Chronological Survey of Karl Weigls Life, 1881-1949

Biographical events

Weigl works completed

Notable performances of Weigl works

Selected historical events

1881

6 Feb: Karl Ignaz Weigl (KW) is born in Vienna at 6 Gumpoldstraße, near the Ringstraße, to Ludwig Weigl (17 Jan 1856–4 Oct 1902) and Gabriele (Ella) Stein-Jeiteles Weigl (22 Jul 1859–29 Sep 1938); KW's parents hold Hungarian citizenship so he, too, is registered as a Hungarian citizen.


 

 


KW comes of age in Vienna during a time of intense social and municipal transformation. Emperor Francis Joseph, who reigned 1848–1916, was committed to liberal ideals, social planning, and public services. At the center of the city’s reconstruction, in the years 1858–1913, stood the monumental development of the Ringstraße circling the old inner city, which included the building of the University, Neue Hofoper (New Court Opera), Rathaus (City Hall), and Burgtheater (Court Theater), as well as the Austrian National Library and museums.
 

Early 1890s

KW receives private music instruction from Alexander Zemlinsky, a friend of his parents.


 

 


 

 

 

1892

Fall: KW enters the k k. Franz-Joseph Gymnasium in Vienna.
 


 

 

 

1892–1893


First extant works: three short piano pieces titled Ella-Gavotte op. 1; Weihnachtslied op. 2; and Valse lente op. 3 (these opera not to be confused with KW’s mature opp. 1, 2, and 3)


 

 

1894

9 Nov: Valerie Pick (VW) is born in Vienna to the lawyer Josef Pick and his wife, Charlotte Rubinstein Pick.

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1897
Gustav Mahler is appointed director of the Vienna Court Opera.

28 Jan: Inauguration of Vienna’s first electric streetcar; all of the city’s streetcars are electrified between 1898 and 1915.
 

1899

13 Jul: KW graduates with Matura from the k.k. Franz-Joseph Gymnasium.

Fall: KW begins studying musicology with Guido Adler at the University of Vienna; among his fellow students is Anton Webern. At the Konservatorium der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde he begins studies in piano with Anton Door, in music theory with Hermann Grädener, and in music history with Eusebius Mandyczewski.

By this time KW has formed lasting friendships with, among others, Rudolf Stephan Hoffmann, Artur Bodanzky, Adolf Busch, and Karl Doctor.
 


 

 


Weinberger publish the score of Mahler’s Symphony No. 1.

Otto Wagner’s Wienzeilenhäuser, three large Jugendstil housing complexes defining a stretch along the river Wien near the Naschmarkt, reach completion, as do several Stadtbahn (city rail) stations designed by Otto Wagner that even today remain inseparably associated with the image of Vienna.

1900

Fall: KW begins studies in composition at the Konservatorium with Robert Fuchs, who had taught composition to Mahler, Schreker, Zemlinsky, Hugo Wolf, Franz Schmidt, and many others.
 

 


 

 

 

1901

6 Jul: KW receives his diploma in piano from the Konservatorium; the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde awards KW the Zusner Liederpreis (song prize), first place, for the song Das alte Liebesglöckchen.
 

 


Das alte Liebesglöckchen (probably no longer extant)

71st Psalm


Jun: In Vienna, Das alte Liebesglöckchen (details unknown}.


25 Nov: Mahler conducts the premiere of his Symphony No. 4 in Munich.

1902

3 Mar: Zemlinsky, KW, Ludwig Weigl, Lilly and Paul Hoffmann (the parents of Rudolf Stephan Hoffmann), and others join in sending a round robin card to Schoenberg, one of a number of joint cards among the Schoenberg circle in which KW participates during these years.

Jun: The Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde awards KW the Zusner Liederpreis (song prize), second place, for the song Im Grünen.

8 Jul: KW receives his diploma in composition from the Konservatorium; the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde awards KW the Grand Silver Medal for his String Quartet No. 1.

4 Oct: Death of KW’s father, Ludwig Weigl.

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Im Grünen (probably no longer extant)


15 Mar: In Vienna, public performance at the Konservatorium of KW’s 71st Psalm with Konservatorium musicians conducted by KW.


18 Mar: The expanded Rosé Quartet performs Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht in Vienna at a concert attended by KW, Zemlinsky, Rudolf Stephan Hoffmann, Artur Bodanzky, and others.

9 Jun: Mahler conducts the premiere of his Symphony No. 3 at the ADMV Tonkünstler festival in Krefeld.

1903

22 May: KW earns his PhD from the University of Vienna for his dissertation on the Beethoven contemporary Emanuel Aloys Förster.


 

 


Isle of the Dead / Toteninsel

Seven Songs op. 1


 


26 Jun: Vienna celebrates the end of horse-drawn trams.

15 Nov: The German Worker’s Party, a pan-German precursor to the Austrian Nazi Party, is founded in Austria.

1904

1 May: KW becomes Solokorrepetitor (solo vocal coach) at the Vienna Court Opera under Gustav Mahler, concurrently with Bruno Walter’s becoming an assistant conductor; KW's friendship with Walter dates to that time.

9 Jun: Schoenberg sends an enthusiastic recommendation of KW’s String Quartet No. 1 to Arnold Rosé.

 

 


Rendezvous / Ein Stelldichein

Five Songs op. 8

Four Dehmel Poems


 


23 Apr: Schoenberg, Zemlinsky, KW, and others found the short-lived Vereinigung schaffender Tonkünstler; Mahler is made honorary president.

18 Oct: Mahler conducts the premiere of his Symphony No. 5 in Cologne.

1905

17 Apr: KW performs publicly as pianist in the fourth season concert of the Vereinigung schaffender Tonkünstler.


KW’s article “Emanuel Aloys Förster” appears in Sammelbände der Internationalen Musikgesellschaft.


Five Songs from Phantasus

String Quartet No. 1

Symphonic Fantasy

Five Songs op. 3

Six Bierbaum Songs
 


20 Jan: In Vienna, at the second Liederabend of the Vereinigung schaffender Tonkünstler, premiere of Seven Songs op. 1 nos. 5, 6, and 7, with Konrad Zawilowski, baritone, and KW at the piano.


25 Jan: Schoenberg’s Pelleas und Melisande is premiered in Vienna.

1906

30 Apr: KW resigns from his position at the Vienna Opera and begins life as a freelance composer and teacher.

 


Eight Women’s Choruses op. 25

String Quartet No. 2

Ten Songs

Three Songs for four voices

Four Wunderhorn Songs for four voices

Three Lenau Odes for four voices

String Sextet
 


 


27 May: Mahler conducts the premiere of his Symphony No. 6 at the ADMV Tonkünstler festival in Essen.

17 Dec: The Wiener Postsparkasse, the principal Austrian National Savings Bank office, a Jugendstil building designed by Otto Wagner, opens for business.

1907


28 Variations for piano

Five Songs op. 10

Four Songs for low male voice

Six Songs for high voice


13 Nov: In Vienna, premiere of String Sextet with the Rosé Quartet, Franz Jelinek, and Franz Schmidt.


4 Jan: Mahler conducts the Vienna first performance of his Symphony No. 6.

5 Feb: The Rosé Quartet gives the premiere of Schoenberg’s String Quartet No. 1 in Vienna; the published score appears later that year.

Dec: Mahler leaves Vienna for New York, having resigned his directorship of the Vienna Opera and accepted an offer from the Metropolitan Opera; his departure from the Westbahnhof is a triumphal event, attended by hundreds of colleagues and well-wishers.
 

1908


Symphony No. 1


21 Feb: In Vienna, premiere of Five Duets for soprano and baritone nos. 2, 3, and 4; and Five Songs op. 10, with Paul Schmedes, Helene Oberländer, and Alexander Zemlinsky.


Schoenberg completes his Piano Pieces op. 11 and the Five Orchestra Pieces op. 16.

19 Sep: Mahler conducts the premiere of his Symphony No. 7 in Prague.

21 Dec: The Rosé Quartet and Marie Gutheil-Schoder give the premiere of Schoenberg’s String Quartet No. 2 in Vienna.
 

1909

KW meets the soprano Elsa Pazeller (16 Jun 1881–20 Jun 1943) at one of Adele Strauss’s salons.

KW collaborates with Edgar Istel, Ludwig Schiedermair, Hermann Treibler, and Georg Gräner on the collected volume Mahlers Symphonien;  KW contributes a 73-page essay on Nos. 4, 5, 6, and 7.

25 Dec: The newly founded biweekly journal Der Merker, for which KW has agreed to provide occasional articles, publishes his song Schmied Schmerz.

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String Quartet No. 3 (dedicated to Alexander Zemlinsky)

Frühlingsfeier (Spring Festival)

Pictures and Tales / Bilder und Geschichten (original piano version)

Three Poems op. 6

Four Poems op. 7

Three Songs op. 12

Three Lenau Poems for chorus

Four Poems for chorus

Two Religious Songs op. 14

Five Duets for soprano and baritone
 


 

 

1910

Jan: Der Merker, publishes KW’s article “Über die wirtschaftliche Lage des Komponisten” (On the financial situation of the modern composer).

 

12 Jan, 8 Feb, and 13 Nov: KW accompanies Elsa Pazeller in song recitals in Vienna.

11 Feb: KW signs a comprehensive 10-year contract (General- or Prioritätsvertrag) with Universal Edition (U.E.), who later that year publish Pictures and Tales and Five Songs op. 3.

20 Nov: KW and Elisabeth Paula Helene (Elsa) Pazeller marry at the court house of Pozony, Hungary, KW's legal city of residence; KW moves from his mother’s home to an apartment at Köllnerhofgasse 4 in Vienna’s 10th Bezirk.

The Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde awards KW the Beethoven Prize for his String Quartet No. 3, which brings him, in addition to prestige and a note of congratulation from Mahler, the sum of 2,000 Kronen.


Five Songs for male voice


12 Jan: In Vienna, premiere of the songs Beatrix and Liebeslied (eventually nos. 4 and 1 of Love Songs op. 22) with Elsa Pazeller and KW.

8 Feb: In Vienna, premiere of unidentified KW songs at the Verein für Kunst und Kultur.

17 Mar: In Vienna, premiere of Three Poems op. 6 no. 3 (Primula veris) in Vienna by the Wiener A Capella Chorus under Eugen Thomas.

18 Mar: In Vienna, premiere of Four Poems op. 7 nos. 1, 3, and 4 in Vienna with the Philharmonic Chorus under Franz Schreker.

28 May: In Zurich, premiere of Symphony No. 1 at the ADMV Tonkünstler festival under Volkmar Andreae.

25 and 26 Nov: In Vienna, premiere of Symphonic Fantasy with the Konzertverein Orchestra under Ferdinand Löwe.

11 Dec: In Vienna, premiere of Pictures and Tales in a Merker concert with KW.

[?]: In Vienna, premiere of String Quartet No. 3 with the Rosé Quartet.
 


24 Jan: A concert at the Verein für Kunst und Kultur introduces a number of new works by Schoenberg, including part 1 of the Gurrelieder in a version by Webern for eight-hand piano.

10 Mar: Death of Karl Lueger, mayor of Vienna since 1897; Josef Neumeyer succeeds him on 4 May.

20 Apr: Comet Halley is visible in Vienna.

1911

17 May: Birth of KW's daughter Maria Johanna Beatrix Weigl, later Maria Piers (MWP).

12 Jul: VW graduates from the Öffentliches Mädchenlyzeum; during these years she studies piano with Leonie Gombrich (1873–1968), the mother of Ernst Gombrich.

Fall: VW begins preparing for the Musikstaatsprüfung (Austrian music teachers state exam) with Julius Wolfsohn and Richard Roberts.

4 Nov and [?] Dec: KW accompanies Elsa Weigl-Pazeller in recitals with songs by Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, and Wolf.

U.E. publish String Quartet No. 3 in A Major; and Symphony No. 1.

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Night Fantasies

Five Songs op. 23


10 Jan: In Munich, first performance of Symphony No. 1 with the Konzertverein Orchestra under Hugo Reichenberger.

4 Mar: In Vienna, Symphony No. 1 with the Tonkünstler Orchestra under Oskar Nedbal.


21 Feb: Mahler, already seriously ill, conducts his last concert in New York and returns to Vienna.

14 Apr: The Kolisch Quartet gives the premiere of Alban Berg’s String Quartet op. 3 in Vienna.

18 May: Death of Gustav Mahler.

22 May: Mahler is buried in the Grinzing cemetery.

Aug: Zemlinsky leaves Vienna to assume the post of Generalmusikdirektor of the Neues Deutsches Theater in Prague.

Sep: Schoenberg leaves Vienna to teach at the Stern’sche Konservatorium in Berlin.

Oct: U.E. publishes Schoenberg’s Pelleas and Melisande.

20 Nov: Bruno Walter conducts the posthumous premiere of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde in Munich.

9 Dec: Schreker and the Philharmonic Chorus give the premiere of Schoenberg’s Friede auf Erden.

1912

4 Feb: KW accompanies Elsa Pazeller Weigl in a recital of songs by Mahler, Zemlinsky, Schoenberg, Weigl, Robert Konta, Paul Graener, Bruno Walter, Richard Mandl, and Josef Marx.

4 Oct: VW inscribes as außerordentlicher Hörer in the humanities at the University of Vienna and begins to study musicology with, among others, Guido Adler. She also begins studying piano with Richard Robert; later she becomes his assistant.

14 December: KW, Elsa Pazeller, and their daughter are granted Austrian citizenship.

U.E. publish Seven Songs op. 1; Three Lenau Poems for chorus; and Four Poems for chorus op. 7.
 


Sacrifice / Opfer

World Festival / Weltfeier

Three Songs for mezzo-soprano [?]

Faith / Glaube for voice and organ [?]


12 Jan: In Vienna, premiere of Schlummerliedchen (eventually no. 5 of Five Songs op. 8) with Elise Elizza and Ferdinand Poll.

4 Feb: In Vienna, Five Songs op. 3 nos. 1, 4, and 5 with Elsa Pazeller and KW.


16 Apr: In Vienna, the Rosé Quartet et al. perform Schoenberg’s string sextet Verklärte Nacht and String Quartet No. 1.

1913

13 Apr: VW passes her oral exam for the Musikstaatsprüfung; receives her certificate on 23 Apr.

17 Oct: KW’s amicable divorce from Elsa Pazeller becomes final.

23 Nov: A planned performance of Weltfeier on 29 Nov with Schreker’s Philharmonic Chorus is canceled, apparently because of inadequate performance materials.
 

 

26 Feb: In Vienna, unidentified KW songs with Margarete Bum, A.J. Boruttau, and KW.


23 Feb: Ppremiere of Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder in Vienna.

1914

Fall: KW is drafted into the Austrian army but given a desk job because of myopia. He is able to do some teaching and composing; new students that fall include VW.

Sep: VW completes a month-long course with the Austrian Red Cross in volunteer nursing.

Robert Forberg publish Five Songs op. 8.
 

 
 

 

28 July: World War I begins.

1915


Three Songs for tenor and orchestra


 

 

1916

May: KW is ordered into active service as Zugführer, or station officer, first in Bruck a.d. Leitha.


Three Songs for soprano and orchestra

Three Men’s Choruses op. 27


19 Dec: In Vienna, premiere of Three Songs for tenor and orchestra nos. 1 and 2 with Hans Duhan and the Wiener Tonkünstler Orchestra under Oskar Nedbal.


21 Nov: Death of Franz Josef I, king of Austria-Hungary; he is succeeded by Karl I.

1917

Feb: KW is transferred to a desk job in Karlovac, Croatia.

May: KW is transferred to Zagreb.

Dec[?]: KW is transferred back to Vienna.


 

 

23 Mar: Austria’s Karl I makes peace overtures to France.

24 Oct: The Austro-German army routs the Italian army at Caporetto, Italy, in what came to be known as the first blitzkrieg.

7 Dec: The United States declares war on Austria-Hungary.

1918

KW is appointed to a position teaching harmony, composition, and music theory at the Neues Wiener Konservatorium (New Vienna Conservatory, founded in 1909), where he teaches until 1925, with occasional further employment until 1930.


Children’s Songs op. 11

KW begins work on Symphony No. 2, dedicating the Adagio, titled Pro Defunctis, to the memory of the fallen.


 

25 Jan: Germany and Austria-Hungary reject U.S. peace overtures.

May: The Austrian DAP changes its name to the Deutsche Nationalsozialistische Arbeiterpartei (DNSAP), or German National-Socialist Party.

25 Sep: Brazil declares war on Austria-Hungary.

3 Nov: The Austria-Hungary empire is dissolved.

11 Nov: armistice between the Axis and the Allied powers ends World War I.

12 Nov: The law establishing Austria as a republic also gives women the right to vote.

30 Nov: Germany gives women the right to vote.

1 Dec: The kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes is formed, including parts of former Austro-Hungary.

1919

Along with Karl Prohaska, KW becomes active in the Verein für volkstümliche Musikpflege.

Hanns Eisler is briefly a student of KW, then leaves Vienna to study with Schoenberg in Berlin.


Two Women’s Choruses op. 26


19 Feb: In Vienna, premiere of String Sextet with the Rosé Quartet, Hermann Klein, and Hermann Jelinek.

23 Feb: In Vienna, in the Verein für musikalische Privataufführungen, premiere of String Quartet No. 2 with the Gottesmann Quartet; performance repeated on 2 Mar.

28 Nov: In Vienna, premiere of Five Songs from Phantasus with Felicie Hüni-Mihacsek; String Quartet No. 3 with the Wiener Konzerthaus Quartet.


6 Feb: In Germany, Philipp Scheidemann is appointed chancellor.

22 Jun: The German Reichstag ratifies the Versailles Treaty, accepting sole responsibility for World War I and agreeing to war reparations. The treaty is signed in Paris on 28 June; one of the treaty provisions, the Covenant of the League of Nations, is signed by 44 states.

31 Aug: In Germany, the Weimar Republic adopts a constitution.

1920

Jun: KW’s article “Das Biogenetische Grundgesetz in der Musik” (The biogenetic foundation of music) appears in Musikblätter des Anbruch.

spring: VW is unable to find work in Vienna and takes a job in Amsterdam as a four-language interpreter and secretary to Edo Fimmen, secretary general of the Union der internationalen Transportarbeiter (International transport workers union); she and KW correspond regularly during this separation.

Edition Strache publish Five Songs from Phantasus; Five Songs op. 10; Children’s Songs op. 11; and Three Songs op. 12.

 

14 Apr: In Vienna, premiere of Three Songs for tenor and orchestra with Hermann Tausche and the Konzertverein Orchestra under Ferdinand Löwe.

6 May: In Vienna, String Quartet No. 2 in an Anbruch concert with the Gottesmann Quartet.


20 Feb: In Germany the DAP (Deutsche Arbeiter Partei, or German Workers’ Party) changes its name to NSDAP, or National Socialist German Workers’ Party.

15 Dec: Austria is admitted into the League of Nations.

The U.S. Congress ratifies the Nineteenth Amendment, giving women the vote.

In the United States, Henry Ford’s newspaper The Dearborn Independent publishes the faked Protocols of the Elders of Zion to fuel American fears of a worldwide Jewish conspiracy.

1921

Fall: VW returns from Amsterdam and meets KW in Rekawinkel, where they go for a long hike and decide to marry.

27 Dec: KW and VW marry and move to a self-contained three-room apartment (formerly VW’s father’s office) in the Pick family apartment on the third floor of Rudolfsplatz 1 in the first Bezirk.


Fantastic Intermezzo


Oct: In Vienna, premiere of Night Fantasies with Richard Byk.


27 Feb: The Internationale Arbeitsgemeinschaft Sozialistischer Parteien (IASP), or International Working Union of Socialist Parties, is founded in Austria.

19 May: The U.S. Congress passes the Emergency Quota Act, establishing national quotas on immigration.

Adolf Hitler becomes head of the German NSDAP.

Aug: A period of hyperinflation begins in Germany and Austria.

1 Dec: Rising prices cause riots in Vienna.

1922

Mar: KW and Zemlinsky are asked for their reminiscences of Johannes Brahms, which appear as “Brahms und die neuere Generation: Persönliche Erinnerungen” in Musikblätter des Anbruch.

11 May: KW signs a contract with U.E. for the 28 Variations.

KW is awarded the Prize of the Philadelphia Mendelssohn Club for Hymn.

F.E.C. Leuckart publish the Night Fantasies.


Symphony No. 2

Pictures and Tales Suite


29 Apr: In Vienna, premiere of Weltfeier with Georg Maikl, Karl Rössel, and the Arbeiter Symphony Orchestra and the Philharmonic Chorus under Paul von Klenau.

9 Aug: In Salzburg, premiere of Stelldichein with Erika Wagner-Stiedry and the Amar Quartet et al.


26 May: Karl Krauss’s satirical Die letzten Tage der Menschheit, which had appeared serially in Die Fackel, appears in book form.

24 Jun: In Germany, Foreign Minister Walter Rathenau is assassinated.

27 Oct: In Italy, Benito Mussolini becomes prime minister and establishes a fascist dictatorship.

8 Nov: The International Society for Contemporary Music (IGNM, or ISCM) is founded in Salzburg by 24 composers, including Bartok, Berg, Hindemith, Kodaly, Milhaud, Ravel, and Schoenberg.

27 Dec: French and Belgian troops occupy the Ruhr to ensure the repayment of war reparations.

1923

2 Mar: KW’s article "Kunstreise durch das besetzte Gebiet" (Art trip through occupied territory) appears in the Vienna newspaper Neue Freie Presse.

U.E. publish 28 Variations.


Violin Sonata No. 1

Cello Sonata


6 Feb: In Bochum, Weltfeier with the Bochum Städtisches Orchestra under Rudolf Schulz-Dornburg.

11 Aug: In Salzburg, premiere of Violin Sonata No. 1 with Robert Pollak [not Georg Kulenkampff-Post, as first programmed) and Wilhelm Grosz.


4 May: In Vienna, bloody street battles between Nazis, Socialists, and police.

8–9 Nov: The so-called Beer Hall Putsch in Munich.

15 Nov: in Germany and Austria, the currency is stabilized; Germany cuts eight zeros from the value of the currency and introduces the Rentenmark, pegged to the gold standard.

Schoenberg completes his first twelve-tone piece, Suite op. 25.

1924

Paul Wittgenstein commissions KW to write a piano concert for the left hand.

May: KW is awarded the Cultural Prize of the City of Vienna for Weltfeier (that year’s jury consisted of Josef Marx, Richard Strauss, and Julius Bittner, who also awarded prizes to Alban Berg, Anton Webern, Franz Schmidt, Max Springer, and Carl Prohaska).

Schott publish Two Religious Songs op. 14; Violin Sonata No. 1; a piano-vocal score of Weltfeier; Fantastic Intermezzo; and Symphony No. 2 (original five-movement version).


Piano Concerto for the left hand (never performed in KW’s lifetime)

String Quartet No. 4


21 Feb: In Dortmund, premiere of Three Songs for soprano and orchestra with Henny Wolff and the Dortmund Städtisches Orchestra under Wilhelm Sieben.

2 May: In Bochum, premiere of Symphony No. 2 (original 5-movement version) under Rudolf Schulz-Dornburg.

4 Oct: In Vienna, premiere of Cello Sonata with Joachim Stutschewsky and Walter Kerschbaumer.

14 Nov: In Trieste, Cello Sonata with Ettore Sigon and Federica Schmitz.

[?]: In Vienna, Pictures and Tales Suite with the Philharmonic Kammer Orchestra under Rudolf Nilius.


21 Jan: In Russia, death of Vladimir Lenin; he is succeeded by Joseph Stalin.

25 Feb: Eduard Steuermann gives the premiere of Schoenberg’s Suite op. 25 in Vienna.

24 May: The U.S. Congress ratifies the Immigration Act of 1924, which sets immigration quotas that will remain in effect through the height of the Jewish refugee crisis of 1938–1939.

12 Oct: Franz Schalk conducts the posthumous premiere of the Adagio and Purgatorio from Mahler’s Symphony No. 10.

1925


 

19 Jan: In Krefeld, premiere of Fantastic Intermezzo with the Krefeld Städtisches Orchestra under Robert Siegel.

1 Apr: In Vienna, premiere of String Quartet No. 1 with the Kolbe Quartet.

1 Apr: In Vienna, Violin Sonata No. 1 with Margarethe Kolbe-Jüllig and Louise Wandel.

7 Nov: In Meißen, Weltfeier with the Lehrergesangverein and Stadtkapelle Meißen under Walter Helm.

25 Nov: In Paris, Nos. 1 and 5 from Five Songs from Phantasus with Aurora Argenti.

[?] Nov: In Vienna, unidentified KW songs with Hanna Schwarz at the Österreichischer Komponistenbund.


Arnold Schoenberg receives the prestigious appointment to a master class for composition at the Prussian Academy of the Arts in Berlin.

20 Oct: Vienna’s city rail system is electrified.

14 Dec: Alban Berg’s Wozzeck is given its premiere in Berlin under Erich Kleiber.

1926

21 Jan: KW and VW perform the first movement of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7 in an arrangement for piano four hands at the Galerie Holbein in Vienna.

23 Jul: KW and VW, previously undenominational (konfessionslos), join the Helvetic branch of the Protestant Church.

1 Aug: Birth of the Weigls’ son, Wolfgang Johannes (later John, and hereafter WJW), named for KW's two idols, Mozart and Goethe.

Fall: Death of VW's father.

Breitkopf & Härtel publish String Quartet No. 1.


Sommernachmittag, later no. 2 of the Five Songs for soprano and string quartet

Nature / Natur for mixed chorus

Cradle Song / Wiegenlied


Jan: In Gotha, Weltfeier with Gotha Musikverein under Hans Trinius

8 Mar: In Vienna, String Quartet No. 1 with the Sedlak-Winkler Quartet.

24 Mar: In Utrecht, Symphony No. 1 with the Utrechtsch Stedelijk Orchestra under Evert Cornelius.

13 Apr: In Altona, Weltfeier with the Chorverein Ottensen under Norbert Weisert.

20 May: In Frankfurt, Women’s Choruses op. 25 nos. nos. 1, 4, and 5 with the Dessoff’scher Frauenchor and the Kur Orchestra under Oscar Malata.

29 May: In Chemnitz, Weltfeier with the Chemnitzer Singakademie under Oscar Malata.


31 Jan: In Germany, British and Belgian troops leave Cologne.

8 Sep: The Weimar Republic joins the League of Nations.

1927

The Armenian sculptor Ara Sarkissian (1902–1969) completes a bronze bust of KW.


Three Men’s Choruses

The Giant / Der Riese


21 Feb: In Vienna, Violin Sonata No. 1 with Karl Baltz and Luise Wandel

18 Oct: In Vienna, String Quartet No. 1 with the Rosé Quartet.


Sep: Zemlinsky moves from Prague to Berlin, to conduct at the Kroll Opera.

Charles Lindbergh completes the first solo transatlantic flight from New York to Paris.

6 Oct: Talking motion pictures are inaugurated with the premiere of The Jazz Singer.

1928

Mar: KW attempts, unsuccessfully, to interest Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge in accepting the dedication of the String Quartet No. 2 in E Major.

30 May: KW is awarded the honorary title of Professor by the Austrian government; he leaves the faculty of the New Vienna Conservatory and goes back to full-time composing and private teaching.

KW’s edition of and introduction to Emanuel Aloys Förster’s chamber music compositions appears as volume 67 in the Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich series, published by U.E.

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Violin Concerto

Four Men’s Choruses


9 Mar: In Italy, String Quartet No. 1 with the Rosé Quartet.


12 Nov: An Arbeiter Symphony concert in Vienna presents Schoenberg’s Friede auf Erden and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2.

1929

1 Dec: Upon the recommendation of Hans Gal, KW succeeds him as Lektor in the Institut für Musikwissenschaft at the University of Vienna. KW is responsible for the weekly four-hour seminar on harmony, counterpoint, form, and instrumentation; he holds this position from winter semester 1929 through winter semester 1933.


 

14 Jan: In Berlin, at a concert of the Oesterreichischer Komponistenbund, String Quartet No. 4 with Maurits van den Berg, Charlotte Rosen, Lorenz Höber, and Ewel Stegmann.

27 Nov: In Vienna, at a concert of modern chamber music at the Österreichischer Klub, unidentified work(s) by KW, as well as by Berg, Gál,


3 Oct: The kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes changes its name to the kingdom of Yugoslavia.

29 Oct: The stock market crash in the United States marks the beginning of the Great Depression in that country and world economic collapse.

Dec: Hans Gál leaves Vienna to accept the directorship of the Mainz Conservatory.

1930


 

25 Jan: In Vienna, premiere of the Violin Concerto with Josef Wolfsthal and the Arbeiter Symphonie Orchestra under Nikolai Malko.

16 Feb: In Vienna, Fantastic Intermezzo with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under Wilhelm Furtwängler.

11 Mar: In Vienna, Symphony No. 2 (four-movement revision) with the Wiener Symphonie Orchestra under Robert Heger.


30 Jun: French troops leave the Rhineland.

14 Sep: The Nazi Party makes significant gains in German Reichstag elections.

Austria is beset by a series of economic crises; Austria’s German National-Socialist Workers’ Party (DNSAP), most of whose members support the German NSDAP led by Adolf Hitler, gains strength.

1931

25 Sep: KW signs a contract with U.E. for the Piano Concerto.


Symphony No. 3 (completed 1 Feb; never performed)

Rhapsody for string orchestra

Piano Concerto


29 Oct: In Prague and Vienna, premiere of Piano Concerto with Ignaz Friedman and the Philharmonic Orchestra under George Szell.

24 Nov: In Vienna, 28 Variations with Marianne Munk Weissberger.


11 May: Collapse of the Austrian Kreditanstalt.

13 Jul: German bank crisis.

1932

15 Jul: signs a contract with U.E. for the choruses opp. 25, 26, 27, 28, and 29.

29 Jul: KW signs a contract with U.E. for The Pied Piper.

U.E. publish a piano-vocal score (by Eric Simon), choruses, and the libretto of The Pied Piper; and a two-piano reduction (also by Eric Simon) of the Piano Concerto.


The Pied Piper Suite (never performed in KW’s lifetime)

Six Songs for contralto

Four-hand Duets for piano


Jun: In Vienna, The Pied Piper in an arrangement for piano with Heinrich Nagel, M. Schell-Noe, and KW.

8 Jul: In Vienna, Symphony No. 1 with the Wiener Sinfonie Orchestra under Walter Cornelius.

11 Nov: In Vienna, unidentified KW works with the Lily Weiss Quartet et al.


31 Jul: In Germany, the NSDAP becomes the largest party in the Reichstag.

19 Oct: Austria forbids demonstrations by Nazis and others.

1933

22 Nov: KW signs a contract with U.E. for Rhapsody for string orchestra.

Casa Musicale publish Five Songs op. 23.

U.E. publish Eight Women’s Choruses op. 25; Two Women’s Choruses op. 26; Three Men’s Choruses op. 27; Four Men’s Choruses op. 28; and Nature op. 29.


Symphonic Prelude

String Quartet No. 5 (dedicated to the Busch Quartet)

Comedy Overture

Prelude and Fugue in D Major


21 Mar: In Vienna, Violin Sonata No. 1 with Magda Hajos and Walter Bricht.

22 Nov: In Austria, RAVAG radio broadcast about KW.

5 Dec: In Vienna, Five Songs from Phantasus nos. 2, 3, 4, and 5 with Anny Richter and Walter Bricht.


30 Jan: In Germany, President Hindenburg appoints Adolf Hitler to chancellor, which puts the Nazi Party in power.

27 Feb: The Reichstag building in Berlin burns to the ground; the government suspends civil rights for all those who oppose the regime.

4 Mar: Chancellor Dollfuss dissolves the Austrian parliament.

23 Mar: Germany passes the Enabling Act, suspending all civil rights and giving the chancellor ultimate legislative authority.

7 Apr: The infamous Berufsbeamtengesetz, the law for the “restoration” of the civil service, leads to the dismissal of all Jews holding government jobs. Franz Schreker and Arnold Schoenberg are among those dismissed from the Prussian Academy of Arts; Schoenberg leaves Berlin on 17 May, first for Paris and then, on 25 October, for the United States.

Jul: Kulturbund Deutscher Juden, later called Jüdischer Kulturbund, is established in Berlin and subsequently in all the principal cities throughout Germany.

Jun: The first Nazi concentration camp is established in Dachau, in upper Bavaria.

Nov: The Reichsmusikkammer, a state music bureau, is founded, as part of the Nazi Propaganda Ministry under Joseph Goebbels, and on 15 Nov Richard Strauss is appointed to the presidency.

Vienna becomes the refuge of choice for the first wave of exiles from Nazi Germany. KW’s friends Gál and Zemlinsky are among those who return to Vienna, where they make do with occasional conducting and private teaching.

1934

spring: KW’s position as Lektor at the University is terminated.

U.E. publish a piano score of an English version (by Sylvia Spencer Welch) of The Pied Piper.

 

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Cello Concerto (never performed)

Passacaglia and Fugue in D Minor

Five Songs for soprano and string quartet

Prelude and Fugue “in the old style”


7 May: In Vienna, choreographed Night Fantasies with Gertrud Bodenwieser dance troupe.

23 Nov: In Vienna, premiere of String Quartet No. 5 with the Busch Quartet.

13 Dec: In Vienna, Five Songs from Phantasus no. 5 with Felicie Hüni-Mihaczek and Otto Schulhof, celebration of Konservatorium der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde.


21 Mar: Death of Franz Schreker in Berlin.

25 Jul: Austrian Nazis occupy the Parliament building and assassinate Engelbert Dollfuss; Kurt von Schuschnigg succeeds as chancellor.

Oct: The establishment of a conservative government in Spain leads to revolution, which is suppressed by the army under chief of staff General Francisco Franco.

1935

9 Feb: KW signs a contract with U.E. for the Comedy Overture.

U.E. publish Rhapsody for string orchestra; and a piano reduction of the Comedy Overture.

Rosie Wertheim (1888-1949) leaves Paris to study for a year with KW in Vienna.

Summer: KW teaches music courses for foreigners in connection with the Salzburg Festival.


The Four Seasons / Die vier Jahreszeiten


25 Jan: In Vienna, Five Songs op. 23 with Hanna Schwarz and KW.

23 Feb: In Vienna, premiere of The Four Seasons under Elsa Pazeller (repeated on 30 Nov).

28 Apr: In Vienna, Two Women’s Choruses op. 26 no. 1 with the Wiener Kammerchor under Ernst Kanitz.

15 May: In Vienna, 5 unidentified KW songs with Felice von Antburg and KW.

17 May: In Stockholm, Pictures and Tales with Willy Klasen.

15 Nov: In Vienna, premiere of Comedy Overture with the Wiener Konzert Orchestra under Hans Gál.

25 Nov: In Vienna, Five Songs op. 23 with Hanna Schwarz and KW.


24 Dec: Death of Alban Berg in Vienna.

1936

9 Jul: KW signs a contract with Universal Edition for String Quartet No. 5, which appears later that year.

Fall: KW is depressed about the international political situation and notes growing anti-Semitism in Vienna; his good friends the Baranys move to Prague, which is a great personal loss; he does a good deal of sketching but there is a month-long hiatus in output; the future looks dark to him, and he worries about the possibility of a new European war.


Three Songs for contralto and string quartet

Symphony No. 4 (never performed)

Love Song / Liebeslied


22 Mar: In Vienna, The Four Seasons with the Urania Kinderchor under Elsa Weigl Pazeller.

3 Apr: In Vienna, String Quartet No. 4 with the Rothschild Quartet.

23 Apr: In Vienna, premiere of Nature with the Wiener Madrigalvereinigung under Hans Gál.

9 May: In Vienna, String Quartet No. 5 with the Weiss Quartet; and unidentified KW songs for alto and soprano with piano with Margarethe Philipsky, Käthe Schwarz-Hoffmann, and KW.

19 Jun: In Vienna, choreographed Night Fantasies for the Wiener Festwochen 1936 with Tanzgruppe Gertrud Bodenwieser.

15 Nov: In Vienna, Comedy Overture with the Wiener Konzert Orchestra under Hans Gál.


Feb: The Spanish Popular Front wins national elections; Azana becomes president of Spain.

Mar: Riots, strike and unrest spread throughout Spain and Spanish Morocco.

17 Jul: After anttempted coup d’état by Spanish Army generals against the government, Francisco Franco takes command of the army.

1 Aug: The Olympic Games open in Berlin to opening music composed for the event by Richard Strauss.

Nov: Germany and Italy recognize Francisco Franco as head of Spain’s government.

1937

14 May: MWP earns her PhD in ethnology from the University of Vienna.


Gray Years / Graue Jahre

Violin Sonata No. 2

Three Songs for mezzosoprano and string quartet


19 Jan: In Vienna, premiere of Two Women’s Choruses op. 26 with the Wiener Frauenkammer chorus under Ernst Kanitz.

7 Mar: In Vienna, premiere of Five Songs for soprano and string quartet with Zoë Prasch-Formacher and the Kolbe Quartet.

[?] Apr: In Brno, unidentified KW songs in radio broadcast with [?] Staeren and Gerda Redlich.

5 Nov: In Vienna, Five Songs for soprano and string quartet with Elisabeth Schumann and the Rosé Quartet.

1 Dec: In London, Five Songs for soprano and string quartet with Elisabeth Schumann and the Brosa Quartet.

16 Dec: In Vienna, String Quartet No. 5 with the Weiss Quartet

18 Dec: In Vienna, premiere of Three Songs für mezzosoprano and string quartet with Nanni Annibali and the Weiss Quartet.


26 Apr: Hitler’s Luftwaffe, in support of the Spanish Nationalists, bombs the Basque town of Guernica, a strategic Republican stronghold.

Spring: Dr. Feng Shan Ho is posted to the Chinese legation in Vienna; after the Anschluß he will prove one of the most effective and imaginative protectors of Jews trying to escape Nazi Europe.

19 Jul: The Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art) exhibit opens in Munich.

Aug: The Vatican recognizes Franco’s government in Spain.

The Austrian government outlaws the Austrian National Socialist Party. VW’s sister and her husband, Käthe and Otto Leichter, who are prominent members of the party, go underground.

The Nazi government closes down the Allgemeiner Deutscher Musikverein (ADMV).

1938

1 Mar: KW writes to Antonie Stolper and other friends to ask for advice on emigrating. He and VW begin the arduous process of seeking legal Ausreise; they inaugurate a rigorous schedule that includes daily piano practice and learning English.

29 Mar: MWP and Gerhart Piers (GP) leave Vienna for Switzerland, taking with them to safety the bulk of KW’s manuscript scores.

25 Apr: KW meets with Irena Wiley, the sculptor and wife of the U.S. consul general John Wiley; the Wileys actively aided Jews trying to escape Austria.

19 May: KW participates in a private musicale in honor of Irena Wiley.

30 May: The Gestapo arrest Käthe Leichter; in Jan 1940 she is transferred to the Ravensbrück concentration camp.

20 Jun: MWP and GP marry in Switzerland.

2 Jul: VW becomes seriously ill with pleurisy.

8 Jul: KW acquires the tax clearance certificate (steuerliche Unbedenklichkeitsbescheinigung) that is required for legally exiting Austria; the document is valid for one month but renewable.

18 Jul: The Weigl family’s passports get the stamp authorizing “one-time outbound passage” (einnmalige Ausreise) to “all of Europe, North and South America, and Australia.”

19 Jul: KW meets with Irena Wiley and learns that the American businessman and music enthusiast Ira Hirschmann has agreed to sponsor and provide three affidavits for the Weigl family.

8 Aug: KW successfully renews the tax clearance certificate until end of September 1938.

10 Aug: KW pays for ship passage from England to New York.

23 Aug: VW is ordered to the Semmering to recuperate for a week.

29 Aug: KW takes what was probably his last hike in the Vienna Woods; the Weigls begin making final farewells to friends.

5 Sep: KW pays a  Elsa Pazeller to say goodbye.

7 Sep: The Weigls receive their U.S. immigration visa and immigrant identification numbers.

9 Sep: The Weigls receive transit visas for England.

12 Sep: The Weigls’ passports get transit stamps for travel through France; a day later comes permission for transit through Switzerland.

15 Sep: The Weigl family leaves Vienna by train, heading first to Zurich, then, two days later, through France to London.

26 Sep: Emma Cadbury sends cards of introduction to American Quakers.

1 Oct: The Weigls sail from Southhamptom on the S.S. Statendam.

9 Oct: The Weigls arrive in New York; a telegram that had followed from London brings the news that KW's mother died in Vienna on 29 Sep.

WJW is immediately placed at the Glenacres School in Roxbury, Connecticut, where he lives for the first three months with the family of the school's director, Mr. Martin; the costs are paid by the Quaker philanthropist Mrs. La Farge.

KW and VW apply for U.S. citizenship.

Among the Weigls’ many friends, acquaintances, and students who, like them, are forced into exile and find refuge in the United States are Kurt Adler, Adolf Busch, Paul Doktor, Alice Ehlers, Bruno Eisner, Peter Paul Fuchs, Ernst Gombrich, Richard Konta, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Julius Korngold, Rudolf Serkin, Fritz Stiedry, Ernst Toch, and Alexander Zemlinsky; other friends find refuge in England, Sweden, South America, Palestine, and Shanghai.

End of Dec: The Weigl family is reunited briefly over the holidays.

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Dance of the Furies / Tanz der Erinnyen

Festival Overture

Glorious Vagabond

KW begins to compose the Piano Trio (dedicated to Ira Hirschmann)


10 Mar: In Vienna, Pictures and Tales Suite with the Wiener Konzert Orchestra under Rudolf Fellner; this is the last Weigl performance in Europe before the composer’s emigration and for many years thereafter.

19 May: In Vienna, private musicale at home of Frau Ida Reik-Bodanzky, Seven Songs op. 1; Five Songs from Phantasus; and String Quartet No. 5 with [?] Belasco, [?] Philippsky, Elsie Stein, [?] Schwarz, [?] Stwertka, Friedrich Buxbaum, and KW.

22 Nov: In New York, Three Songs for mezzosoprano and string quartet with Alice Howland and the Galimir Quartet.


17 Jan: Austrian chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg declares in an interview that “an abyss separates Austria and National Socialism (Ein Abgrund trennt Österreich vom Nationalsozialismus.).

4 Feb: Hitler recalls the German ambassador to Austria, Karl von Papen.

12 Feb: Schuschnigg meets with Hitler in Berchtesgaden; he and Austrian president Wilhelm Miklas bow to pressure and name the nationalsocialist Arthur Seyß-Inquart to the Austrian cabinet.

3 Mar: Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia.

6 Mar: In the United States the Keep America Out of War Congress is officially founded at a rally in the New York Hippodrome.

10 March: Hitler orders German troops on high alert.

11 Mar: The Austrian government falls. Hitler invades Austria in the early hours of 12 Mar.

13 Mar: Hitler is welcomed to Vienna in unprogrammed demonstrations of support.

17 Mar: The Austrian Schilling is replaced by the German Reichsmark (at a rate of 1 Reichsmark to 1.5 Schillings).

18 Mar: German Schutzstaffel (SS) Chief Heinrich Himmler is given power to operate in Austria outside the restrictions of German law; he sets up operations at the Hotel Metropol.

26 Mar: Hermann Goering warns all Jews to leave Austria.

1 Apr: The Spanish Civil War ends, with Franco and the Nationalists victorious.

2 Apr: Britain recognizes the new Austrian government.

26 Apr: The Nazi government orders Jews to register wealth and property with the enactment of the Decree on the Reporting of Jewish Assets.

4 May: The German pacifist Carl von Ossietzky receives the Nobel Peace Prize.

4 Jun: Irena Wiley helps Sigmund Freud and his family escape Vienna for England.

Jul: Construction begin of a concentration camp west of the small market town of Mauthausen in Upper Austria, about 20 kilometers east of the city of Linz.

6-15 Jul: The Evian Conference of 32 nations meeting to discuss the plight of Jews in Nazi Europe ends in failure.

18 Aug: Switzerland prohibits entry to Jews; the police commandant of St. Gall, Paul Grüninger, disobeys the order and allows 3,600 Jews to pass the border between August and December 1938, among them the Weigl family.

26 Aug: In Vienna Adolf Eichmann is put in charge of a new Zentralstelle für jüdische Auswanderung (Center for Jewish Emigration).

28 Aug: Mauthhausen concentration camp begins operating near Linz, Austria.

30 Sep: The Munich Pact, which endorses Germany's annexation of the Czechoslovakian Sudetenland, is signed by Chamberlain, Daladier, Mussolini, and Hitler.

1 Oct: German troops march into the Sudetenland.

5 Oct: A new law requires Jewish passports and food ration cards to be stamped with a large letter "J" in red ink.

30 Oct: In New York, Columbia Broadcasting system radio broadcast of Orson Welles’s War of the Worlds.

7 Nov: In Paris, Herschel Grynszpan enters the German Embassy and assassinates Ernst von Rath.

9–10 Nov: Nazi troops and sympathizers loot and burn Jewish businesses in what came to be known as Kristallnacht, the "night of broken glass"; about 7,500 Jewish businesses are destroyed, 267 synagogues burned, 91 Jews killed, and ca. 25,000 and 26,000 people arrested.

15 Nov: All Jewish students are expelled from non-Jewish German schools; Jews are also prohibited from attending plays, concerts, and movies.

28 Nov: Curfews are placed on Jews in Germany and Austria.

1939

Jan: WJW is sent to Maryland, where he lives with the Samuel and Carola Mason family until late July.

Summer: KW and VW are guests of the Frank Churchill family on Cape Cod.

1 Apr: KW becomes a member of the American Composers Alliance (ACA).

15 Aug: MWP and GP arrive from Switzerland and stop off in New York before settling in Chicago.

Sep: After almost one year living in a series of temporary residences, KW and VW sign a lease for an apartment at 55 W. 95th Street, New York, which VW keeps until the end of her life.

Sep: WJW is taken in by the Arnett family in Philadelphia, where he attends Germantown Friends School.

20 Sep: Frederick Jacobi proposes KW for membership in the Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).

During his first year in exile KW has some private students and teaches music theory for the New York Philharmonic Scholarship Committee.


Piano Trio

Old Vienna

String Quartet No. 6 (dedicated to Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge; never performed in KW’s lifetime)

Music for the Young (never performed)

The Invisible Light

The Refugee


10 Aug: In Cape Cod, performances of Pictures and Tales; Violin Sonata No. 2; and Five Songs for soprano with Hugo Kolberg, Lys Bert, VW, and KW.


2 Jan: Adolf Hitler is Time magazine's "Man of the Year."

15 Mar: Hitler invades Czechoslovakia.

Spring: In the United States a bill in Congress that would have permitted 20,000 additional refugees to enter the country dies in committee.

9 Apr: Marian Anderson performs before 75,000 people at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., after the Daughters of the American Revolution prevent her appearing in Constitution Hall or a public high school.

30 Apr: New York’s World Fair opens.

15 May: The SS St. Louis carries 936 Jewish refugees from Hamburg to Cuba, but only 22 are allowed to disembark there; in June, after being denied permission to land in Florida, the ship is forced to return to Europe. Most of the passengers are later murdered in Nazi camps and euthanasia facilities.

23 Aug: The Hitler-Stalin Pact is finalized.

1 Sep: Germany invades Poland.

3 Sep: France, Australia, and England declare war on Germany.

5 Sep: United States declares its neutrality in the war.

10 Sep: Canada declares war on Germany.

23 Sep: In England, death of Sigmund Freud.

1940

16 Sep: KW begins a one-year part-time replacement position at the Julius Hartt School of Music in Hartford, Connecticut; the position, which pays KW $1,800, is partially funded by the Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Scholars Records and the Oberlaender Trust.

Fall: KW and VW stretch their income for several months, until early May 1941, by renting one room to a boarder, first Miss Davis, then Jacqueline Parsons.


Viola Sonata (movement 2 becomes Menuetto for cello)

Two Pieces for cello

Rhapsody for piano and orchestra (never performed in KW’s lifetime)

Summer Evening Music


23 Feb: In New Jersey, premiere of Two Pieces for violin and piano no. 1 with Herbert Sorkin and KW.

19 Nov: In Philadelphia, Three Songs for mezzosoprano and string quartet with Alice Howland and the Perolé Quartet; also Cello Sonata with Ernest Silberstein and Bernard Segal.

21 Nov: In New York, Cello Sonata with Benar Heifetz and KW.


29 Jun: United States passes the 1940 Alien Registration Act, requiring all alien residents to file a statement and provide information about their personal and occupational status and political beliefs: within four months, 4,741,971 aliens had registered.

 

11 Sep: In Germany, the Gestapo dissolves all Jüdischer Kulturbund organizations; many of its members are deported or murdered.

 

England commences the deportation and internment of Jewish refugees as enemy aliens; KW’s friend Hans Gál is among those arrested and interned on the Isle of Man.

1941

17 Jan: VW's mother commits suicide in Vienna; the news takes several weeks to reach the Weigls.

14 Jun: KW’s one-year appointment at the Julius Hartt School of Music ends.

summer: KW and VW are invited to spend several weeks at the Sky Island Refugee Hostel of the American Friends Service Committee.

Dec: KW begins teaching two courses for the West Side YMCA in New York, "Understanding of the Symphony" and "Understanding of the Operas."

29 Nov: KW and VW perform works for piano four hands at Dwight School, in Englewood.


Three Intermezzi

The Watchman’s Report

Meditation for piano duet

To Baby Christine

Child Asleep

A Cradle Song [?]

Revelation [?]

Dec: Two Religious Choruses

KW begins work on String Quartet No. 7


3 Jan: In Hartford, premiere of Viola Sonata with Alfred Kohn and KW.

2 Feb: In Chicago, 2 songs from Five Songs from Phantasus with Maria Hussa and Beverly Watts.

21 Feb: In New Jersey, WHOM radio broadcast of two of Night Fantasies and the Viola Sonata with William Schoen, Harriet Serr, and KW.

23 Feb: In New Jersey, WHOM radio broadcast of Notturno for violin and piano; Norwegian Dance for piano duet; Two Pieces for cello and piano with Herbert Sorkin, George Finckel, VW, and KW.

6 Apr: In West Nyack, NY, at a private musicale, The Pied Piper of Hamelin in an arrangement for piano with John Corten, Alice Gerstl-Duschak, Elizabeth Dellevie, William Malten, VW, and KW.

17 May: KW and VW participate in a panel discussion and concert titled The Europe We Left.

8 Apr: In New York, premiere of Violin Sonata No. 2 with Roman Totenberg and KW.

4 Jun: In New York, Five Songs for soprano and string quartet with Alice Howland and the Elsy Stein Quartet

17 Jun: In New York, Bilder und Geschichten for piano four hands, with KW and VW.

26 Nov: In New York, 28 Variations op. 15 with Charles Rosen.

29 Nov: In New York, Pictures and Tales for piano four hands, with KW and VW.


6 Jan: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivers his Four Freedoms Speech in the State of the Union address.

23 Apr: In New York, America First Committee holds its first mass rally with Charles Lindbergh as keynote speaker.

12 May: In Berlin, Konrad Zuse presents the Z3, the world's first working programmable, fully automatic computer.

7 Dec: Japan attacks Pearl Harbor.

8 Dec: United States declares war on Japan and enters World War II, whereupon China declares war on Japan and Germany declares war on the United States.

27 Dec: Winston Churchill is the first British prime minister to address a Joint session of the U.S. Congress.

1942

1 Mar: KW begins a 12-month-long part-time position assisting Carleton Sprague-Smith with editorial work and research in the music division of the New York Public Library for a monthly salary of $100.

July: The news reaches the Weigls that Käthe Leichter was murdered in mid-March in the Bernburg euthanasia facility.

Jul: KW spends the month at the McDowell Colony, while VW visits friends in Pennsylvania.

Aug: KW visits MWP in Chicago.

25 Sep: VW begins teaching piano two days (later three days) a week at Westtown School in Pennsylvania.

24 Nov: KW signs a contract with Arrow Music for Two Pieces for cello.

29 Nov: KW and VW perform Revelation in a New York concert.

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String Quartet No. 7 (never performed in KW’s lifetime)

In the MacDowell Woods

Two Religious Choruses of Our Time

Pictures from Childhood for flute (never performed in KW’s lifetime)

Two Pieces for violin and piano (never performed in KW’s lifetime)

Six Fantasies for piano

And There You Stood

The City that Was [?]

Capriccio [?]

KW begins work on Symphony No. 5


26 May: In New York, premiere of Piano Trio with Stanley Hoffman, George Saslow, Zita Carno; and Three Intermezzi for string quartet with Marjorie Fulton, Louis Fischsohn, Kalman Fleisig, Sidney Edwards.


19 Feb: President Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066, which begins the internment of 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent in camps called relocation centers.

15 Mar: Death of Alexander Zemlinsky in Larchmont, NY.

10 Jun: Nazi massacre in the Czech village of Lidice receives worldwide press attention.

Fall: The U.S. Congress establishes the so-called Victory Tax, an anti-inflationary measure that imposes a 5% tax on income above $624, to be withheld by the employer.

10 Oct: 1,300 Austrian Jews are transported to Terezin (also known as Theresienstadt).

1943

Jan: The Weigls receive news that their close friend Antonia Maar, faced with the choice between imminent arrest and a life of exile, had chosen to commit suicide.

8 Feb: KW and VW perform works for piano four hands by Mozart, Schubert, Dvorak, Bizet, and KW at an Englewood Woman’s Club event.

28 Feb: KW’s job at the New York Public Library ends.

1 Mar–1 Jun: KW teaches harmony and rudimentary theory for eight hours a week at Johann Grolle's Settlement Music School in Philadelphia; the position, which brings KW $24 per week, is funded by the Carl Schurz Foundation.

May: KW receives a much-needed financial grant from the Emergency Committee.

20 June: Death of Elsa Pazeller in Vienna.

Sep: VW spends the month at the MacDowell Colony; KW begins an appointment in the music department of Brooklyn College as part-time “lecturer and coach in a course on special music problems” for a monthly remuneration of $40; the position, again subsidized by the Oberlaender Trust, is renewed quarterly for the next two years.

Arrow Music Press publish Two Pieces for cello.


Capriccio for piano duet

Black Cat

Shouting Sun

Norwegian Dance [?]


14 Dec: In New York, Five Songs for soprano and string quartet with Cynthia Rosen and the Elsy Stein Quartet.


23 Nov: Heavy Allied air raids on Berlin destroy large parts of the central city.

The U.S. Congress passes the Current Tax Payment Act of 1943, which institutes mandatory income withholding.

2 Dec: The first Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA) transport out of Vienna reaches  Birkenau concentration camp.

1944

10 Jan: KW and VW acquire U.S. citizenship.

20 May: KW and VW participate in a concert in New York for the benefit of the MacDowell Colony.

7 Jun: Birth of Peggy Piers, the Weigls’ first grandchild.

Summer: WJW, who joined ROTC while attending Columbia University, is in training in New York and occasionally has time to spend with KW, who is in the city that summer teaching private students while VW has a position as a dance accompanist at Camp Tegawitha in Mt. Pocono, Pennsylvania.

Jul: KW visits friends in Moylan, Pennsylvania.

Nov: KW and VW perform works for piano four hands by Mozart, Dvorak, and KW in the 93rd anniversary concert of the Philadelphia Young Men’s Chorus.

 



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Love Songs

Six Children’s Songs

Early Easter Morning [?]


24 Mar: In Pennsylvania, Swarthmore College, Pictures and Tales with KW and VW; Violin Sonata No. 2 with Roman Totenberg and KW.

20 May: In New York, Two Pieces for cello and piano with Margaret Aue and KW.

25 May: In New York, Two Pieces for cello and piano with Stefan Auber and KW.

20 Jun: In New York, radio broadcast.

20 Nov: In Philadelphia radio broadcast of KW music.

Nov: In Philadelphia, Bilder und Geschichten with KW and VW.


17 Mar: The U.S. Eighth Air Force bombs Vienna.

1945

May: KW’s position with Brooklyn College ends because a former faculty member has returned from military service. Shortly after, KW comes down with a bladder infection that requires medical attention; he also suffers from anemia and rheumatism.

3 Jun: KW travels to Chicago to recuperate at the home of MWP and GP. While there he teaches a course on orchestration at Roosevelt College and a six-week summer course at Central YMCA College. VW spends June at the MacDowell Colony.

Aug: VW joins KW in Chicago, where they take care of their granddaughter while MWP and GP are on vacation.

Sep: KW begins a new job as head of the theory department of the Boston Conservatory of Music, where on Tuesdays through Thursdays he is responsible for courses in harmony, counterpoint and fugue, composition, orchestration, and conducting; the job, which continues until spring 1948, requires weekly travel between New York and Boston.


Symphony No. 5 (completed 15 Apr; never performed in KW’s lifetime)


17 Jan: In New York, Violin Sonata No. 2 and Three Songs for soprano, in a radio broadcast with Roman Totenberg, Lys Bert, and KW.

7 Apr: In New York, Ask the Composer concert: Pictures and Tales with VW and KW; Five Songs op. 23 with Sally Cherry Pestcoe and KW; Adagio from the Violin Sonata No. 1 with Boris Schwarz and KW; 5 unidentified KW songs with Alice Howland and KW; and Two Pieces for cello and piano op. 33 with Janos Scholz and KW.

3 May: In New York, Two Pieces for cello and piano with Youri Bilstin and KW.

16 Aug: KW and VW perform a program of Mozart, Schubert, Dvorak, Brahms, and Weigl at the Sky Island Refugee Hostel of the American Friends Service Committee.


30 Mar: The Soviet Union invades Austria; Vienna falls to the Soviets on 13 Apr.

30 Apr: Adolf Hitler commits suicide in a bunker in Berlin.

8 May: VE Day; World War II ends in Europe.

26 Jun: The United Nations charter is signed in San Francisco by 50 countries.

6 Aug: The United States drops the first atomic bomb, on Hiroshima.

9 Aug: The United States drops the second atomic bomb, on Nagasaki.

18 Aug: VJ Day; World War II ends in the Pacific.

15 Sep: Anton Webern is mistakenly shot by a U.S. soldier.

25 Sep: Death of Julius Korngold in Los Angeles.

26 Sep: Death of Béla Bartók in New York.

21 Nov: The Nuremberg Trials begin.

1946

KW and VW begin teaching for the American Theatre Wing in New York, a professional training program for U.S. veterans interested in “stage, radio, screen, vaudeville, music and all the allied crafts”; KW teaches occasionally until 1949; VW’s connection with the organization continues well into the 1950s.

Jan: WJW graduates from Columbia University.

20 Aug: WJW and Etta Ruth Hoskins marry; they move to Berkeley, California, where WJW begins graduate studies.

Fall: KW and VW begin gradually to renew contact with old friends and acquaintances in Europe who survived the Hitler years, among others with Hans Gál in England and Oskar Maar in Vienna.


 

1 Feb: In New York, radio broadcast of various KW works.

3 Feb: In Boston, String Quartet No. 5 (first U.S. performance) with the Boston Conservatory String Quartet.

1 and 14 Mar: In New York, Cello Sonata with George Finckel and KW.

21 Oct: In Rochester, NY, Comedy Overture (first U.S. performance) with the Eastman-Rochester Symphony Orchestra under Howard Hansen.

22 Oct: In New York, Five Songs for soprano and string quartet with Barbara Troxell and the Boston Conservatory String Quartet.


16 Oct: Ten prominent Nazis, convicted in the Nuremberg Trials, are executed for war crimes.

1947

21 Mar and [?] Apr: At American Friends' Service Committee benefit concerts in Philadelphia and New York, KW and VW perform works for piano four hands by Schubert, Brahms, and KW, and KW accompanies singers in works of Schubert and Schumann, at American Friends’ Service Committee benefit concerts.

KW writes his recollections of Mahler, published first in German as "Erinnerungen an Gustav Mahler," then in English translation as "Mahler as I Remember Him." 

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Symphony No. 6 (completed 1 Aug; never performed in KW’s lifetime)


21 Mar and [?] Apr: In Philadelphia and New York, Norwegian Dance for piano four hands with KW and VW; Lullaby and The Refugee with Alice Howland and KW; Seven Songs op. 1 nos. 2 and 3 with Robert Grooters and KW.

1 Jun: In Boston, Two Religious Choruses.

7 Nov: In New York, Viola Sonata with Paul Doktor and KW.


Jun: The U.S. Congress passes the Taft-Hartley Act; U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall outlines what will become the Marshall Plan.

1948

3 Jun: KW and VW participate in a United Nations Appeal for Children concert in Greenwich, NY; they perform works for piano four hands by Schubert, Dvorak, Debussy, and Brahms, as well as songs of KW.

July: KW decides to leave his position at Boston Conservatory for health reasons.

KW makes arrangements for a one-year appointment teaching composition at the Philadelphia Academy of Music (today University of the Arts School of Music), to start in September.

Fall: KW is diagnosed with heart problems and chronic anemia, possibly caused by a form of leukemia; MWP and GP contribute to the Weigl’s medical care and living expenses, as they had been doing regularly since 1942.


Menuetto for cello

 

KW begins to compose String Quartet No. 8


3 Jun: In Greenwich, To My Dead Mother, Jesus, and Rain Song with Alice Howland and KW.


14 May: proclamation of the state of Israel.

24 Jun: Berlin Blockade airlifts begin.

Jul: President Harry Truman orders the racial desegregation of the U.S. armed forces.

Los Angeles implements requirement for a loyalty oath from city employees.

1949

Spring: WJW earns his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley; he eventually becomes an executive at Xerox, Inc., in Rochester, NY.

July: VW is offered a teaching position with the American Theatre Wing, Inc.; KW’s health begins seriously to deteriorate.

4 Jul: The Weigls’ second grandchild, Kathryn (later Kit Potter), is born to WJW and ERW in Berkeley, California.

11 Aug: Death of KW.

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String Quartet No. 8 (completed in May; never performed in KW’s lifetime)


 

4 Apr: establishment of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

May: Creation of two separate German states.

Aug: The Soviet Union explodes its first atomic bomb.

8 Sep: Death of Richard Strauss in Garmisch-Patenkirchen.