Živá hudba

Abstrakt:
Before his internment in Terezín, Czech-Jewish composer Gideon Klein experimented with many different types of music and compositional procedures like serialism and quarter-tone writing. Klein’s 1939–40 Duo for Violin and Viola and “Fantasietta”, written in quarter-tones while he was studying in Prague with Alois Hába, is a particularly interesting work from this exploratory period. However, the Duo is hardly ever performed today. There are multiple reasons for this: for almost 50 years, Klein’s earlier works were believed to be lost, and were later discovered in the 1990s; the work presents quite a steep barrier to entry for performers, due to its heavy concentration of quarter-tones; and it is unfinished. In addition to these barriers, audiences’ ears may not be prepared for this type of music, finding it eccentric and atonal. Klein, who was later tragically killed in Fürstengrube, a sub-camp of Auschwitz, at the age of 26, was part of the rich experimental avant-garde movement of the arts in Prague between the two world wars. Klein captures a type of sound world where, through the veil of this strange new syntax, human emotion prevails at the forefront, offering us a portal into a deeply turbulent world. I will provide readers with some background to the piece and its musical language, an analysis of the work, and a technical guide of suggestions for string players that may expedite the learning process. I aim to make this piece more accessible, and to encourage other musicians to expand their listening and explore this vivid work through a new musical vocabulary. I hope that by initiating a dialogue around its performance practice, this work can eventually stand alongside Klein’s other more frequently performed works.

Citace:
Avery Morris. A Performer’s Approach to Gideon Klein’s Quarter-Tone String Duo and “Fantasietta”. Živá hudba 2024/15. On-line <https://ziva-hudba.info/a-performers-approach-to-gideon-kleins-quarter-tone-string-duo-and-fantasietta/> [16. 7. 2025].
Kopírovat Avery Morris. A Performer’s Approach to Gideon Klein’s Quarter-Tone String Duo and “Fantasietta”. Živá hudba 2024/15. On-line <https://ziva-hudba.info/a-performers-approach-to-gideon-kleins-quarter-tone-string-duo-and-fantasietta/> [16. 7. 2025].