,<ref name=Radcliffe>Radcliffe, David. ''[[American Record Guide]]'', vol. 68, issue 4, July/August 2005, p. 264</ref>{{refn|The musicologist [[Reinhard Kapp]] commented in 1988, "Trustworthy biographical data are almost impossible to find; instead there is a jumble of contradictions, assumptions, myths, and ill-considered conjectures."<ref name=rk>[[Reinhard Kapp|Kapp, Reinhard]]. "Shades of the Double's Original: René Leibowitz's Dispute with Boulez", ''[[Tempo (journal)|Tempo]]'', June 1988, p. 4 {{JSTOR|945132}}</ref>|group= n}} but it is known that he was born in Warsaw.<ref name=grove>Meine, Sabine. [https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.16331 "Leibowitz, René"], ''Grove Music Online'', Oxford University Press, 2001, retrieved 4 May 2018 {{subscription required}}</ref> According to his pupil and translator, [[Janet Maguire|Jan Maguire]], who wrote two studies of him for ''[[Tempo (journal)|Tempo]]'' magazine in the late 1970s, Leibowitz was of Russian Jewish parentage; his father was an art historian.<ref name=m1>Maguire, Jan. "Rene Leibowitz (1913–1972)", ''[[Tempo (journal)|Tempo]]'', December 1979, pp. 6–10 {{JSTOR|944986}} {{subscription required}}</ref> During the First World War the family was obliged to move from Warsaw to Berlin, where, Maguire writes, Leibowitz began a career as a concert violinist at the age of ten.<ref name=m1/> That career was interrupted when the family moved to Paris three years later. By Maguire's account Leibowitz taught himself "the fundamentals of harmony, counterpoint and score-reading" while in high school, and took his [[Baccalauréat]] when he was seventeen.<ref name=m1/> At this point, his history becomes unclear. By his own account, credited by Maguire and others, he then went to Vienna to study with [[Anton Webern]].<ref name=m1/> By other accounts he studied with [[Arnold Schoenberg]].<ref name=grove-boulez>[[Bill Hopkins (composer)|Hopkins, G. W.]], and [[Paul Griffiths (writer)|Paul Griffiths]], [http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000003708 "Boulez, Pierre"], ''[[Grove Music Online]]'', Oxford University Press, 2001, retrieved 4 May. 2018 {{subscription required}}</ref> Neither is now believed to be correct: Sabine Meine wrote in the ''[[Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]'' in 2001, "Leibowitz's claims of having met Schoenberg and studied with Webern in the early 1930s remain unsubstantiated",<ref name=grove/> and in 2012 Nicole Gagné wrote in the ''Historical Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Classical Music'', "despite his claims to the contrary, he never studied with Arnold Schoenberg or Anton Webern".{{sfn|Gagné|2012|p=158}} Other claims about Leibowitz's teachers – that he studied composition with [[Maurice Ravel]] and conducting with [[Pierre Monteux]] – have been discounted by some writers in the present century,<ref name=Radcliffe/> although as recently as 2010 in a study mainly focused on American composers Deborah Fillerup Weagel repeated the statement that Leibowitz was a pupil of Webern and Ravel.{{sfn|Weagel|2011|p=35}} There is no mention of Leibowitz in the biographies of Ravel by [[Arbie Orenstein]] (1991) and [[Roger Nichols (musical scholar)|Roger Nichols]] (2011) or of Monteux by John Canarina (2003).<ref>{{harvnb|Orenstein|1991|loc=index, p. 286}}; {{harvnb|Nichols|2011|loc=index, p. 420}}; and {{harvnb|Canarina|2003|loc=index, p. 349}}</ref>


===Paris===
===Paris===
In Paris, according to Maguire, Leibowitz earned his living as a jazz pianist and composed constantly. In his early twenties he married an artist from an illustrious French family and settled down in Paris, eventually taking French nationality.<ref name=m1/> During the early 1930s he was introduced to Schoenberg's [[twelve-note technique]] by the German pianist and composer [[Erich Itor Kahn]]. Maguire writes that Leibowitz easily fitted into "the ebullient intellectual and artistic climate of Paris in the pre-war years". His aesthetic interests were not confined to music, and he became friendly with leading figures from the world of modern art, notably [[André Masson]] and [[Pablo Picasso]], and with literary figures including [[Jean-Paul Sartre]], [[Simone de Beauvoir]] and [[Albert Camus]].<ref name=m2/> For Leibowitz, according to Maguire, composing was his most regular activity, and the one he thought most important, although he was known more for his commentaries, his critical and analytical writings, his conducting, and his teaching, all of which he considered secondary.<ref name=m2>Maguire, Jan. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/832875 "René Leibowitz"], ''Perspectives of New Music'', Volume 21, No. 1/2 (Autumn, 1982 – Summer, 1983), pp. 241–256 {{subscription}}</ref>
In Paris, according to Maguire, Leibowitz earned his living as a jazz pianist and composed constantly. In his early twenties he married an artist from an illustrious French family and settled down in Paris, eventually taking French nationality.<ref name=m1/> During the early 1930s he was introduced to Schoenberg's [[twelve-note technique]] by the German pianist and composer [[Erich Itor Kahn]]. Maguire writes that Leibowitz easily fitted into "the ebullient intellectual and artistic climate of Paris in the pre-war years". His aesthetic interests were not confined to music, and he became friendly with leading figures from the world of modern art, notably [[André Masson]] and [[Pablo Picasso]], and with literary figures including [[Jean-Paul Sartre]], [[Simone de Beauvoir]] and [[Albert Camus]].<ref name=m2/> For Leibowitz, according to Maguire, composing was his most regular activity, and the one he thought most important, although he was known more for his commentaries, his critical and analytical writings, his conducting, and his teaching, all of which he considered secondary.<ref name=m2>Maguire, Jan. "René Leibowitz", ''[[Perspectives of New Music]]'', vol. 21, no. 1/2 (Autumn 1982 – Summer 1983), pp. 241–256 {{JSTOR|832875}}{{subscription required}}</ref>


When the Germans invaded France in the Second World War, Leibowitz was interned as an alien for a time. He did not succeed in emigrating, but, as the musicologist Reinhardt Kapp puts it, "managed to survive somehow, partly hidden by [[Georges Bataille|[Georges] Bataille]] in Paris, at other times with his family in the Unoccupied Zone".<ref name=rk/> While in wartime Paris he clandestinely taught students from the [[Paris Conservatoire]].<ref name=jp>Peyser, Joan. "Rene Leibowitz (1913–1972)", ''[[The New York Times]]'', 10 September 1972, p. D26</ref> In 1944, just before the liberation of Paris, there was a party at the Left Bank apartment of the Swiss artist [[Balthus]] attended by artistic opponents of the Nazis, such as Picasso and others; Leibowitz provided the music.<ref name=m1/>
When the Germans invaded France in the Second World War, Leibowitz was interned as an alien for a time. He did not succeed in emigrating, but, as the musicologist [[Reinhard Kapp]] puts it, "managed to survive somehow, partly hidden by [[Georges Bataille|[Georges] Bataille]] in Paris, at other times with his family in the Unoccupied Zone".<ref name=rk/> While in wartime Paris he clandestinely taught students from the [[Paris Conservatoire]].<ref name=jp>[[Joan Peyser|Peyser, Joan]]. "Rene Leibowitz (1913–1972)", ''[[The New York Times]]'', 10 September 1972, p. D26</ref> In 1944, just before the liberation of Paris, there was a party at the Left Bank apartment of the Swiss artist [[Balthus]] attended by artistic opponents of the Nazis, such as Picasso and others; Leibowitz provided the music.<ref name=m1/>


===Post-war===
===Post-war===
After the liberation Leibowitz resumed his interrupted career, teaching, conducting and writing, drawing on the extensive material he had produced during his enforced wartime seclusion.<ref name=rk/> In 1947–48 and again in 1950 he visited Los Angeles to meet Schoenberg, whose [[cantata]] ''[[A Survivor from Warsaw]]'' he transcribed into full score.<ref name=rk/> Many of the works of the [[Second Viennese School]] were first heard in France at the International Festival of Chamber Music established by Leibowitz in Paris in 1947. Leibowitz was highly influential in promoting the reputation of the School, both through teaching in Paris after the war and through his book ''Schoenberg et son école'', published in 1947 and translated by [[Dika Newlin]] as ''Schoenberg and his School'' (US and UK editions 1949). The book was among the earliest theoretical treatises on Schoenberg's [[Twelve-tone technique|twelve-tone]] method of composition; Leibowitz (like [[Humphrey Searle]]) was among the first theorists to promulgate the term "serialism". The book attracted hostile criticism from composers on various points of the modernist continuum. [[Aaron Copland]] condemned its "dogmatic and fanatical" tone, and [[Milton Babbitt]] felt that its musical discussions were superficial, with misleading analogies between tonal and dodecaphonic music, but it was well received by the musical public.<ref>Shaw and Auner, pp. 252–253</ref>
After the liberation Leibowitz resumed his interrupted career, teaching, conducting and writing, drawing on the extensive material he had produced during his enforced wartime seclusion.<ref name=rk/> In 1947–48 and again in 1950 he visited Los Angeles to meet Schoenberg, whose [[cantata]] ''[[A Survivor from Warsaw]]'' he transcribed into full score.<ref name=rk/> Many of the works of the [[Second Viennese School]] were first heard in France at the International Festival of Chamber Music established by Leibowitz in Paris in 1947. Leibowitz was highly influential in promoting the reputation of the School, both through teaching in Paris after the war and through his book ''Schoenberg et son école'', published in 1947 and translated by [[Dika Newlin]] as ''Schoenberg and his School'' (US and UK editions 1949). The book was among the earliest theoretical treatises on Schoenberg's [[Twelve-tone technique|twelve-tone]] method of composition; Leibowitz (like [[Humphrey Searle]]) was among the first theorists to promulgate the term "serialism". The book attracted hostile criticism from composers on various points of the modernist continuum. [[Aaron Copland]] condemned its "dogmatic and fanatical" tone, and [[Milton Babbitt]] felt that its musical discussions were superficial, with misleading analogies between tonal and dodecaphonic music, but it was well received by the musical public.{{sfn|Shaw|Auner|2011|pp=252–253}}


Leibowitz's advocacy of the Schoenberg school was taken further by two of his pupils, [[Pierre Boulez]] and [[Jacques-Louis Monod]], each taking different paths in promoting the music of Schoenberg, Webern and the development of serialism. Meine writes in ''Grove'' that during the 1950s Leibowitz's writings came under attack from some of the younger generation: Boulez and others accused him of "dogmatic orthodoxy and academicism".<ref name=grove/> In the view of another pupil, Maguire, Boulez, having learned the twelve-tone technique from Leibowitz, "proceeded to apply it indiscriminately to every musical element, disregarding the most fundamental qualities, the essence of music". Leibowitz warned his former student, "But the public has not yet assimilated Schoenberg", and tried, unsuccessfully, to avoid a rancorous falling out.<ref name=m1/>
Leibowitz's advocacy of the Schoenberg school was taken further by two of his pupils, [[Pierre Boulez]] and [[Jacques-Louis Monod]], each taking different paths in promoting the music of Schoenberg, Webern and the development of serialism. Meine writes in ''Grove'' that during the 1950s Leibowitz's writings came under attack from some of the younger generation: Boulez and others accused him of "dogmatic orthodoxy and academicism".<ref name=grove/> In the view of another pupil, Maguire, Boulez, having learned the twelve-tone technique from Leibowitz, "proceeded to apply it indiscriminately to every musical element, disregarding the most fundamental qualities, the essence of music". Leibowitz warned his former student, "But the public has not yet assimilated Schoenberg", and tried, unsuccessfully, to avoid a rancorous falling out.<ref name=m1/>


Although Leibowitz composed continually, he seldom pressed to have his works performed. When he died, leaving an oeuvre of nearly a hundred pieces, the magazine ''[[Esprit (magazine)|Esprit]]'' commented, "Modest, perhaps too modest, he never spoke of his works, unless obliged to do so, doing nothing to get them played. It is certainly no exaggeration to say that at least three quarters of his scores have never been heard."<ref name=esprit/> Since his death a representative sample of his works have been recorded. A 2013 CD set from the Divox label contains recordings of 22 of Leibowitz's works: 6 Mélodies, Op. 6; Flute Sonata, Op. 12b; ''Explanation of Metaphors'', Op. 15; Duo for Cello and Piano, Op. 23; 5 Pieces for clarinet and piano, Op. 29; Sérénade, Op. 38; 3 Poèmes, Op. 46; Violin Concerto, Op. 50; ''Marijuana variations non sérieuses'', Op. 54; Toccata, Op. 62; 3 Caprices, Op. 70; 2 Settings, Op. 71; 3 Poèmes, Op. 73; ''Motifs'', Op. 74; Petite suite, Op. 75; 2 poèmes, Op. 76a; ''Chanson dada'', Op. 76b; Suite, Op. 81; 4 Lieder, Op. 86; 3 Intermezzi, Op. 87; ''Laboratoire central'', Op. 88; and 3 Poèmes, Op. 92.<ref>Divox CD set CDX-21103-04</ref>
Although Leibowitz composed continually, he seldom pressed to have his works performed. When he died, leaving an oeuvre of nearly a hundred pieces, the magazine ''[[Esprit (magazine)|Esprit]]'' commented, "Modest, perhaps too modest, he never spoke of his works, unless obliged to do so, doing nothing to get them played. It is certainly no exaggeration to say that at least three quarters of his scores have never been heard."<ref name=esprit/> Since his death a representative sample of his works have been recorded. A 2013 CD set from the Divox label contains recordings of 22 of Leibowitz's works: 6 Mélodies, Op. 6; Flute Sonata, Op. 12b; ''Explanation of Metaphors'', Op. 15; Duo for Cello and Piano, Op. 23; 5 Pieces for clarinet and piano, Op. 29; Sérénade, Op. 38; 3 Poèmes, Op. 46; Violin Concerto, Op. 50; ''Marijuana variations non sérieuses'', Op. 54; Toccata, Op. 62; 3 Caprices, Op. 70; 2 Settings, Op. 71; 3 Poèmes, Op. 73; ''Motifs'', Op. 74; Petite suite, Op. 75; 2 poèmes, Op. 76a; ''Chanson dada'', Op. 76b; Suite, Op. 81; 4 Lieder, Op. 86; 3 Intermezzi, Op. 87; ''Laboratoire central'', Op. 88; and 3 Poèmes, Op. 92.<ref>Divox CD set CDX-21103-04</ref>


Although Leibowitz was receptive to a wide range of musical styles, he could not bear the music of [[Jean Sibelius|Sibelius]], and published a pamphlet about him under the title of ''Sibelius: the Worst Composer in the World'';<ref>Leibowitz, title page</ref> he also severely criticised [[Béla Bartók|Bartók]] for writing music that was too accessible: Leibowitz felt that by failing to adopt dodecaphony in his later works Bartók was pandering to popular taste rather than helping to move music away from tonality in accordance with Leibowitz's notions of historical inevitability and composers' duty.<ref>Fosler-Lussier, pp. 201–204</ref> For Leibowitz, to write a popular work like Bartók's [[Concerto for Orchestra (Bartók)|Concerto for Orchestra]] was a betrayal of modernism.<ref>Fosler-Lussier, p. 192</ref>
Although Leibowitz was receptive to a wide range of musical styles, he could not bear the music of [[Jean Sibelius|Sibelius]], and published a pamphlet about him under the title of ''Sibelius: the Worst Composer in the World'';{{sfn|Leibowitz|1955|loc=title page}} he also severely criticised [[Béla Bartók|Bartók]] for writing music that was too accessible: Leibowitz felt that by failing to adopt dodecaphony in his later works Bartók was pandering to popular taste rather than helping to move music away from tonality in accordance with Leibowitz's notions of historical inevitability and composers' duty.{{sfn|Fosler-Lussier|2007|pp=201–204}} For Leibowitz, to write a popular work like Bartók's [[Concerto for Orchestra (Bartók)|Concerto for Orchestra]] was a betrayal of modernism.{{sfn|Fosler-Lussier|2007|p=192}}

⚫
''Grove'' has articles on thirty-two composers who studied with Leibowitz in Paris or attended his sessions at Darmstadt or elsewhere: as well as Boulez and Monod, they include [[Vinko Globokar]]; [[Hans Werner Henze]]; [[Diego Masson]]; [[Serge Nigg]]; and [[Bernd Alois Zimmermann]].{{refn|The others are [[Leni Alexander]]; [[André Casanova]]; [[Franco Donatoni]]; [[Antoine Duhamel]]; [[Hans Ulrich Engelmann]]; Giuseppe Giorgio Englert; Werner Haentjes; [[Claude Helffer]]; [[Stanko Horvat]]; Keith Humble; [[Carlos Jiménez Mabarak]]; [[Dieter Kaufmann]]; [[Maurice Le Roux]]; Wolfgang Ludewig; [[Jean-Louis Martinet]]; [[Norbert Moret]]; Diether de la Motte; [[Tolia Nikiprowetzky]]; [[Will Ogdon]]; [[Yannis Andreou Papaioannou]]; Ron Pellegrino; [[Allan Pettersson]]; [[Michel Paul Philippot]]; [[Jean Prodromidès]]; [[Ruben Radica]]; and [[Armin Schibler]].<ref>"[http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/search?q=Leibowitz&searchBtn=Search&isQuickSearch=true Search results: Leibowitz"], ''Grove Music Online'', Oxford University Press, 2001, retrieved 5 May 2018 {{subscription}}</ref>|group= n}}


⚫
''Grove'' has articles on thirty-two composers who studied with Leibowitz in Paris or attended his sessions at [[Darmstädter Ferienkurse|Darmstadt]] or elsewhere: as well as Boulez and Monod, they include [[Vinko Globokar]]; [[Hans Werner Henze]]; [[Diego Masson]]; [[Serge Nigg]]; and [[Bernd Alois Zimmermann]].{{refn|The others are [[Leni Alexander]]; [[André Casanova]]; [[Franco Donatoni]]; [[Antoine Duhamel]]; [[Hans Ulrich Engelmann]]; Giuseppe Giorgio Englert; Werner Haentjes; [[Claude Helffer]]; [[Stanko Horvat]]; Keith Humble; [[Carlos Jiménez Mabarak]]; [[Dieter Kaufmann]]; [[Maurice Le Roux]]; Wolfgang Ludewig; [[Jean-Louis Martinet]]; [[Norbert Moret]]; [[Diether de la Motte]]; [[Tolia Nikiprowetzky]]; [[Will Ogdon]]; [[Yannis Andreou Papaioannou]]; Ron Pellegrino; [[Allan Pettersson]]; [[Michel Paul Philippot]]; [[Jean Prodromidès]]; [[Ruben Radica]]; and [[Armin Schibler]].<ref>"[http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/search?q=Leibowitz&searchBtn=Search&isQuickSearch=true Search results: Leibowitz"], ''Grove Music Online'', Oxford University Press, 2001, retrieved 5 May 2018 {{subscription required}}</ref> <!-- BETTER, AND WOULD BE OK IF RE-CITED TO COMPLY WITH [[WP:CITEVAR]] [[Marina Scriabina]] also studied with Leibowitz in Paris.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cohen |first=Aaron I. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/16714846 |title=International encyclopedia of women composers |date=1987 |isbn=0-9617485-2-4 |edition=Second edition, revised and enlarged |location=New York |pages=630 |oclc=16714846}}</ref>-->|group= n}}
The writer [[Joan Peyser]] summed up Leibowitz's career:
The writer [[Joan Peyser]] summed up Leibowitz's career:
{{quote|one long splendid moment in his life, stretching from Paris in 1944 through Darmstadt in 1948, devoted to the promulgation of Schoenbergian ideas. When, in the late 40s and early 50s, Webern displaced Schoenberg as the venerated man and composers applied the serial idea beyond pitch, Leibowitz's time had passed. He refused to follow that path.<ref name=jp/>|}}
{{quote|one long splendid moment in his life, stretching from Paris in 1944 through Darmstadt in 1948, devoted to the promulgation of Schoenbergian ideas. When, in the late 40s and early 50s, Webern displaced Schoenberg as the venerated man and composers applied the serial idea beyond pitch, Leibowitz's time had passed. He refused to follow that path.<ref name=jp/>|}}
Leibowitz's obituarist in ''Esprit'' dismissed this as simplistic:
Leibowitz's obituarist in ''[[Esprit (magazine)|Esprit]]'' dismissed this as simplistic:
{{quote|Let us rise above the very "Parisian" (but untrue) cliché of a René Leibowitz, abandoned by his brilliant pupils, and fallen into oblivion after the 1950s. There were breaks, especially with Boulez, but that did not prevent later generations from coming to lean on him: the generation of [[Michel Puig|Puig]], [[Vinko Globokar|Globokar]], etc. It is also true that many myths were circulated about him, both by the academicians who did not forgive him for having introduced the virus of the atonal and by the avant-gardists who found him too conformist.<ref name=esprit>J.-M. M. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/24264155 "Rene Leibowitz]", ''Esprit'' (1940–), no. 419 (12) (1972), pp. 943–944 {{subscription}}</ref>|}}
{{quote|Let us rise above the very "Parisian" (but untrue) cliché of a René Leibowitz, abandoned by his brilliant pupils, and fallen into oblivion after the 1950s. There were breaks, especially with Boulez, but that did not prevent later generations from coming to lean on him: the generation of [[Michel Puig|Puig]], [[Vinko Globokar|Globokar]], etc. It is also true that many myths were circulated about him, both by the academicians who did not forgive him for having introduced the virus of the atonal and by the avant-gardists who found him too conformist.<ref name=esprit>J.-M. M. "Rene Leibowitz", ''[[Esprit (magazine)|Esprit]]'' (1940–), no. 419 (12) (December 1972), pp. 943–944 {{JSTOR|24264155}} {{subscription required}}</ref>|}}


Leibowitz died suddenly in Paris on 29 August 1972, at the age of 59.<ref name=esprit/><!--CITEVAR PROBLEM<ref name="Meine">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Meine |first=Sabine |editor-first1=Claudia |editor-last1=Maurer Zenck |editor-first2=Peter |editor-last2=Petersen |encyclopedia=Lexikon verfolgter Musiker und Musikerinnen der NS-Zeit |date=2006 |publisher=LexM Universität Hamburg |location=Hamburg |url=https://www.lexm.uni-hamburg.de/object/lexm_lexmperson_00001423 |title=René Leibowitz |language=de |accessdate=3 June 2019}}</ref>-->
Leibowitz died suddenly in Paris on 29 August 1972, at the age of 59.<ref name=esprit/><!--CITEVAR PROBLEM<ref name="Meine">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Meine |first=Sabine |editor-first1=Claudia |editor-last1=Maurer Zenck |editor-first2=Peter |editor-last2=Petersen |encyclopedia=Lexikon verfolgter Musiker und Musikerinnen der NS-Zeit |date=2006 |publisher=LexM Universität Hamburg |location=Hamburg |url=https://www.lexm.uni-hamburg.de/object/lexm_lexmperson_00001423 |title=René Leibowitz |language=de |access-date=3 June 2019}}</ref>-->


==Recordings==
==Recordings==
In the early LP era, in the 1950s, Leibowitz conducted complete recordings of seven operas, which were generally well received, and have mostly been reissued on CD. They were [[Bizet]]'s ''[[Les Pêcheurs de perles]]''; [[Gluck]]'s ''[[Alceste (Gluck)|Alceste]]'' and ''[[L'ivrogne corrigé]]''; [[Mozart]]'s ''[[Zaïde]]''; [[Jacques Offenbach|Offenbach]]'s ''[[La Belle Hélène]]'' and ''[[Orphée aux enfers]]''; and [[Maurice Ravel|Ravel]]'s ''[[L'Heure espagnole]]''.<ref>Sackville-West and Shaw-Taylor, pp. 126–127, 305, 512, 556–558 and 615</ref> A set of Ravel's orchestral works was less well reviewed,<ref>Sackville-West and Shaw-Taylor, p. 612</ref> but Leibowitz received qualified praise for his set of Schoenberg's ''[[Gurre-Lieder]]'' ("Leibowitz makes a serious attempt to produce a convincing performance; his slow tempi find justification in Schoenberg's markings, but his artists cannot persuade us that ''Gurre-Lieder'' is other than an historical curiosity").<ref>Sackville-West and Shaw-Taylor, p. 652</ref>
In the early LP era, in the 1950s, Leibowitz conducted complete recordings of seven operas, which were generally well received, and have mostly been reissued on CD. They were [[Bizet]]'s ''[[Les Pêcheurs de perles]]''; [[Gluck]]'s ''[[Alceste (Gluck)|Alceste]]'' and ''[[L'ivrogne corrigé]]''; [[Mozart]]'s ''[[Zaïde]]''; [[Jacques Offenbach|Offenbach]]'s ''[[La Belle Hélène]]'' and ''[[Orphée aux enfers]]''; and [[Maurice Ravel|Ravel]]'s ''[[L'Heure espagnole]]''.{{sfn|Sackville-West|Shawe-Taylor|1955|pp=126–127, 305, 512, 556–558, 615}} A set of Ravel's orchestral works was less well reviewed,{{sfn|Sackville-West|Shawe-Taylor|1955|p=612}} but Leibowitz received qualified praise for his set of Schoenberg's ''[[Gurre-Lieder]]'' ("Leibowitz makes a serious attempt to produce a convincing performance; his slow tempi find justification in Schoenberg's markings, but his artists cannot persuade us that ''Gurre-Lieder'' is other than an historical curiosity").{{sfn|Sackville-West|Shawe-Taylor|1955|p=652}}


In 1961 Leibowitz conducted the [[Royal Philharmonic Orchestra]] in a set of Beethoven's symphonies made by [[Decca Records|Decca]] for ''[[Reader's Digest]]'';<ref name=decca>Stuart, Philip. [http://images.cch.kcl.ac.uk/charm/liv/pubs/DeccaComplete.pdf ''Decca Classical 1929–2009''], accessed 5 May 2018.</ref> it was among the first to attempt to follow Beethoven's [[metronome]] markings, following the pioneering set made in Vienna three years earlier, conducted by [[Hermann Scherchen]].<ref name=taruskin/> Reviewers observed that although Scherchen had achieved tempos more closely approaching the composer's markings, Leibowitz, at speeds not much slower, had secured better ensemble than the earlier set achieved.<ref name=taruskin/> Initially the set was poorly received. ''[[The Stereo Record Guide]]'' called the performances "slack", "perfunctory" and "insensitive";<ref>Greenfield et al, p. 688</ref> on its reissue in the 1980s a ''[[Gramophone (magazine)|Gramphone]]'' reviewer thought much of the set "light-weight" and "lacking in ''gravitas''", although he found the performance of the Seventh Symphony "magnificent".<ref>Sanders, Alan. "Compact Disc Round-Up", ''Gramophone'', August 1988, p. 343</ref> In 1995 [[Richard Taruskin]], analysing a selection of Beethoven recordings, concluded that Leibowitz, like Scherchen, delivered performances that were musically and musicologically superior to more recent attempts by [[Historically informed performance|"authentic"]] conductors such as [[Christopher Hogwood]].<ref name=taruskin>Taruskin, pp. 227–229</ref> By the 21st century the performances had come to seem old-fashioned, in the view of a critic in ''[[Fanfare (magazine)|Fanfare]]'', who found them more akin to those by [[Herbert von Karajan]] than to those by specialist authenticists such as [[Roger Norrington]] and [[John Eliot Gardiner]].<ref>Bayley, Lynn René. "Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 1–9. Egmont Overture. Leonore Overture No. 3", ''Fanfare – The Magazine for Serious Record Collectors''; September/October, 2014), pp. 125–127</ref>
In 1961 Leibowitz conducted the [[Royal Philharmonic Orchestra]] in a set of Beethoven's symphonies made by [[Decca Records|Decca]] for ''[[Reader's Digest]]'';<ref name=decca>Stuart, Philip. [http://images.cch.kcl.ac.uk/charm/liv/pubs/DeccaComplete.pdf ''Decca Classical 1929–2009''], accessed 5 May 2018.</ref> it was among the first to attempt to follow Beethoven's [[metronome]] markings, following the pioneering set made in Vienna three years earlier, conducted by [[Hermann Scherchen]].<ref name=taruskin/> Reviewers observed that although Scherchen had achieved tempos more closely approaching the composer's markings, Leibowitz, at speeds not much slower, had secured better ensemble than the earlier set achieved.<ref name=taruskin/> Initially the set was poorly received. ''[[The Stereo Record Guide]]'' called the performances "slack", "perfunctory" and "insensitive";{{sfn|Greenfield|March|Stevens|1963|p=688}} on its reissue in the 1980s a ''[[Gramophone (magazine)|Gramphone]]'' reviewer thought much of the set "light-weight" and "lacking in ''gravitas''", although he found the performance of the Seventh Symphony "magnificent".<ref>Sanders, Alan. "Compact Disc Round-Up", ''[[Gramophone (magazine)|Gramphone]]'', August 1988, p. 343</ref> In 1995 [[Richard Taruskin]], analysing a selection of Beethoven recordings, concluded that Leibowitz, like Scherchen, delivered performances that were musically and musicologically superior to more recent attempts by [[Historically informed performance|"authentic"]] conductors such as [[Christopher Hogwood]].<ref name=taruskin>{{harvnb|Taruskin|1995|pp=227–229}}</ref> By the 21st century the performances had come to seem old-fashioned, in the view of a critic in ''[[Fanfare (magazine)|Fanfare]]'', who found them more akin to those by [[Herbert von Karajan]] than to those by specialist authenticists such as [[Roger Norrington]] and [[John Eliot Gardiner]].<ref>Bayley, Lynn René. "Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 1–9. Egmont Overture. Leonore Overture No. 3", ''[[Fanfare (magazine)|Fanfare]]''; September/October 2014), pp. 125–127</ref>


With the Decca team, Leibowitz recorded eleven more albums between 1959 and 1962. They included large-scale works such as ''The Rite of Spring'', symphonies by Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, and concertos by Grieg, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Prokofiev, as well as short pieces by more than thirty composers ranging from [[Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach]] to [[George Gershwin|Gershwin]], from [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]] to [[Arthur Sullivan|Sullivan]], [[Giacomo Puccini|Puccini]] and [[Johann Strauss II|Johann Strauss]].<ref name=decca/>
With the Decca team, Leibowitz recorded eleven more albums between 1959 and 1962. They included large-scale works such as ''The Rite of Spring'', symphonies by Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, and concertos by Grieg, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Prokofiev, as well as short pieces by more than thirty composers ranging from [[Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach]] to [[George Gershwin|Gershwin]], from [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]] to [[Arthur Sullivan|Sullivan]], [[Giacomo Puccini|Puccini]] and [[Johann Strauss II|Johann Strauss]].<ref name=decca/>
Line 46: Line 47:
*Piano Sonata op.1 (1939)
*Piano Sonata op.1 (1939)
*10 Canons for wind trio op.2 (1939)
*10 Canons for wind trio op.2 (1939)
*String Quartet no.1 op.3 (1940)
*String Quartet no.1 op.3 (1940)
*Symphony op.4 (1941)
*Symphony op.4 (1941)
*Double concerto for violin, piano and 17 instruments op.5 (1942)
*Double concerto for violin, piano and 17 instruments op.5 (1942)
Line 156: Line 157:
* Schoenberg: ''[[Gurre-Lieder]]''. Ethel Semser, [[Nell Tangeman]], John Riley, Richard Lewis, [[Ferry Gruber]], Morris Gesell, Chœurs et Orchestre de la Nouvelle Association Symphonique de Paris.
* Schoenberg: ''[[Gurre-Lieder]]''. Ethel Semser, [[Nell Tangeman]], John Riley, Richard Lewis, [[Ferry Gruber]], Morris Gesell, Chœurs et Orchestre de la Nouvelle Association Symphonique de Paris.
* Schoenberg: Piano Concerto Op. 42. [[Claude Helffer]] (piano), Orchestre Radio-Symphonique de Paris. Counterpoint (LP)
* Schoenberg: Piano Concerto Op. 42. [[Claude Helffer]] (piano), Orchestre Radio-Symphonique de Paris. Counterpoint (LP)
* Schoenberg: ''[[Pierrot Lunaire]]''. Ethel Semser, The Virtuoso Chamber Ensemble. Argo/Westminster (LP)
* Schoenberg: ''[[Pierrot lunaire]]''. Ethel Semser, The Virtuoso Chamber Ensemble. Argo/Westminster (LP)


====Stereo recordings====
====Stereo recordings====
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**Malcolm Frager (piano)
**Malcolm Frager (piano)
**Paris Conservatoire Orchestra
**Paris Conservatoire Orchestra
***Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor Op. 16
***Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor Op. 16
*June 1960
*June 1960
**Paris Conservatoire Orchestra
**Paris Conservatoire Orchestra
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***Gade ''Jealousy''
***Gade ''Jealousy''
***Delibes ''La Source'': Intermezzo
***Delibes ''La Source'': Intermezzo
***Waldteufel ''Les Patineurs'' - Waltz Op. 183
***Waldteufel ''Les Patineurs'' – Waltz Op. 183
***Dinicu ''Hora Staccato''
***Dinicu ''Hora Staccato''
***Dvořák ''Humoresque'' Op. 101/7 B187/7
***Dvořák ''Humoresque'' Op. 101/7 B187/7
Line 218: Line 219:
***Mozart Symphony No. 41 in C, K551 "Jupiter"
***Mozart Symphony No. 41 in C, K551 "Jupiter"
***Wagner ''Tannhäuser'': Overture
***Wagner ''Tannhäuser'': Overture
***Bach-Leibowitz Passacaglia & Fugue in C minor BWV 582
***Bach-Leibowitz Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor BWV 582
***Schubert Symphony No. 9 in C, D944 "Great"
***Schubert Symphony No. 9 in C, D944 "Great"
***Offenbach-Leibowitz ''La vie parisienne''
***Offenbach-Leibowitz ''La vie parisienne''
Line 226: Line 227:
***Mendelssohn ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' Overture Op. 21
***Mendelssohn ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' Overture Op. 21
***Mendelssohn Octet in E-flat Op. 20: Scherzo
***Mendelssohn Octet in E-flat Op. 20: Scherzo
***Mussorgsky ''Night on the Bare Mountain''
***Mussorgsky-Leibowitz ''Night on the Bare Mountain''
***Beethoven ''Leonore'' Overture No. 3, Op. 72a
***Beethoven ''Leonore'' Overture No. 3, Op. 72a
***Wagner ''Die Meistersinger'': Prelude to Act I
***Wagner ''Die Meistersinger'': Prelude to act 1
*October 1962
*October 1962
**Hyman Bress (violin)
**Hyman Bress (violin)
**Earl Wild (piano)
**Earl Wild (piano)
**Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
**Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
***Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor Op. 64
***Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor Op. 64
***Grieg Piano Concerto in A minor Op. 16
***Grieg Piano Concerto in A minor Op. 16
***Beethoven ''Egmont'' Op. 84: Overture
***Beethoven ''Egmont'' Op. 84: Overture
*December 1962
*December 1962
Line 248: Line 249:


==Publications by Leibowitz==
==Publications by Leibowitz==
* 1947 ''Schoenberg et son école: l'étape contemporaine du langage musical''. [Paris]: J.B. Janin. (English edition, as ''Schoenberg and His School: The Contemporary Stage in the Language of Music''. Translated by Dika Newlin. New York: Philosophocal Library, 1949).
* 1947 ''Schoenberg et son école: l'étape contemporaine du langage musical''. [Paris]: J.B. Janin. (English edition, as ''Schoenberg and His School: The Contemporary Stage in the Language of Music''. Translated by Dika Newlin. New York: Philosophical Library, 1949).
*1948. ''Qu’est-ce que la musique de douze sons? Le Concerto pour neuf instruments, op. 24, d’Anton Webern''. Liège: Éditions Dynamo.
*1948. ''Qu'est-ce que la musique de douze sons? Le Concerto pour neuf instruments, op. 24, d'Anton Webern''. Liège: Éditions Dynamo.
*1949. ''Introduction à la musique de douze sons. Les variations pour orchestre op. 31, d'Arnold Schoenberg''. Paris: L'Arche.
*1949. ''Introduction à la musique de douze sons. Les variations pour orchestre op. 31, d'Arnold Schoenberg''. Paris: L'Arche.
*1950. ''L'artiste et sa conscience: esquisse d'une dialectique de la conscience artistique''. Préf. de Jean-Paul Sartre. Paris: L'Arche.
*1950. ''L'artiste et sa conscience: esquisse d'une dialectique de la conscience artistique''. Préf. de [[Jean-Paul Sartre]]. Paris: L'Arche.
*1950. ''Scènes de la vie musicale américaine''. Liège: Éditions Dynamo.
*1950. ''Scènes de la vie musicale américaine''. Liège: Éditions Dynamo.
*1950. ''Arnold Schoenberg ou Sisyphe dans la musique contemporaine''. Liège: Éditions Dynamo.
*1950. ''Arnold Schoenberg ou Sisyphe dans la musique contemporaine''. Liège: Éditions Dynamo.
*1951. ''L'évolution de la musique, de Bach à Schoenberg''. Paris: Éditions Corrêa.
*1951. ''L'évolution de la musique, de Bach à Schoenberg''. Paris: Éditions Corrêa.
*1957. ''Histoire de l'opéra''. Paris: Buchet Chastel.
*1957. ''Histoire de l'opéra''. Paris: Buchet Chastel.
*1969. ''Schoenberg''. Paris: Éditions du Seuil.
*1969. ''Schoenberg''. Paris: Éditions du Seuil.
*1971. ''Le compositeur et son double: essais sur l'interprétation musicale''. Paris: Gallimard. (Ed. augm., version définitive. Paris: Gallimard, 1986.)
*1971. ''Le compositeur et son double: essais sur l'interprétation musicale''. Paris: Gallimard. (Ed. augm., version définitive. Paris: Gallimard, 1986.)
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===Sources===
===Sources===
{{div col|colwidth=45em}}
* {{cite book | last = Canarina | first = John | title=Pierre Monteux, Maître | location=Pompton Plains, New Jersey| publisher=Amadeus Press | year=2003 | isbn = 978-1-57467-082-0 }}
* {{cite book | last = Canarina | first = John | title = Pierre Monteux, Maître | location = Pompton Plains, New Jersey | publisher = Amadeus Press | year = 2003 | isbn = 978-1-57467-082-0 | url = https://archive.org/details/pierremonteuxmai00cana }}
* {{cite book | last= Fosler-Lussier| first=Danielle | title= The Cambridge Companion to Bartók|chapter =Bartók: reception in Cold War Europe |others=Amanda Bayley (ed)| year=2007 | location=Cambridge | publisher=Cambridge University Press | isbn=978-0-521-66958-0 }}
* {{cite book | last= Fosler-Lussier| first=Danielle | title= The Cambridge Companion to Bartók|chapter =Bartók: reception in Cold War Europe |others=Amanda Bayley (ed)| year=2007 | location=Cambridge | publisher=Cambridge University Press | isbn=978-0-521-66958-0 }}
* {{cite book | last= Gagné | first= Nicole | title= Historical Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Classical Music| year= 2012| location= Lanham, Maryland | publisher= : Scarecrow Press | isbn= 978-0-8108-7962-1}}
* {{cite book | last= Gagné | first= Nicole | title= Historical Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Classical Music| year= 2012| location= Lanham, Maryland | publisher= Scarecrow Press | isbn= 978-0-8108-7962-1}}
* {{cite book | last=Greenfield | first=Edward|authorlink=Edward Greenfield |author2=Ivan March|author3=[[Denis Stevens]]| title= The Stereo Record Guide, Volume III | year=1963 | location= London| publisher=: Long Playing Record Library | oclc=23222066 }}
* {{cite book | last1=Greenfield|first1=Edward|author1-link=Edward Greenfield|last2=March|first2=Ivan|author2-link=Ivan March|last3=Stevens|first3=Denis|author3-link=Denis Stevens| title= The Stereo Record Guide, Volume III | year=1963 | location= London| publisher=Long Playing Record Library | oclc=23222066 }}
* {{cite book | last= Leibowitz | first= René | title= Sibelius, le plus mauvais compositeur du monde | year= 1955| location= Liège | publisher= Éditions Dynamo| oclc= 28594116 }}
* {{cite book | last= Leibowitz | first= René | title= Sibelius, le plus mauvais compositeur du monde | year= 1955| location= Liège | publisher= Éditions Dynamo| oclc= 28594116 }}
* {{cite book | last = Nichols | first = Roger | authorlink=Roger Nichols (musical scholar)| title = Ravel | year = 2011 | location = New Haven, US and London | publisher = Yale University Press | isbn = 978-0-300-10882-8}}
* {{cite book | last = Nichols | first = Roger | author-link = Roger Nichols (musical scholar) | title = Ravel | year = 2011 | location = New Haven, US and London | publisher = Yale University Press | isbn = 978-0-300-10882-8 | url = https://archive.org/details/mauriceravel00roge }}
* {{cite book | last = Orenstein | first = Arbie | authorlink=Arbie Orenstein| title = Ravel: Man and Musician | year = 1991 | origyear = 1975 | location = Mineola, US | publisher = Dover | isbn = 978-0-486-26633-6 }}
* {{cite book | last = Orenstein | first = Arbie | author-link=Arbie Orenstein| title = Ravel: Man and Musician | year = 1991 | orig-year = 1975 | location = Mineola, US | publisher = Dover | isbn = 978-0-486-26633-6 }}
* {{cite book | last = Sackville-West | first = Edward|authorlink=Edward Sackville-West|author2 = [[Desmond Shawe-Taylor (music critic)|Desmond Shawe-Taylor]] | year = 1955 | title = The Record Guide | location = London | publisher = Collins | oclc = 500373060}}
* {{cite book | last1=Sackville-West|first1=Edward|author1-link=Edward Sackville-West|last2=Shawe-Taylor|first2=Desmond|author2-link=Desmond Shawe-Taylor (music critic)|year=1955|title=The Record Guide|location=London|publisher=Collins|oclc=500373060}}
* {{cite book | last= Shaw | first= Jennifer Robin |author2= Joseph Henry Auner |title= The Cambridge Companion to Schoenberg| year= 2011| location= Cambridge | publisher= Cambridge University Press | isbn=978-0-511-78091-2 }}
* {{cite book | last1= Shaw | first1= Jennifer Robin |last2=Auner|first2=Joseph Henry|title= The Cambridge Companion to Schoenberg| year= 2011| location= Cambridge | publisher= Cambridge University Press | isbn=978-0-511-78091-2}}
* {{cite book | last= Taruskin | first= Richard | authorlink=Richard Taruskin|title= Text and Act: Essays on Music and Performance| year=1995 | location= New York | publisher= Oxford University Press | isbn=978-0-19-509458-9 }}
* {{cite book | last= Taruskin | first= Richard | author-link=Richard Taruskin|title= Text and Act: Essays on Music and Performance| year=1995 | location= New York | publisher= Oxford University Press | isbn=978-0-19-509458-9}}
* {{cite book | last= Weagel | first= Deborah Fillerup |title= Words and Music: Camus, Beckett, Cage, Gould | year= 2011| location= New York | publisher= Peter Lang | isbn=978-1-4331-0836-5 }}
* {{cite book | last= Weagel | first= Deborah Fillerup |title= Words and Music: Camus, Beckett, Cage, Gould | year= 2011| location= New York | publisher= Peter Lang | isbn=978-1-4331-0836-5 }}
{{div col end}}


{{Second Viennese School}}
{{Second Viennese School}}
{{Portal bar|Biography|Classical music}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}


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[[Category:1972 deaths]]
[[Category:1972 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century classical composers]]
[[Category:20th-century classical composers]]
[[Category:20th-century conductors (music)]]
[[Category:20th-century French conductors (music)]]
[[Category:20th-century French musicologists]]
[[Category:20th-century French musicologists]]
⚫
[[Category:French classical composers]]
[[Category:French conductors (music)]]
[[Category:French male conductors (music)]]
[[Category:French male conductors (music)]]
⚫
[[Category:French classical composers]]
[[Category:French male classical composers]]
[[Category:French male classical composers]]
[[Category:French people of Polish-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:Jewish classical composers]]
[[Category:Jewish classical composers]]
⚫
[[Category:People from Warsaw]]
[[Category:Second Viennese School]]
[[Category:Second Viennese School]]
[[Category:Twelve-tone and serial composers]]
[[Category:Twelve-tone and serial composers]]
[[Category:20th-century French composers]]
[[Category:20th-century French composers]]
[[Category:20th-century male musicians]]
[[Category:20th-century French male musicians]]
⚫
[[Category:Berg scholars]]
[[Category:Schoenberg scholars]]
[[Category:Webern scholars]]

Latest revision as of 11:24, 21 August 2024

black and white photograph of middle-aged man, balding
Leibowitz, c. mid-1960s

René Leibowitz (French: [ʁəne lɛbɔwits]; 17 February 1913 – 29 August 1972) was a Polish and French composer, conductor, music theorist and teacher. He was historically significant in promoting the music of the Second Viennese School in Paris after the Second World War, and teaching a new generation of serialist composers.

Leibowitz remained firmly committed to the musical aesthetic of Arnold Schoenberg, and was to some extent sidelined among the French avant-garde in the 1950s, when, under the influence of Leibowitz's former student, Pierre Boulez and others, the music of Schoenberg's pupil Anton Webern was adopted as the orthodox model by younger composers.

Although his compositional ideas remained strictly serialist, as a conductor Leibowitz had broad sympathies, performing works by composers as diverse as Gluck, Beethoven, Brahms, Offenbach and Ravel, and his repertory extended to include pieces by Gershwin, Puccini, Sullivan and Johann Strauss.

Life and career

[edit]

Early years

[edit]

The facts about Leibowitz's early years are problematical, complicated by his practice of reinventing his history,[1][n 1] but it is known that he was born in Warsaw.[3] According to his pupil and translator, Jan Maguire, who wrote two studies of him for Tempo magazine in the late 1970s, Leibowitz was of Russian Jewish parentage; his father was an art historian.[4] During the First World War the family was obliged to move from Warsaw to Berlin, where, Maguire writes, Leibowitz began a career as a concert violinist at the age of ten.[4] That career was interrupted when the family moved to Paris three years later. By Maguire's account Leibowitz taught himself "the fundamentals of harmony, counterpoint and score-reading" while in high school, and took his Baccalauréat when he was seventeen.[4] At this point, his history becomes unclear. By his own account, credited by Maguire and others, he then went to Vienna to study with Anton Webern.[4] By other accounts he studied with Arnold Schoenberg.[5] Neither is now believed to be correct: Sabine Meine wrote in the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians in 2001, "Leibowitz's claims of having met Schoenberg and studied with Webern in the early 1930s remain unsubstantiated",[3] and in 2012 Nicole Gagné wrote in the Historical Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Classical Music, "despite his claims to the contrary, he never studied with Arnold Schoenberg or Anton Webern".[6] Other claims about Leibowitz's teachers – that he studied composition with Maurice Ravel and conducting with Pierre Monteux – have been discounted by some writers in the present century,[1] although as recently as 2010 in a study mainly focused on American composers Deborah Fillerup Weagel repeated the statement that Leibowitz was a pupil of Webern and Ravel.[7] There is no mention of Leibowitz in the biographies of Ravel by Arbie Orenstein (1991) and Roger Nichols (2011) or of Monteux by John Canarina (2003).[8]

Paris

[edit]

In Paris, according to Maguire, Leibowitz earned his living as a jazz pianist and composed constantly. In his early twenties he married an artist from an illustrious French family and settled down in Paris, eventually taking French nationality.[4] During the early 1930s he was introduced to Schoenberg's twelve-note technique by the German pianist and composer Erich Itor Kahn. Maguire writes that Leibowitz easily fitted into "the ebullient intellectual and artistic climate of Paris in the pre-war years". His aesthetic interests were not confined to music, and he became friendly with leading figures from the world of modern art, notably André Masson and Pablo Picasso, and with literary figures including Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and Albert Camus.[9] For Leibowitz, according to Maguire, composing was his most regular activity, and the one he thought most important, although he was known more for his commentaries, his critical and analytical writings, his conducting, and his teaching, all of which he considered secondary.[9]

When the Germans invaded France in the Second World War, Leibowitz was interned as an alien for a time. He did not succeed in emigrating, but, as the musicologist Reinhard Kapp puts it, "managed to survive somehow, partly hidden by [Georges] Bataille in Paris, at other times with his family in the Unoccupied Zone".[2] While in wartime Paris he clandestinely taught students from the Paris Conservatoire.[10] In 1944, just before the liberation of Paris, there was a party at the Left Bank apartment of the Swiss artist Balthus attended by artistic opponents of the Nazis, such as Picasso and others; Leibowitz provided the music.[4]

Post-war

[edit]

After the liberation Leibowitz resumed his interrupted career, teaching, conducting and writing, drawing on the extensive material he had produced during his enforced wartime seclusion.[2] In 1947–48 and again in 1950 he visited Los Angeles to meet Schoenberg, whose cantata A Survivor from Warsaw he transcribed into full score.[2] Many of the works of the Second Viennese School were first heard in France at the International Festival of Chamber Music established by Leibowitz in Paris in 1947. Leibowitz was highly influential in promoting the reputation of the School, both through teaching in Paris after the war and through his book Schoenberg et son école, published in 1947 and translated by Dika Newlin as Schoenberg and his School (US and UK editions 1949). The book was among the earliest theoretical treatises on Schoenberg's twelve-tone method of composition; Leibowitz (like Humphrey Searle) was among the first theorists to promulgate the term "serialism". The book attracted hostile criticism from composers on various points of the modernist continuum. Aaron Copland condemned its "dogmatic and fanatical" tone, and Milton Babbitt felt that its musical discussions were superficial, with misleading analogies between tonal and dodecaphonic music, but it was well received by the musical public.[11]

Leibowitz's advocacy of the Schoenberg school was taken further by two of his pupils, Pierre Boulez and Jacques-Louis Monod, each taking different paths in promoting the music of Schoenberg, Webern and the development of serialism. Meine writes in Grove that during the 1950s Leibowitz's writings came under attack from some of the younger generation: Boulez and others accused him of "dogmatic orthodoxy and academicism".[3] In the view of another pupil, Maguire, Boulez, having learned the twelve-tone technique from Leibowitz, "proceeded to apply it indiscriminately to every musical element, disregarding the most fundamental qualities, the essence of music". Leibowitz warned his former student, "But the public has not yet assimilated Schoenberg", and tried, unsuccessfully, to avoid a rancorous falling out.[4]

Although Leibowitz composed continually, he seldom pressed to have his works performed. When he died, leaving an oeuvre of nearly a hundred pieces, the magazine Esprit commented, "Modest, perhaps too modest, he never spoke of his works, unless obliged to do so, doing nothing to get them played. It is certainly no exaggeration to say that at least three quarters of his scores have never been heard."[12] Since his death a representative sample of his works have been recorded. A 2013 CD set from the Divox label contains recordings of 22 of Leibowitz's works: 6 Mélodies, Op. 6; Flute Sonata, Op. 12b; Explanation of Metaphors, Op. 15; Duo for Cello and Piano, Op. 23; 5 Pieces for clarinet and piano, Op. 29; Sérénade, Op. 38; 3 Poèmes, Op. 46; Violin Concerto, Op. 50; Marijuana variations non sérieuses, Op. 54; Toccata, Op. 62; 3 Caprices, Op. 70; 2 Settings, Op. 71; 3 Poèmes, Op. 73; Motifs, Op. 74; Petite suite, Op. 75; 2 poèmes, Op. 76a; Chanson dada, Op. 76b; Suite, Op. 81; 4 Lieder, Op. 86; 3 Intermezzi, Op. 87; Laboratoire central, Op. 88; and 3 Poèmes, Op. 92.[13]

Although Leibowitz was receptive to a wide range of musical styles, he could not bear the music of Sibelius, and published a pamphlet about him under the title of Sibelius: the Worst Composer in the World;[14] he also severely criticised Bartók for writing music that was too accessible: Leibowitz felt that by failing to adopt dodecaphony in his later works Bartók was pandering to popular taste rather than helping to move music away from tonality in accordance with Leibowitz's notions of historical inevitability and composers' duty.[15] For Leibowitz, to write a popular work like Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra was a betrayal of modernism.[16]

Grove has articles on thirty-two composers who studied with Leibowitz in Paris or attended his sessions at Darmstadt or elsewhere: as well as Boulez and Monod, they include Vinko Globokar; Hans Werner Henze; Diego Masson; Serge Nigg; and Bernd Alois Zimmermann.[n 2] The writer Joan Peyser summed up Leibowitz's career:

one long splendid moment in his life, stretching from Paris in 1944 through Darmstadt in 1948, devoted to the promulgation of Schoenbergian ideas. When, in the late 40s and early 50s, Webern displaced Schoenberg as the venerated man and composers applied the serial idea beyond pitch, Leibowitz's time had passed. He refused to follow that path.[10]

Leibowitz's obituarist in Esprit dismissed this as simplistic:

Let us rise above the very "Parisian" (but untrue) cliché of a René Leibowitz, abandoned by his brilliant pupils, and fallen into oblivion after the 1950s. There were breaks, especially with Boulez, but that did not prevent later generations from coming to lean on him: the generation of Puig, Globokar, etc. It is also true that many myths were circulated about him, both by the academicians who did not forgive him for having introduced the virus of the atonal and by the avant-gardists who found him too conformist.[12]

Leibowitz died suddenly in Paris on 29 August 1972, at the age of 59.[12]

Recordings

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In the early LP era, in the 1950s, Leibowitz conducted complete recordings of seven operas, which were generally well received, and have mostly been reissued on CD. They were Bizet's Les Pêcheurs de perles; Gluck's Alceste and L'ivrogne corrigé; Mozart's Zaïde; Offenbach's La Belle Hélène and Orphée aux enfers; and Ravel's L'Heure espagnole.[18] A set of Ravel's orchestral works was less well reviewed,[19] but Leibowitz received qualified praise for his set of Schoenberg's Gurre-Lieder ("Leibowitz makes a serious attempt to produce a convincing performance; his slow tempi find justification in Schoenberg's markings, but his artists cannot persuade us that Gurre-Lieder is other than an historical curiosity").[20]

In 1961 Leibowitz conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in a set of Beethoven's symphonies made by Decca for Reader's Digest;[21] it was among the first to attempt to follow Beethoven's metronome markings, following the pioneering set made in Vienna three years earlier, conducted by Hermann Scherchen.[22] Reviewers observed that although Scherchen had achieved tempos more closely approaching the composer's markings, Leibowitz, at speeds not much slower, had secured better ensemble than the earlier set achieved.[22] Initially the set was poorly received. The Stereo Record Guide called the performances "slack", "perfunctory" and "insensitive";[23] on its reissue in the 1980s a Gramphone reviewer thought much of the set "light-weight" and "lacking in gravitas", although he found the performance of the Seventh Symphony "magnificent".[24] In 1995 Richard Taruskin, analysing a selection of Beethoven recordings, concluded that Leibowitz, like Scherchen, delivered performances that were musically and musicologically superior to more recent attempts by "authentic" conductors such as Christopher Hogwood.[22] By the 21st century the performances had come to seem old-fashioned, in the view of a critic in Fanfare, who found them more akin to those by Herbert von Karajan than to those by specialist authenticists such as Roger Norrington and John Eliot Gardiner.[25]

With the Decca team, Leibowitz recorded eleven more albums between 1959 and 1962. They included large-scale works such as The Rite of Spring, symphonies by Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, and concertos by Grieg, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Prokofiev, as well as short pieces by more than thirty composers ranging from Bach to Gershwin, from Wagner to Sullivan, Puccini and Johann Strauss.[21]

Works

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Discography (incomplete)

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As conductor

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Mono recordings

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Stereo recordings

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Publications by Leibowitz

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  • 1947 Schoenberg et son école: l'étape contemporaine du langage musical. [Paris]: J.B. Janin. (English edition, as Schoenberg and His School: The Contemporary Stage in the Language of Music. Translated by Dika Newlin. New York: Philosophical Library, 1949).
  • 1948. Qu'est-ce que la musique de douze sons? Le Concerto pour neuf instruments, op. 24, d'Anton Webern. Liège: Éditions Dynamo.
  • 1949. Introduction à la musique de douze sons. Les variations pour orchestre op. 31, d'Arnold Schoenberg. Paris: L'Arche.
  • 1950. L'artiste et sa conscience: esquisse d'une dialectique de la conscience artistique. Préf. de Jean-Paul Sartre. Paris: L'Arche.
  • 1950. Scènes de la vie musicale américaine. Liège: Éditions Dynamo.
  • 1950. Arnold Schoenberg ou Sisyphe dans la musique contemporaine. Liège: Éditions Dynamo.
  • 1951. L'évolution de la musique, de Bach à Schoenberg. Paris: Éditions Corrêa.
  • 1957. Histoire de l'opéra. Paris: Buchet Chastel.
  • 1969. Schoenberg. Paris: Éditions du Seuil.
  • 1971. Le compositeur et son double: essais sur l'interprétation musicale. Paris: Gallimard. (Ed. augm., version définitive. Paris: Gallimard, 1986.)
  • 1972. Les fantômes de l'opéra: essais sur le théâtre lyrique. Paris: Gallimard.

Notes, references and sources

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Notes

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  1. ^ The musicologist Reinhard Kapp commented in 1988, "Trustworthy biographical data are almost impossible to find; instead there is a jumble of contradictions, assumptions, myths, and ill-considered conjectures."[2]
  2. ^ The others are Leni Alexander; André Casanova; Franco Donatoni; Antoine Duhamel; Hans Ulrich Engelmann; Giuseppe Giorgio Englert; Werner Haentjes; Claude Helffer; Stanko Horvat; Keith Humble; Carlos Jiménez Mabarak; Dieter Kaufmann; Maurice Le Roux; Wolfgang Ludewig; Jean-Louis Martinet; Norbert Moret; Diether de la Motte; Tolia Nikiprowetzky; Will Ogdon; Yannis Andreou Papaioannou; Ron Pellegrino; Allan Pettersson; Michel Paul Philippot; Jean Prodromidès; Ruben Radica; and Armin Schibler.[17]

References

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  1. ^ a b Radcliffe, David. American Record Guide, vol. 68, issue 4, July/August 2005, p. 264
  2. ^ a b c d Kapp, Reinhard. "Shades of the Double's Original: René Leibowitz's Dispute with Boulez", Tempo, June 1988, p. 4 JSTOR 945132
  3. ^ a b c Meine, Sabine. "Leibowitz, René", Grove Music Online, Oxford University Press, 2001, retrieved 4 May 2018 (subscription required)
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Maguire, Jan. "Rene Leibowitz (1913–1972)", Tempo, December 1979, pp. 6–10 JSTOR 944986 (subscription required)
  5. ^ Hopkins, G. W., and Paul Griffiths, "Boulez, Pierre", Grove Music Online, Oxford University Press, 2001, retrieved 4 May. 2018 (subscription required)
  6. ^ Gagné 2012, p. 158.
  7. ^ Weagel 2011, p. 35.
  8. ^ Orenstein 1991, index, p. 286; Nichols 2011, index, p. 420; and Canarina 2003, index, p. 349
  9. ^ a b Maguire, Jan. "René Leibowitz", Perspectives of New Music, vol. 21, no. 1/2 (Autumn 1982 – Summer 1983), pp. 241–256 JSTOR 832875(subscription required)
  10. ^ a b Peyser, Joan. "Rene Leibowitz (1913–1972)", The New York Times, 10 September 1972, p. D26
  11. ^ Shaw & Auner 2011, pp. 252–253.
  12. ^ a b c J.-M. M. "Rene Leibowitz", Esprit (1940–), no. 419 (12) (December 1972), pp. 943–944 JSTOR 24264155 (subscription required)
  13. ^ Divox CD set CDX-21103-04
  14. ^ Leibowitz 1955, title page.
  15. ^ Fosler-Lussier 2007, pp. 201–204.
  16. ^ Fosler-Lussier 2007, p. 192.
  17. ^ "Search results: Leibowitz", Grove Music Online, Oxford University Press, 2001, retrieved 5 May 2018 (subscription required)
  18. ^ Sackville-West & Shawe-Taylor 1955, pp. 126–127, 305, 512, 556–558, 615.
  19. ^ Sackville-West & Shawe-Taylor 1955, p. 612.
  20. ^ Sackville-West & Shawe-Taylor 1955, p. 652.
  21. ^ a b Stuart, Philip. Decca Classical 1929–2009, accessed 5 May 2018.
  22. ^ a b c Taruskin 1995, pp. 227–229
  23. ^ Greenfield, March & Stevens 1963, p. 688.
  24. ^ Sanders, Alan. "Compact Disc Round-Up", Gramphone, August 1988, p. 343
  25. ^ Bayley, Lynn René. "Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 1–9. Egmont Overture. Leonore Overture No. 3", Fanfare; September/October 2014), pp. 125–127

Sources

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  • Canarina, John (2003). Pierre Monteux, Maître. Pompton Plains, New Jersey: Amadeus Press. ISBN 978-1-57467-082-0.
  • Fosler-Lussier, Danielle (2007). "Bartók: reception in Cold War Europe". The Cambridge Companion to Bartók. Amanda Bayley (ed). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-66958-0.
  • Gagné, Nicole (2012). Historical Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Classical Music. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-7962-1.
  • Greenfield, Edward; March, Ivan; Stevens, Denis (1963). The Stereo Record Guide, Volume III. London: Long Playing Record Library. OCLC 23222066.
  • Leibowitz, René (1955). Sibelius, le plus mauvais compositeur du monde. Liège: Éditions Dynamo. OCLC 28594116.
  • Nichols, Roger (2011). Ravel. New Haven, US and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-10882-8.
  • Orenstein, Arbie (1991) [1975]. Ravel: Man and Musician. Mineola, US: Dover. ISBN 978-0-486-26633-6.
  • Sackville-West, Edward; Shawe-Taylor, Desmond (1955). The Record Guide. London: Collins. OCLC 500373060.
  • Shaw, Jennifer Robin; Auner, Joseph Henry (2011). The Cambridge Companion to Schoenberg. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-511-78091-2.
  • Taruskin, Richard (1995). Text and Act: Essays on Music and Performance. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-509458-9.
  • Weagel, Deborah Fillerup (2011). Words and Music: Camus, Beckett, Cage, Gould. New York: Peter Lang. ISBN 978-1-4331-0836-5.
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