HOMMAGE TO HANNS EISLER WITH HK GRUBER
Portraits of contemporary composers and outstanding 20th century works have been indespensible ingredients in Happy New Ears workshop concerts since they began in 1993. One of these is the Austrian composer Hanns Eisler (1898–1962). This pupil of Schönberg and his later antipode, is best known for his work with Bertolt Brech, which began in the 1930s when he wrote music for Brech's educational plays The Decision and an adaptation of Gorki's The Mother, and continued until Brecht's death in 1956. Eisler, a committed communist, began by passionately dedicating himself to working class combative songs and conducting large scale workers' choruses. Theodor W. Adorno: »The songs are so extraordinary in their question-and-answer structure, their impact so powerful, their character so sharp, their tone so tangible. The core energy in the songs embodies a determination, which transcends art: to change the world.« He also put on, and composed for, workers' symphony concerts; on February 11, 1934, in Vienna, a day before fighting between the Austrofascists and “Red Vienna” put an end to such activities, and the corporative state was proclaimed. The programme included Eisler's Orchestral suite Nr. 3, which drew on motifs from Brecht's film Die kuhle Wampe. He also wrote music for many films while in exile in Hollywood, including Charlie Chaplin's Circus. The FBI had him under surveillance and he was summoned to appear before the “Non-American Activities Committee” (which led to his expulsion from America). One musician who was inspired to compose by Eisler is Heiner Goebbels, founder of the Linksradikales Blasorchester, who paid a touching tribute to his role modle when adapting some of Eisler's Lieder. Songs from this work are interpreted by HK Gruber, a composer who, like Goebbels, was profiled by Happy New Ears, as only he can. He conducts the concert too.
