IRVING
SCHLEIN (1905 - 1986)
Biography
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 January 5, 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
March 5, 2008, Paul Coletti and Bernadene Blaha will debut
the Sonata Hebraica in the U.S. at the Tucson Winter Chamber
Music Festival.
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.