Ernst-Krenek-Institute-Private-Foundation

It is the aim of the Ernst-Krenek-Institute-Private-Foundation to make Krenek's extensive work, which reflects the most diverse genres, styles and trends in 20th century music history, accessible in their entirety.

In keeping with the spirit of this polymath humanist and in accord with his multifaceted gifts, the work of the Ernst Krenek Institute is interdisciplinary. We advise in the planning of diverse projects and organise concerts, symposia, workshops and exhibitions. At the same time we establish international contacts and initiate projects with and between artists, organisers and scholars.


Ernst-Krenek-Institute-Private-Foundation in Krems

2004 was a decisive year, historically, for Ernst Krenek. His literary and musical works were returned to Austria, his homeland, where they are preserved and promoted. And in February of that year his widow, Ms. Gladys N Krenek, founded, in accordance with Austrian law, the Ernst-Krenek-Institute-Private-Foundation in Krems with the support of the Federal Government’s State Secretary for the Arts and Media, and the State Government of Lower Austria. The Foundation was established at the Danube University in Krems (after that occurrence the university set up a centre for contemporary music). These events are of historical siAgnifcance because the City of Krems on the Danube has become Ernst Krenek’s new home. Of interest to note is that Krems is mentioned in regard to its excellent wines in Krenek’s renowned song cycle which was written in 1929 – “Reisebuch aus den österreichischen Alpen” ( “Travel Diary from the Austrian Alps”).

Prior to the establishment of the Ernst-Krenek-Institute-Private-Foundation in Krems, the Ernst Krenek Institute in Vienna, for five years, not only promoted his works but worked toward preserving them thus laying the ground work for establishing a foundation, which was its ultimate goal.


Gladys N Krenek has testified that the complete estate of the composer Ernst Krenek, who has lived in exile since 1938, is to be incorporated into the Ernst-Krenek-Institute-Private-Foundation in Krems. Those works of his which are still scattered in diverse places are being collected, documented and by optimum means preserved in the archives. They are also available to the public. The objective of the Foundation in general is to manage his estate, but above all, through providing information and support, to disseminate, popularize and kindle interest in his musical and literary works.

Due to our new set-up the Ernst Krenek Foundation can plan activities on a long- term basis, and take an innovative approach to the presentation and promotion of Ernst Krenek's oeuvre. Since the beginning of 2004 adequate workrooms are available such as offices, archives and study areas for protracted research work with Ernst Kreneks significant oeuvre and for a very basic analysis of his legacy. Within a few years, after more refurbishments, Krems will be displaying an additional showcase for his entire oeuvre.

As part of a new view on the Austrian history and the responsibilities for the restitution of property stolen from significant Austrian composers, who had been branded by the Nazis as "degenerate musicians" and forced to flee their homeland, the Federal Chancellery, the State GoAvernment of Lower Austria, the Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Culture, Ms. Krenek and many sponsors make the funds available which are necessary for the Foundation to function.


On September 12, 2004, we presented the new premises of the Ernst-Krenek-Institute-Private-Foundation to the public with an Open-house and a special concert in the evening. In the afternoon’s musical program Till Alexander Körber accompanied the soprano Anna Maria Pammer on Krenek’s piano from the 1930s, on which he composed his famous opera “Karl V” – it now belongs to the institute. Other artists were the violinist Ernst Kovacic (president of the Ernst-Krenek-Institute-Private-Foundation), Herbert Föttinger (the designated director of Vienna’s Theater in der Josefstadt) – he read passages from Krenek’s literary works, the Vienna Art Schrammeln Ensemble, and many others. Petra Preinfalk, the General Secretary of Ernst-Krenek-Institute-Private-Foundation, was the host for the events of the day and evening. She pointed out to the attentive guests the various tasks the Institute/Foundation does in regard to Krenek’s diverse and manifold oeuvre. Petra Preinfalk presented, for the first time, interviews which she had made with former students of Kreneks in California. These were excerpted from a planned Krenek Documentary which is to be made in cooperation with Othmar Schmiderer (whose film “Blind Spot” – his interview with Hitler’s secretary – is well known). With extraordinary exuberance the audience thanked the host and participants for the enlightening afternoon, new vistas were opened to them in regard to Krenek’s person and his works.


The evening’s events: Several persons gave a speech for the Opening of the Ernst Krenek-Institute-Private-Foundation in Krems. First among them was Staatssekretär Franz Morak, following him was Ms. Gladys N Krenek, the widow and a former Student of Krenek. They were all overwhelmed by the possibilities, which the Institute has created, for the promAotion of Krenek’s oeuvre, and the public’s resonance to it. All of these happenings made it resoundingly clear that this was a very special day and the beginning of a new era – a new era for Krenek and his works in his new home in Krems! The final chord/act of the “Opening” was the performance by the Petersen String Quartet from Berlin of Quartets by Krenek and Haydn in the magical Minoritenchurch in Krems-Stein.


The beginning: The Ernst Krenek Institute in Vienna 1997 - 1999

In 1997, on the initiative of a number of Krenek enthusiasts (the later board members of the association Dr. Marion Diederichs-Lafite, Dr. Maximilian Eiselsberg, Prof. Martin Haselböck and Dr. Christian Prosl), the Ernst Krenek Association was founded as the body responsible for the Ernst Krenek Institute; it was active until 2004 in the first district of Vienna, Hanuschgasse 3. During this time Doris Flekatsch was Secretary General.


On 12 January 1998, the Ernst Krenek Institute in Vienna was presented to the public at a ceremony in the Vienna Musikverein entitled "A Travel Diary through Krenek's Worlds". With the participation of many well-known artists and the city councillor Dr Peter Marboe, not only was Krenek the composer and author presented, but also Krenek the multifaceted artist and teacher. In the same year Krenek's memoirs were published as Im Atem der Zeit - Erinnerungen an die Moderne (In the breath of time - recollections of the modern) (Hofmann und Campe, paperback by Diana publishers). This autobiographical panorama covers the period from Krenek's first successful years to his emigration in 1938. We gave priority to presenting Krenek's works from this period in the framework of the 1999 Ernst Krenek Days, a festival with opera, concerts, round tables and a small exhibition.


The Ernst Krenek Institute 2000 - 2001

In the year 2000 - onA the occasion of his hundredth birthday, the 23rd of August - Ernst Krenek, a multifaceted artistic personality of the 20th century, was honoured in various international projects as a composer, writer, poet and painter. The travelling exhibition: "Ernst Krenek's 100th Birthday, Contemporary of the 20th Century", curated by Matthias Schmidt and organised by the Ernst Krenek Institute together with the Vienna City and State Library was an enormous project, but it was by working through this project that the activities of the Institute began to expanded tremendously in the direction of highly informative diverse projects. A challenge for the new Secretary Petra Preinfalk. The travelling exhibition was opened with great success in the Vienna Opera House on the 2nd of April and remained there until the 21st of May. Further venues for the exhibition in 2000 were: the Tyrolian-State-Theatre in Innsbruck; Dresden; the Szombathely Bartók Festival; the Gmunden and Carinthian Summer Festivals in Austria, Berlin Festival; Cologne Philharmonic; Prague Opera House, and New York. The year 2001 began with a presentation of the exhibition in London Ontario, Canada, followed by the Central Michigan University, Michigan; Los Angeles; the University of California San Diego. The exhibition then returned to Europe, where among other things it appeared in September 2001 at the Warsaw Autumn Festival and in October, initiated by a Krenek symposium, in the Kassel State Theater, at the end of the year it returned to Vienna.

Krenek's chamber-music compositions were the main topic at workshops, such as those with Ernst Kovacic and Klaus Lienbacher in spring 2000, while in the autumn the emphasis was on the "Lieder of Franz Schubert and Ernst Krenek" with Kurt Widmer. As a result of this kind of intensive discussion, Ernst Krenek's work is receiving a further and sustained response.

His humanist approach was expressed in his opera "Karl V" (based on his own draft libretto). "Karl V" is Krenek's major stage work and Athe first full-length opera in twelve-tone technique. It was commissioned by the Vienna Opera in the early 1930s. The premiere in Vienna was blocked by Nazi-intrigues and took place in 1938 in Prague. Its first performance in the Vienna Opera only took place in 1984, fifty years after the opera was written and after it had been successfully staged in many other theatres. In 2000, when the 500th birthday of Charles V and Ernst Krenek's 100th birthday were commemorated, the Ernst Krenek Institute organised a symposium on "Krenek's Karl V - interdisciplinary perspectives" (20-21 June 2000, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, together with the University of Vienna Institute for Musicology), in which the cultural and politico-cultural context of the stage work "Karl V" and the history of its reception and performance was examined (published in the Österreichische Musikzeitschrift No. 8/9-2000).

The year 2001 is being marked by commemorations of Ernst Krenek's death ten years before. “Ernst Krenek.Metamorphoses” is the title of a series of events, which took place between November 2001 and January 2002. We were, by means of these events, able to specifically point-out once more the diverse aspects of Krenek’s great oeuvre. Apart from the “Liederabenden” it was especially the Koehne-Quartett concert which showed the span of Kreneks compositional development from 1923 to 1981. His artistic development can be clearly followed through his eight string quartets. In two concerts students of the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien exposed their enthusiasm and great interest in Krenek’s music in their highly charged performances in which they overwhelmingly brought to light the power and unique originality of his music for all to hear. Three Choral-Concerts focused on Krenek’s large oeuvre of choral music with secular and sacred texts. His most famous and important piece for chorus “Lamentatio Jeremiae Prophetae” embodies Krenek’s intense lifelong interest and work on philosophic and existential questionAs interpreted in the genre of music. He composed more than 40 works for chorus. He also used a chorus in some of his orchestral works and extensively in many of his 20 operas. On January 10 we presented in cooperation with the Wiener Konzertchor and the ORF (Austrian Radio) the very first performance of Krenek’s “Four Motets”, written in 1918, and other fascinating pieces of the twenties.

Symposium (December 7/8,2001): “Ernst Krenek and Oskar Kokoschka and the old story of Orpheus and Eurydike”. In 1923 Krenek wrote his opera “Orpheus and Eurydike” after a libretto by Oskar Kokoschka, both artists were talented in two ways: Kokoschka - painter and writer, Krenek - composer and writer. Univ.-Prof. Dr. Jürg Stenzl, was the chairman of this very thought-provoking symposium which focused on the extraordinary expressiveness of this opera, which was written in an atonal idiom.

It was shown that this opera - myth and music - is today highly actual, modern, just as it was in 1923 and recognized then also as such. Micheal Köhlmeier began, in his very special way, by explaining, historically and otherwise, “The Myth of Orpheus and Euryidike”. This was followed by the performance of several opera-scenes, interpreted by the students of the University of Music and Performing Arts. On the second day there were lively, heated discussions concerning the papers which were given by recognized international experts; these will be published this year.

A Sensational Find – An Incredible Story: In cooperation with the University in Kassel, Germany, we focused in October 2001 on the few but important years Krenek spent in this German city. Prof. Matthias Henke, chairman of the symposium “Krenek’s Kasseler-Intermezzo”, discovered the “supposedly lost” material of Krenek’s Puppet-Play “Marlborough s’en va-t-en guerre“, op. 52, written in 1927. So this treasure could be preserved for future performances. (In 2005 the Hessischer Rundfunk published a CD with Krenek-music of this period.)

Ernst Krenek Institute 2002 – 2003

„Jonny Plays On“, Krenek’s most famous opera, as producted by Vienna’s StateOpera ended the year 2002 which was full of initiatives and projects to cultivate Krenek’s oeuvre. Events outside of Austria also took place. New York presented on April 16 the first american performance of Krenek’s unique and impressing “Lamentatio Jeremiae Prophetae” with the New York Virtuoso Singers. Only few coruses can perform this demanding masterpiece, such as the Netherlands Chamberchoir at the Lucerne Festival 2002. The Ernst Krenek Institute, in association with the production of “Jonny Plays On” in Vienna, held a Krenek Symposium from November 29 to December 1, 2002. The title of the symposium was: “The Magical but Difficult Profession of an Opera-Composer. The Musictheatre of Ernst Krenek” It took place in the Institute and in the Gustav-Mahler-Saal of Vienna’s State Opera (Chair-person: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Claudia Maurer Zenck (Ernst Krenek Institute Vienna, University Hamburg). Specialists from two continents gave papers to several of Krenek’s more than 20 operas. These as well as our guests from the artistic field acknowledged that Krenek had an ingenious instinct for this genre and one could trust that his operas would be highly dramatic on stage and the music correspondingly fitting. Accompanying this symposium was a comprehensive exhibition about Krenek’s broad spectrum of operas. This was arranged by Petra Preinfalk and displayed in the Mahler-Saal in the Vienna State Opera. Exponates for the exhibition where brought together from many different archives and completed by personal belongings of Krenek’s widow.

During Krenek's lifetime homeland was a manifold, polymorphous concept. In October 2003 we (the Ernst Krenek Institute) dedicated ourselves to investigating this theme under the title "Echoes from Austria", "Music as Homeland"? Ernst Krenek and the Folksongs of Austria in the 20th Century”. The first in our seAries of events was a concert in the Wiener Konzerthaus on October 14. Wolfgang Holzmair sang songs by Schubert and Krenek, the texts of these were all about traveling - going on a journey. This concert was in cooperation with the Austrian Radio (ORF) which brought out a CD of the program in 2004. In December 1903 it will be available and one may purchase it through our Institute. Our next event was a concert with commentary under the direction of the Musicologist, Matthias Schmidt, which took place in the Austrian Radio Cultural House on October 19. Konrad Paul Liessmann gave a lecture and works of Krenek were presented by Donna Ellen, Till Alexander Körber and the Wiener Art Schrammeln Ensemble. Krenek's work "Vom Lieben Augustin", which he wrote in 1925, and which was just now orchestrated for the Schrammel Ensemble was actually a world premiere.

On the 20th of October a day long symposium was held. The international experts Meret Forster (Munich), Claudia Maurer Zenck (Hamburg), Konrad Köstlin, Rudolf Pietsch (both from Vienna), Rudolf Flotzinger (Graz), Nils Grosch (Freiburg) und Matthias Henke (Kassel) read papers which dealt with Krenek’s relationship to the theme - "Music as Homeland". Following the symposium was a roundtable under the direction of Manfred Wagner, participants were Friedrich Cerha, Gernot Gruber, Ernst Hanisch and Walter Deutsch. (A publication of the symposium papers is being prepared for 2005/06). In the evening a wonderful concert presented by Barbara Hölzl, Alto, Till Alexander Körber, Piano, and the newly established Krenek Studio-Chorus was the magnificent Finale of "Echoes from Austria". As expected the resonance by the public was extraordinary. Also highly successful was the broadcast by the Austrian Radio on October 20, and in "O1-Extra" on October 25, the day before Austria's National Holiday.


The committed work carried out by the Ernst Krenek Institute has received international acclaim. The Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, for example, has commenAded the recent crowd-pulling series of events "Echoes from Austria. Musik als Heimat? Ernst Krenek und das österreichische Volkslied im 20. Jahrhundert" (Echoes from Austria. Music as Home? Ernst Krenek and 20th Century Popular Songs from Austria), held from 14 to 20 October 2003.


Krenek and his Home(land)

In his travel diary (“Reisebuch aus den österreichischen Alpen”) Krenek wrote:

"Soon it became clear to me:
Every goal is a new beginning, …
But may I have the privilege one day
to find a real home
when I shall return."


Born in 1900 in the Währing district of Vienna, Ernst Krenek started his composition studies at the age of 16 under Franz Schrecker and in 1920 moved with his tutor to Berlin where he got to know Ferruccio Busoni and Hermann Scherchen among others. He went to Switzerland and France, was musical assistant in the German opera houses of Kassel and Wiesbaden, and in 1928 returned to Vienna. There he came into contact with Alban Berg, Anton Webern and Karl Kraus, whose intellectual independence and ethical radicalism influenced him strongly. He composed, gave concerts and lectures and published articles. From 1932 to 1937 Ernst Krenek lived and worked in his apartment at number 6 Mühlbachergasse, in Vienna's 13th district, where a memorial plaque was put up in October 2000 on the initiative of the Ernst Krenek Institute. Shortly afterwards, in 1938, he emigrated to the United States, where he taught at various universities until 1947 and became US-Citizen in 1945. From 1947 he lived as a freelance composer in the area of Los Angeles; from 1966 until his death on 22 December 1991he lived in Palm Springs, California. In 1992 Ernst Krenek was buried in a memorial grave of the City of Vienna. Two years later, in Palm Springs, the Ernst Krenek Society was founded (www.ernstkrenek.com), a partner institute of the Ernst Krenek Institute.
Krenek's rich compositionalA works concern themselves almost completely with the music of the 20th century - from the last strains of late romanticism, through expressionism, twelve-tone and serial techniques through to electronic music and the varieties of aleatoric composition. Krenek wrote symphonies, solo concerts and orchestral works, chamber music, including string quartets, and song and choral cycles such as Lamentatio Jeremiae prophetae (1942), piano music and much more. Of great significance are more than a dozen operas, including Karl V (Charles V), Das Leben des Orest (The Life of Orestes), Orpheus und Eurydike (Orpheus and Eurydice), Kehraus um St. Stephan (Last Dance around St Stephan's) and Chrysomallos; The Golden Ram; Jonny spielt auf (Johnny Strikes up) (1926), was a world-wide success. In 2000, with the publication of the revised edition of the "Ernst Krenek Gesamtwerkverzeichnis" (index to the complete works of Ernst Krenek), a clear and current reference work on Krenek's musical oeuvre became available.
Historical circumstances have prevented Krenek's works being accessible in their entirety. From the perspective of the spirit of the times, fate dealt him a terrible blow. His works were markt as degenerated by the Nazis and he was forced to leave his homeland. Krenek remarked himself that these two events cut his life and career as a composer in two. In spite of that, and going against the trends of the time, he developed his own way as a composer. (For example, already in 1943 one sees in his “Third Piano Sonata” his development of the principal of serial rotation.) Because of his insatiable curiosity he always sought new horizons in order to express his comprehensive musical ideas. He left to the world a great artistic legacy. (In this context we would also like to mention the City of Vienna Ernst-Krenek-Prize, which is awarded biennially. For more information see “Ernst-Krenek-Prize”.)

From Krenek's rich literary work it suffices to mention his autobiography, Selbstdarstellung (1948), Zwöfton-KoAntrapunktstudien (1952), Zur Sprache gebracht, Im Zweifelsfalle (1984), Prosa, Dramen Verse (1965); in English: Music Here and Now (1938), Johannes Ockeghem (1952), Horizons Circled (1974), and his memoir, Im Atem der Zeit (1998).