E
r n s t K r e n e k ( 1 9 0 0 - 1 9 9 1 )
B i o g r a p h i e
| 1900 | born on 23 August in Vienna |
| 1906 | first music lessons; first compositions |
| 1916 | beginning of studies with Franz Schreker at the Vienna Music Academy |
| 1918 | military service |
| 1919 | study of philosophy at the University of Vienna (two semesters) |
| 1920-1923 | Krenek follows Franz Schreker to the State School for Music in Berlin; meets Ferruccio Busoni, Hermann Scherchen, Eduard Erdmann, Artur Schnabel and others |
| 1921 | first compositions using free atonality |
| 1923-1925 | residence in Switzerland; encounters Friedrich Gubler (arts section editor of the Frankfurter Zeitung), Rainer Maria Rilke, and Werner Reinhart |
| 1924 | first meeting with Theodor W. Adorno; trip to France; acquaintance with the music of Igor Stravinsky and "Les Six"; compositional approach to neoclassicism; marries Anna Mahler |
| 1925-1927 | assumes post as Paul Bekker's assistant at the Kassel State Opera; essays on opera; study of Schubert's music; "romantic" compositional phase |
| 1927 | Bekker's assistant at the Wiesbaden State Opera; premiere of Jonny spielt auf in Leipzig and international recognition |
| 1928 | marries actress Berta Haas (Hermann); returns to Vienna; meets Karl Kraus |
| 1929 | trip to North Africa; intensification of life-long literary activity: writes for the music journal Anbruch and for the Frankfurter Zeitung; exploration of music esthetic questions, study of twelve-tone technique |
| 1932-1933 | founds music journal Dreiundzwanzig together with Alban Berg, Rudolph Ploderer, and Willi Reich; active in the International Society for New Music; first compositions using twelve-tone technique |
| 1933 | commission from the Vienna State Opera for Karl V.; Krenek's name put on the Nazis' blacklist in Germany |
| 1934 | following a Nazi-tainted campaign, the minister of education cancels the première of Karl V.; trip to Spain |
| 1935-1937 | intense literary activity; articles for the Wiener Zeitung; concerts and lectures in Vienna and elsewhere |
| 1937 | first trip to the USA |
| 1938 | second trip to the USA; expulsion from Austria following the Anschluss; concerts and lectures in the USA |
| 1939-1942 | professor of music at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.; guest lecturer at the Universities of Michigan and Wisconsin |
| 1942-1947 | professor of music, Head of the Department of Music and Dean of the School of Fine Arts at Hamline University, St. Paul, Minnesota |
| 1945 | American citizenship |
| 1947-1949 | guest lecturer at universities and colleges in New Mexico and Los Angeles and at the Chicago Musical College |
| 1947-1966 | residence in Los Angeles |
| 1948 | first publication in German of the autobiography "Selbstdarstellung" |
| 1950 | marries composer Gladys Nordenstrom; resumption of concert and lecture tours in Europe; lecturer at the International Darmstadt Summer Courses |
| 1954 | Krenek Festival in Madison, Wisconsin |
| 1956 | serial compositions; electronic music; study of medieval counterpoint |
| 1957 | guest professor at Princeton University |
| 1960 | Venice-Krenek-Festival |
| 1963 | Krenek Festival founded by the North Carolina Music Society in Raleigh |
| 1965 | Krenek Festival in Minneapolis/St. Paul; guest professor at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts |
| 1966 | moves to Palm Springs, California |
| 1967 | guest professor at Peabody Institute in Baltimore, Maryland and at the University of Hawaii |
| 1968 | European tour conducting and teaching |
| 1969 | first Krenek Festival at the "steirischer herbst" in Graz, Austria |
| 1974 | Krenek Festival at California State University Northridge |
| 1975 | 75th birthday celebration at the College of the Desert in Palm Desert, California; Twin Cities Music Festival in Honor of Ernst Krenek at Hamline University in Minnesota; Krenek festivals at California State University Northridge and University of California, San Diego |
| 1978 | Ernst Krenek Archive founded at the University of California San Diego |
| 1979 | Krenek Festival at the University of California Santa Barbara |
| 1980 | Ernst Krenek Archive founded in the Vienna City and State Library; 10-city-tour through the USA and Canada (sponsored by the German Goethe Institut) |
| 1982 | "Our Thanks to Ernst Krenek", exhibition by the Vienna City and State Library; Krenek begins to spend summers at the Arnold Schönberg House in Mödling (near Vienna) |
| 1984 | première of Karl V. at the Vienna State Opera |
| 1985 | Krenek Festival, University of California San Diego |
| 1986 | first composition competition for the Ernst Krenek Prize, instigated bythe City of Vienna |
| 1990 | Krenek Archive (USA) Newsletter first published |
| 1991 | dies on 22 December in Palm Springs |
| 1992 | transferral of remains and burial in an honorary grave of the City of Vienna |
| 1994 | Ernst Krenek Society/Palm Springs founded |
| 1997 | Ernst Krenek Society/Vienna and Ernst Krenek Institute/Vienna founded (until 2004) |
| 2004 | Ernst-Krenek-Institute-Privatefoundation in Krems an der Donau |