Johanna Müller-Hermann
Born15 January 1868
Died19 April 1941
Known fororchestral and chamber music

Johanna Müller-Hermann (15 January 1868 – 19 April 1941) was an Austrian composer and pedagogue.

Life

Johanna Hermann began to receive music lessons at an early age, together with her two siblings. This was in keeping with the middle-class ideal of education; her father was a section head in the Austrian Ministry of Culture and Education in Vienna, and thus belonged to the upper echelons of the civil service. In accordance with the circumstances of the time, however, she was unable to pursue her musical ambitions; instead she graduated from a teacher training college and taught for several years at a public education school in Vienna.

When she married Otto Müller-Martini, a transport expert, in 1893, she was no longer required to work and continued her musical studies.[1] This was followed by piano and violin lessons, instruction in music theory with She studied under Guido Adler, Alexander von Zemlinsky, Josef Foerster and Franz Schmidt. Her first published work, Seven Songs, was printed in 1895. Public performances of her works took place at the Vienna Musikverein and at women's composition evenings, where she also met Mathilde Kralik von Meyrswalden. In 1918 Johanna Müller-Herrmann succeeded her teacher Joseph Bohuslav Foerster as professor of music theory at the New Vienna Conservatory.

She left behind an extensive body of work: songs, chamber music, large-scale works for solos, choir and orchestra, mostly on a literary and programmatic basis. After her death, Wilhelm Furtwängler, among others, campaigned for the preservation of her work.

Oeuvre

Müller-Hermann wrote an oratorio, Lied der Erinnerung: In Memoriam, to a text by Walt Whitman, and a symphonic fantasy on the Ibsen play Brand.[1] Her Lied der Erinnerung: In Memoriam (1930) is a work of grand scale. It employs a large orchestra, a chorus, and solo voices. This piece follows the tradition of Arnold Schoenberg's Gurre-Lieder. Müller-Hermann may have been directly acquainted with Schoenberg, as suggested by a letter she wrote to him in 1911.[2]

Reception

Müller-Hermann was among the foremost European female composers of orchestral and chamber music in her day. Despite her contemporary fame, not much has been written about her.[2] According to Dr Carola Darwin, "The contribution of women to Vienna's creative life at this period has been largely forgotten as the result of Nazi ideology, as well as the general destruction of the Second World War... Johanna Müller-Hermann's works deserve a much wider hearing, not only because of their intrinsic quality, but also because they were an integral part of the Vienna's extraordinary creative flowering."[1]

In 1995 her Heroic Overture op. 21 and her Epilogue to the Tragedy Brand, a symphonic fantasy after Ibsen's drama for large orchestra, Op. 25 (Thorofon, Frauentöne Vol. 1), were released on CD; followed in 1999 by her String Quartet in E flat major, Op. 6 (Nimbus on Naxos).

Selected works

Voice and orchestra

  • Zwei Frauenchöre mit Orchester, op. 10
  • Deutscher Schwur for male choir and orchestra, Op. 22 (1915)
  • Zwei Gesänge for Voice solo with orchestra, Op. 33. l. Trauminsel ('Dream Island'). 2. Liebeshymnus ('Hymn to Love'). Poet for both is Tona Hermann.[3]
  • Lied der Erinnerung: In Memoriam (1930) for voices, chorus and large orchestra.

Vocal music

  • Sieben Lieder, Op. 1 (for solo voice and piano, Gutmann, 1895)
  • Fünf Lieder, op. 2 (for solo voice and piano)
  • Vier Lieder, op. 4 (for solo voice and piano)
  • Zwei Frauenchöre, Op. 10 (1915)
  • Zwei Gedichte von Goethe, op. 11. 1. Nähe des Geliebten. 2. An die Entfernte.[4]
  • Vier Lieder, op. 14, after J. P. Jacobsen for 1 voice with piano accompaniment. 1. Landschaft. 2. Sonnenuntergang. Den Lenz laß kommen. Polka. (1915, dedicated to Alma Mahler-Werfel)
  • Drei Lieder, op. 19
  • Vier Lieder, op. 20
  • Herbstlieder, op. 28
  • Drei Lieder, op. 32 (Nr. 1 with orchestral accompaniment). 1. Vorfrühling ('Early Spring'); poem by Hugo von Hofmannsthal).[5]

Cantatas

  • Lied der Erinnerung, op. 30

Chamber music

  • Violin Sonata in D minor, Op. 5 (1907)
  • String Quartet in E flat major, Op. 6 (1912)
  • String Quintet in A minor, Op. 7 (1909)
  • Cello Sonata in G major, Op. 17 (1923)

Orchestral music

  • Heroische Overtüre, op. 21 (1916)
  • Epilog zu einer Tragödie: "Brand", op. 25 (1919)[6]

Sonatas

  • Sonate d-Moll für Violine und Klavier, op. 5
  • Clavier-Sonate in f-moll, op. 8[7]
  • Sonate für Violoncello und Klavier, op. 17


Discography

References

  • Baker's biographical dictionary of musicians; 8th ed.; revised by Nicolas Slonimsky, 1992, p. 1275
  1. 1 2 3 The women erased from musical history BBC Radio 3 programme notes 8-Mar-2018
  2. 1 2 Kramer, L., Walt Whitman and Modern Music: War, Desire, and the Trials of Nationhood, volume 1, Psychology Press, 2000, p.58.
  3. ↑ Texts and translations here.
  4. ↑ Performance here.
  5. ↑ Vorfrühling performance here. Text and English translation here
  6. ↑ Score here.
  7. ↑ Score here.

Further reading

  • Alfred Baumgartner: Propyläen Welt der Musik - Die Komponisten - Ein Lexikon in fünf Bänden. Propyläen Verlag, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-549-07830-7, S.129, Volume 4. (in German)
  • Claudia Friedel: Komponierende Frauen im Dritten Reich. Versuch einer Rekonstruktion von Lebensrealitat und herrschendem Frauenbild. Lit Verlag, Munster 1995.
  • Elena Ostleitner: Müller-Hermann, Johanna, in: Brigitta Keintzel, Ilse Korotin (Hrsg.): Wissenschafterinnen in und aus Österreich : Leben – Werk – Wirken. Vienna : Böhlau, 2002 ISBN 3-205-99467-1, S. 526f. (in German)
  • M. Schneider: Müller-Martini, Johanna; geb. von Hermann (Herman), Ps. Müller-Hermann (1868–1941). In: Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 6, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1975, ISBN 3-7001-0128-7, S. 430. (in German)
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