Biography
Irving Schlein was an American composer who lived and worked
his entire life in New York City. He was born in 1905
into the poverty of the Russian-Jewish immigrant community
of the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
Schlein played piano for the silent movies to
support himself as a student. He received his first degree
in piano from the New York College of Music in 1928, where
he studied with the Director, August Fraemcke, who was one
of the last two living students of Franz Liszt. In 1930, he
received a second degree in piano from the Juilliard School
of Music. He later had fellowships to study composition with
Wallingford Riegger and Roger Sessions at the Chatham School
of Music and with Aaron Copland and Roy Harris at the Henry
Street School of Music.
In a Composers' Forum Laboratory recital on 17 April 1940
at the Lenox Gallery of the New York Public Library (a Works
Project Administration Music Project), several of Schlein's
pieces were performed—his Sonatina for Viola d'amore
and piano, a string quartet and two songs, “Alabama
Lullaby” and “Git awf mah back”, sung by
baritone Jess Walters, who later became famous at Covent
Garden.
In a 1947 competition, with Paul Hindemith
as one of three jurors, Schlein’s "Dance Overture" won First
Prize in the category of short orchestral works, awarded by
the American Composers Alliance, Broadcast Music Inc.
From the age of 32 until his death almost
50 years later, Schlein wrote incessantly. Among his
hundreds of compositions were nine symphonies and many other
orchestral, chamber, instrumental, choral and operatic works
Professionally, Schlein had a successful parallel career
on Broadway for over 30 years, where he served as Musical
Director, pianist, arranger and composer. In 1930-1932, he
worked with Al Jolson as his pianist. He was associated with
many musical hits, including Lerner and Lowe’s "Brigadoon" and Cole
Porter's "Can-Can" and "Silk Stockings”..
In the 1940s, he developed a close collaborative relationship
with Kurt Weill as his assistant. He wrote the ballet music
for his musical, “Love Life”, and directed a revival
of Weill’s and Maxwell Anderson’s “Knickerbocker
Holiday”.
Schlein's experiences on and off Broadway
with music outside the classical genre had a major impact
on his classical compositions. Because he was fundamentally
an entertainer, he had great empathy for audiences and therefore
wrote “accessible” music.
His most productive period of chamber music and symphonic
works continued until the mid-1950s. He later shifted much
of his interest to writing music for theatrical works. He wrote
music for two plays, “The Bell and the Light” and “Madison”,
written by the well-known African-American playwright, Theodore
Ward, who was the first to receive a Guggenheim fellowship.
Schlein’s vocal works also include the folk-opera "Stackalee", "Money", "Blue
Grass", "Johnny Merripranks" and "My Heart’s in the Highlands" (based
on the life, poetry and songs of Robert Burns). He enjoyed
producing these pieces with his students in the New York City
school system, where he taught music and English for many years
after his Broadway period. In 1965, he transcribed for piano
the 1867 Allen, Ware and Garrison collection of “Slave
Songs of the United States”. In 1968 he completed a full-length
dramatic opera, “Salammbo”, based on Flaubert’s
novel.
Rediscovering Irving Schlein
When Irving Schlein died in 1986,
he left behind classical music works that
were mostly unknown to his contemporaries. He
had not been very successful in promoting
himself.
Fifteen years after his death—from 2001
to 2008—a major recording project of Schlein’s
works was undertaken in St. Petersburg, Russia by his son,
Peter Schlein. Fourteen CDs, containing all his chamber works
have been produced and recordings of his orchestral works by
St. Petersburg Philharmonic members are in progress. Based
on the enthusiasm of important European and American artists
and subsequent audience reactions, it is clear that Irving
Schlein represents a “New Page in American Music.” The
rediscovery of his music offers an opportunity for musicologists
and audiences alike to experience the vision and creativity
of one of the 20th century’s great American composers.
Unlike much contemporary music, the classical works of Irving
Schlein are full of radiant optimism and energetic vitality,
characteristics typically associated with the American nation.
These spirited qualities are often intertwined with an innocent,
utopian character.
In
many of his musical compositions, Schlein reacted to events
in American and world history, as well as in everyday life—slavery,
World War II, the Holocaust, the plight of immigrants, the
American Civil War Centennial, the “Pioneer-10 satellite
launching, his recovery from a Staphylococcus infection (“Ode
to Staphylococcus”), the publication of a book on “Mathematics
in Western Culture”, the cleaning of Grand Central Terminal
at night by the “Mop Crew” and others. His eclecticism
knew no bounds. He wrote “Man & His World”,
a work for narrator and piano, based on Upton Sinclair’s
book, “Cry for Justice”.
Listeners and performers often comment on
the serenity and sincerity of Irving Schlein’s music.
Its profound energy, deep emotions and convincing democratic
orientation attract both professionals and music lovers.
It reveals a new shade of color in the rich palette of American
music.
Schlein’s music exhibits American and European influences. The
Russian musicians who were part of the project to record Schlein’s
music—Principals of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic,
Professors at the Rimsky Korsakov Conservatory and leading
soloists—recognize the American content of the music.
Americans, on the other hand, detect eastern European qualities.
From his earliest works, Schlein created his own style full
of diatonic and polytonal parallelisms, long curve-like lines,
sporadic melodies and unexpected dance formulas. He used an
expressionistic idiom coupled with popular rhythms and foresaw
the voguish poly-stylistics of the 1970s.
Aside from his teachers, influences on Irving
Schlein's works can also be found in the music of Bartok, Hindemith,
Shostakovich and Stravinsky. However, Schlein has his own unique
style, which places him among the great American composers
of the 20th century.
Performances
In 1998, Schlein’s comprehensive body of work for ancient
instruments was performed by the Viola d'amore Society of America. That
same year, his “Dance Overture” was performed
at the University of California, Los Angeles, under the direction
of Stephen Tucker, who repeated its performance six years
later, in 2004, at the University of California, Irvine.
In 2003, Schlein’s Symphony No. 6 was
performed by the UCLA Philharmonia under the direction of Maestro
Jon Robertson, and his Divertimento for Two Violas was performed
by Paul Neubauer and Scott Lee at the “OK Mozart” festival
in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. In April 2003, Schlein's “Sonata
Hebraica” for Viola and Piano, and his Songs for Voice,
Viola and Piano, were performed in St. Petersburg by Andrey
Dogadin, Victoria Yevtodieva and Pavel Eliashevich. The same
concert was reprised in July 2003 in Helsinki.
On 5 January 2008, Schlein's Symphony No. 7 and Piano
Concerto No. 2, recorded by members of the St. Petersburg
Philharmonic and the pianist Galina Sandovskaya, were broadcast
on radio station WRTI in Philadelphia. On 5 March 2008, Paul
Coletti and Bernadene Blaha debut the Sonata Hebraica in
the U.S. at the Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival.
On 6 June 2008, Paul Coletti played the world premier “Rhapsody
and Dance”, which was arranged for viola and strings
by Bruce E. Miller from the Sonata Hebraica, at the 36th International
Viola Congress in Tempe, Arizona. And On 18 June
2008, violinist Ilana Setapen performed Schlein’s Sonata
No. 2 for Violin and Piano at the Dame
Myra Hess Memorial Concerts in Chicago.
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