The following is an incomplete report on an interesting, enigmatic 20th-century composer/bassoonist named Adolph Weiss. Born in America to recently immigrated German parents in 1891, Adolph Weiss never quite lost his Old World characteristics. Nor, as a bassoonist in such orchestras as the New York Philharmonic (under Gustav Mahler), the New York Symphony (under Walter Damrosch), the San Francisco Symphony (under Pierre Monteux), and finally the Los Angeles Philharmonic, did he quite win acclaim as one of the great bassoonists of his time. The enigma continues even now in the years following his death, for despite his years of music study with Arnold Schoenberg and his prolific compositional output, his works are little known beyond his circle of colleagues and friends and rarely if ever performed. At the writing of this report the editor must even confess to a lack of knowledge on the date of Adolph Weiss ' death! (probably in the mid-to-late 1970s).
Despite this, it is important to present the report at this time in the hope of shedding some light on the life and career of this significant -- if neglected -- artist.
The report consists of a series of reminiscences about Adolph Weiss. The first, and most complete one, is autobiographical, written by the composer himself around 1958. Its form and style will enable the reader to ascertain some of the complex Old World character of the man. The subsequent remembrances are by Henry Cowell, a fellow composer, written while Weiss was still alive, and by West Coast bassoonist, Don Christlieb, in a recent letter, written after Weiss had died. The report concludes with a list of his compositions up to 1957.
While this is far from the complete story of this complex, enigmatic artist, it is hoped that publishing it as it exists might "whet the appetite " for more information about Weiss; and, more significantly, bring his neglected music (such as his 1949 Concerto for Bassoon and String Quartet!) to the attention of the present generation of performing oboists and bassoonists ever looking for new music.
My mother, née Sophia Soennichsen, came to America only a few years before my birth from Hamburg-Altona and Tondern, where her father had a mill on the dunes. Grandmother accompanied her and everyone in the family had to speak German, for in forty years Grandma could not learn English. I have always been grateful to her for my bi-lingual training, which inspired a love for other languages besides German and English.
On September 12, 1891, I came into this world in the city of Baltimore, Maryland. My father, George Edward Weiss, had come to America from Oelsnitz and Plauen, Saxony, at the age of 6. His family and forbears, the Wolffs, were weavers and textile manufacturers. Father's name was originally Gustav Wolff. He came to America with his mother, a widow, who married again. But Gustav was not happy with his stepfather. He went to Boston to study music with his uncle, who was first trumpeter with the Boston Symphony. Later, father joined the army band as a clarinet player. After a few years of service he became impatient, went A.W.O.L. and "fled" to Canton, Ohio. There he changed his name, worked in a factory and conducted a Canton choir, probably made up of co-workers in the factory. He soon had enough of factory chores and accepted the opportunity to go to Buffalo as clarinetist and bassoonist with the symphony orchestra. Later he went to Detroit and thence to Baltimore. But the great secret of his life, the changed name, he kept to the end. My aunt Bertha divulged it only after his death in 1937.
Father was cruelly strict with his three boys. They had to practice violin or piano every day after school from 4 to 5 o'clock. From the time the boys were six, eight and nine years, respectively, the family reading-circle consumed three hours every Sunday morning with the reading and translating of German and English books such as Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle and John William Draper's Conflict between Religion and Science.
The practical experience in orchestra-playing began in the public schools and churches. At the age of 16, I became first bassoonist with the Russian Symphony Orchestra of New York under Modest Altschuler. I was taken out of high school at the time to make a tour from coast to coast with the Russian Symphony and the Ben Greet Players in the presentation of Shakespearean plays with incidental music by Mendelssohn, Tschaikowsky and others. The following year I became a member of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under Gustav Mahler; then followed many years with the New York Symphony under Walter Damrosch.
The desire to study the theory of music brought me to C. C. Mueller and Abraham Liliental, and to Cornelius Rybner and Ward at Columbia University. In 1916 I moved to Chicago to play bassoon with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Frederick Stock. There I studied composition with Adolph Weidig and Theodore Otterstrom. From that period remain only Songs for Soprano (1916-1918):
1. Nacht-Lied (Hebbel)
2. Auf Poseidon's Gruener Flur
3. It was a Lover and his Lass (Shakespeare) and a Fantasie for Piano (1918). Das Maerchen vom Sicheren Mann (Moerick).
In 1921 I went to Rochester as bassoonist under Alexander, Albert Coates and Eugene Goossens. I also played the "movies" at the Eastman Theatre and coached the singers of the Eastman School Opera Department. Howard Hanson presented on the first program of American music my I Segreti for Large Orchestra (1923) after Goethe's fragment, "die Geheimnisse" (the Secrets).
It was then that I decided to go to Europe to study with Arnold Schoenberg in Moedling. In 1925 I went with him to the Akademie der Kuenste in Berlin to be enrolled as a "meister Schueler." Schoenberg's interesting class had students from all parts of Germany, from Spain, Czechoslovakia, Austria, England and America. We all had our own ideas about music. Schoenberg encouraged us to review and even severely criticize one another's works. He would be the final arbiter. Week after week we returned for more criticism and encouragement, which really was discouragement for the first year. But we "stuck it out" and my String Quartet No. 1 (1925), a 12-tone piece, seemed acceptable to the master. In addition to rigid school-work in strict counterpoint and form I completed my String Quartet No. 2 (1926), also a 12-tone piece, which was performed by the New World String Quartet for Pro-Musica, New York, in 1929.
Chamber-Symphony for Ten Instruments (1927) was performed under the auspices of the Akademie der Kuenste at the Sing-Akademie, Berlin, Josef Rufer, conductor. In 1930 Nicholas Slonimsky conducted it at Town Hall and the composer conducted it at the New School for Social Research in New York, 12 Preludes for Piano (1927) were written during this period. I believe they are instructive examples of the various ways of applying the 12-tone technique. They were first performed by Richard Buhling in San Francisco, 1928, and New York, 1929.
In May 1927, I returned to America and accepted the appointment as secretary of the Pan American Society of Composers. I had to continue with bassoon-playing to make a living, though I tried hard to get a position as teacher of counterpoint and composition. Through the Pan American Society I conducted a number of concerts at the New School for Social Research, concerts which were significant in presenting only premieres of new works. At that time I also helped to organize the Conductorless Orchestra, in which I played the bassoon, and became chairman of the program committee. At Carnegie Hall we presented one contemporary American work at each concert. Ruggles, Cowell, Salzedo, Stillman and Weiss were performed during my chairmanship. The American Life, a scherzo "jazzoso" for large orchestra, had its premiere with the Conductorless Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. Olin Downes said of this performance: "The most interesting part of the evening was the hearing of Mr. Weiss' composition. It is an intriguing novelty, cleverly done. Whatever one may think of Mr. Weiss' melodic invention, there is no doubt that he has a flair for orchestral writing" (New York Times, February 12, 1930). In 1931 Nicholas Slonimsky conducted the work on his European tour of Pan-American music.
Sonata da Camera for Flute and Viola (1929) is a 12-tone piece in which the original, the inverted, the retrograde and the inverted retrograde forms are used without transpositions. This fact is stated in the analysis of the work given in the New Music Edition. One critic assumed that I wrote all my works in this manner, for when he heard my bassoon concerto (1949) he heard a 12-tone series with these untransposed forms. Nothing could be farther removed from the truth, for the bassoon concerto is not a 12-tone piece! I cite this as an example of the prejudicial viewpoint and facile generalization which an analysis of a work often inspires. The Sonata da Camera was premiered at Town Hall in New York by the Chamber Music Guild, January 16, 1930 (Levitsky, flute, and Lotte Karman, viola).
The Seven Songs for Soprano and String Quartet (Emily Dickinson), 1928, were first performed at the New School for Social Research by Mary Bell and the New World String Quartet and were recorded by these performers for the first issue of the New Music Quarterly Recordings. The poems utilized are: 1. Poets; 2. The Cemetery; 3. The Railway Train; 4. Chartless; 5. Mysteries; 6. Elysium; 7. I taste a Liquor.
The Libation-Bearers (Choephorae, by Aeschylus), 1930, is a choreographic cantata; the dancers perform on the stage while chorus, soloists and orchestra are in the pit. First performed at the New School for Social Research with Majorie Hyder, danseuse and choreographer, 4 soloists who also sang in the 6-part chorus, and two pianos (in place of an orchestra). The music is written in the Church modes, though the treatment is very free. Through this work I gained a Guggenheim Fellowship for 1932. That stipend enabled my wife and me to spend a quiet year in Arco, Italy, near Lago di Garda in the Raetian Alps, and two months in Barcelona. Excerpts from the Libation-Bearers were first performed for orchestra at Los Angeles City College, Mrs. Betty Peterson conducting.
Quintet for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon and Horn (1931) is a 12-tone piece (rather free in treatment), recorded by Co-art in Los Angeles and performed by the American Wind Quintet throughout a South American tour sponsored by the U.S. government and the Rockefeller Foundation in 1941. The five members of the quintet were composers as well as instrumentalists. We were most welcome to the composers and musicians of South American for we gave many premieres of South American works. This tour aroused interest in and awakened a consciousness of native talent, of which most South Americans were previously unaware. The Quintet has won many favorable reviews of which the following is an example: "The Weiss Quintet seemed like a real addition to the ensemble literature in general and received much applause. Not an easy score in the least and yet filled with happy harmonic and melodic leadings that characterized thoughtful and expert musicianship, with no little inspiration" (C. Bronson, Los Angeles Herald Express, November 3, 1938).
Piano Sonata (1932), a 12-tone piece first performed by Lydia Hoffman-Berendt at the New School in 1933, and Sketches for "David, " an opera in rhythmic declamation (1932), were the fruits of my Guggenheim year. I hope someday to complete the latter work, although the problems presented in synchronizing rhythmic speech with orchestral lines seem impractical at the present time. Perhaps some day we may become rhythm-conscious to the extent that speech and music can be accurately synchronized.
Upon our return to America, Theme and Variations for Large Orchestra (1933) was composed. The first performance occurred in 1936, Pierre Monteux conducting the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. The work was recently recorded for Composers Recordings by Charles Adler and the Vienna Orchestra. Here are two of the reviews of this recording:
Weiss is a master of the 12-tone style. His THEME AND VARIATIONS are connected, in their general emotional tenor, with Whitman's "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed," and they provide a fitting musical commentary on that greatest of American elegies. I know of no American twelve-tone piece, at least on records, that is as moving and eloquent as this. Adler's performance provides a fine effect. This is the only disc version of the music; we should be grateful for it." (Alfred Frankenstein, High Fidelity Magazine, December, 1957).
''Adolph Weiss' "Variations" is downright good music. He codifies his music by polyphonic interest, plus a liberal view of twelve-tone technique. The handling of the contrapuntalism and expressive shifting harmonies requires a composer not only with a keen intellect but with an astute sense for creative balance. The piece has real personality." (A.C. American Record Guide, December, 1957).
I was asked to give an analysis of this work, but I would prefer not to use the scalpel on a living body. Rather, leave that to the musicologists who specialize in analysis (right or wrong).
When the New York Symphony Orchestra under Walter Damrosch took over the duties of the N.B.C. staff orchestra, I had to seek work elsewhere. A long tour with the Russian Ballet took me to the Pacific Coast. I enjoyed the short stay in California with the Ballet. Soon after that tour an offer came to play with the San Francisco Opera and Symphony, which I gladly accepted. Pierre Monteux proved to be a very good friend, not only by performing my Theme and Variations with the symphony, but by demanding that I be retained as bassoonist when the Union required that the former bassoonist, who had been on leave on a job elsewhere, should return to his former post. A compromise was made by the Union, whereby the first chair was to be shared by both players. This I refused to do; so I decided to try my luck in Hollywood.
Suite for Orchestra (1938) consists of classical forms: 1. Un Pezzo Festoso; 2. Galliarda; 3. Pavana; 4. Fantasia; 5. Toccata. This work has been performed only in its two-piano version which I made for the contemporary series of the University of Southern California, where Lillian Steuber end John Crown, faculty members, performed it. String Quartet No. 3 (1932) was written before my student years at the Akademie in Berlin but revised in 1932. The Kolisch Quartet performed it in Boston and Detroit. When the New Music Quartet of San Francisco performed it in 1936, a review by Alexander Fried stated: "Weiss' quartet is characteristically complex and dissonant to the point of anguish. For all its weird energetic freedom, its melody has inner meaning. Weiss' creative personality may not be grateful, but it may very well be deep."
Petite Suite for Flute, Clarinet, Bassoon (1939) consists of a Ricercar, Sarabande, Fantasia and Gigue. This work, the wind quintet and my arrangement of the first volume of Bach's Well-tempered Klavier for wind quintet comprised the material I contributed for the South American tour of the American Wind Quintet, of which I was a member, in 1941. My Violin Sonata (1941) was performed at a concert of the Los Angeles Society of American Composers by Adrian Grootegood and the composer. The Passacaglia for Horn and Viola (1942) was performed also under the auspices of the L.A. Society of American Composers by Mr. and Mrs. Wendell Hoss.
Ten Pieces for Low Instrument (1943) based on chorale tunes of Bach, were first performed by the composer and Shibley Boyes at the Wilshire Ebell for Evenings on the Roof Concerts. The pieces show the original, inverted, retrograde and inverted retrograde forms of chorale tunes. The accompaniment is arranged for orchestra. Ode to the West Wind (Shelley) was performed for Evenings on the Roof in 1945 by William Eddy van Zandt, baritone, Abraham Weiss, viola, and Shibley Boyes, piano. Protest, a dance based on a Negro spiritual (1945), was written for Janet Collins, a leading ballerina of the Metropolitan Opera, and performed frequently for two pieces during Miss Collins' transcontinental tour.
A Sextet for Winds and Piano (1947) (the winds are flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn) was performed for broadcast and Evenings on the Roof by the New Music Ensemble and Frances Mullen, piano, 1948. Trio for Clarinet, Viola and Cello (1948), also a "Roof" premiere, was recorded for Composers Recordings by Kalman Bloch, clarinet; Abraham Weiss, viola; Kurt Reher, cello, and sponsored by the Institute of Arts and Letters from which the composer received a $1,000 award in 1955. The Concerto for Bassoon and String Quartet (1949) was first performed by the composer (bassoon) and a Studio Quartet, Scipione Guidi, 1st violin; Miss Gifford, 2nd violin; Robert Lane, viola; Willem van den Burg, 'cello, at the First Congregational Church, Los Angeles. It has been played on other occasions with the composer and the Coriolan Quartet, and recorded for Columbia Masterworks by the composer and the Amati Quartet.
Pulse of the Sea (1950), an etude for piano, was written for Lillian Steuber, who performed it at the Contemporary Music Festival, University of Southern California, and in recitals. A change of management effected a change of personnel at the M-G-M Studios. After a "vacation" of free-lancing and chess, I joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Alfred Wallenstein. Vade Mecum for Wind players was started at this time (1951). This is a volume of duos, trios, quartets, quintets for any combination of Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon and Horn. The Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra was written in 1952. It is also arranged for two pianos and trumpet and was premiered in this version at the Spring Festival Concert of the University of Southern California in March, 1953. Lester Remsen was the solo trumpeter. A Trio for Flute Violin and Piano (1955) was written for the Habschied Trio of Mendoza, Argentina. The premiere took place at an ACA-sponsored concert in Schoenberg Hall, U.C.L.A., on which occasion a local critic questioned the right of any of us to compose. He might be correct, but who gave him the right to criticize? God? Well, so did God give us the right to compose.
Five Fantasies for Violin and Piano based on "GAGAKU" (Japanese Court Music) were commissioned by a member of the International Cultural Exchange Association, Tokyo in 1955. The composer was in Tokyo in 1956 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. That oriental tour comprised the principal cities of Japan, Okinawa, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Siam, Singapore and Malay. The "GAGAKU" Fantasies were performed by Mark Kramer and the composer at a concert of the "Musicale" series of the City College, Los Angeles. Tone Poem for Brass and Percussion (1957) was completed during my sojourn in New York and Newark last spring. The work is for 4 trumpets, 4 horns, 2 baritones, 3 trombones, 1 tuba, 2 tympanists (3 drums each) and 4 percussionists. Rhapsody for Four French Horns (1957) completes the list up to the present time.
Adolph Weiss, in his mid-sixties, occupies a unique position among American composers and his music and ideas have had a wide influence on younger musical creators in this country.
He returned from Europe after comprehensive studies with Schoenberg, not only the first American to learn the technique of the twelvetone row, but the first to bring this technique to this country and spread a knowledge of it here at a time when it was either unknown entirely or badly misunderstood.
At first he became known largely as a Schoenberg disciple; but although he has remained a staunch supporter of Schoenberg, and utilizes his technique of composition as fluently and adroitly as any living composer, it soon became evident that the music of Weiss carries with it the strong imprint of his own approach to music. It is a living demonstration of the fact that the row technique may be applied in building up an individual and personal style. While many dabblers in row technique deal in a watered-down version of Schoenberg's music, Weiss, like Berg and Webern, uses the technique to enhance his own native creative tendencies. These include a strong sense of the Iyrical, the poetic, the curve of beauty of the phrase. There is always a sense of unity and of direction in each movement. Dramatic and melodic ideas are well- contrasted, but his personal sense of musicality always predominates. His music, always well-written and appealing, is original although couched in a known technique.
I cannot think of any music that I respond to more than to his best works, from the string quartet of the mid-twenties through the majestic Theme and Variations for orchestra to the highly original and provocative new work Gagaku, in which Japanese and Western ideas are combined. This is first-rate music.
I am delighted to hear of interest in Adolph Weiss. He deserved so much more recognition than he got in his lifetime. Many felt that if Adolph had confined himself to composition and teaching his reputation would have soared in his lifetime. As it was, he divided his time and talent with the bassoon, and in this case it was his misfortune to be pretty darn good. He had a glib-like, "house on fire", technique, which you will notice when you hear his Concerto for Bassoon and String Quartet. We all felt his performance would have been of the highest order had it been his main concern. And of course there was yet another distraction. He was also a first rate chess player.
In the 1930s and 40s, there were two organizations where composers would meet and play and have their works performed. These were the Bohemians and the Crescendo Club. Adolph did perform for these groups and had his works performed there. In fact he did one of L.A.'s first Schoenberg woodwind quintet performances there.
I first became aware of Adolph in the 1930s while I was playing in the WPA orchestra under Modest Altshuler, the same one Adolph mentions in his biography. People who remember him well are Frederick Moritz, Abe Weiss, Manuel Cerupinsky, Paul Dunlap, Alex Reisman, George Croy, and Virginia Majewski. Virginia was one of his most understanding and loyal friends. When he retired to the Motion Picture Home after the death of his wife and his health began to fail, she saw that he was properly cared for.
CFE indicates works available through COMPOSERS FACSIMILE EDITION, America Composers Alliance, 2121 Broadway, New York, NY. NME indicates works available through NEW MUSIC EDITION, American Music Center, 250 West 57th Street, New York, NY.
Title - Length - Agent
Songs for Soprano (1916-1918) - 8 min. - composer
Fantasie for Piano (1918) - 5 min. - composer
I Segreti (large orchestra) (1923) - 12 min. - composer
String Quartet no. 1 (1925) - 20 min. - composer
String Quartet no. 2 (1926) - 20 min. - composer
Chamber-Symphony for Ten Instruments (1927) - 20 min. - composer
Twelve Preludes for Piano (1927) - 2-3 min. ea. - NME
American Life (large orchestra) (1928) - 6 min. - NME
Sonata da Camera (flute and viola) (1929) - 8 min. - NME
Seven Songs for Soprano and String Quartet (1928) - 23 min. - composer
The Libation Bearers (Choreographic Cantata: soloists, and orchestra) (1930) - 1 hr. 30 min. - CFE
Quintet for Winds (1931) - 12 min. - CFE
Piano Sonata (1932) - 15 min. - composer
Theme and Variations for Large Orchestra (1933) - 15 min. - composer
Suite for Orchestra (1938) (The first movement, un pezzo festoso, arr. for 2 pianos) - 4 min. - CFE
String Quartet no. 3 (1932) - 20 min. - composer
Petite Suite for Flute, Clarinet and Bassoon (1939) - 13 min. - CFE
Violin Sonata (1941) - 16 min. - CFE
Passacaglia for Horn and Viola (1942) - 8 min. - CFE
Ten Pieces for Low Instrument and Orchestra (1943) - 2-3 min ea. - CFE
Ode to the West Wind (Baritone, Viola and Piano) (1945) - 17 min. - CFE
Protest (Two Pianos) (1945) - 8 min. - composer
Sextet for Winds and Piano (1947) - 18 min. - CFE
Trio for Clarinet, Viola and Cello (1948) - 15 min. - CFE
Concerto for Bassoon and String Quartet (1949) - 14 min. - CFE
Pulse of the Sea (Etude for piano) (1950) - 5 min. - CFE
Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra (1952) - 16 min. - CFE
Trio for Flute, Violin and Piano (1955) - 15 min. - CFE
Five Fantasies for Violin and Piano (based on "Gagaku" - Japanese Court Music) (1956)
Tone Poem for Brass and Percussion (1957) - 12 min. - CFE
Rhapsody for Four French Horns (1957) - 18 min. - CFE
Vade Mecum (various winds) -- in preparation
(NOTE: a cassette of the Concerto for Bassoon and String Quartet is available from George Croz, one of Adolph Weiss' pupils. Make inquiries to: 20449 Acre Street, Canoga Park, California 91306. Ed.)