Hauer, Josef Matthias (
b Wiener Neustadt, 1883;
d Vienna, 1959). Austrian composer. Met Schoenberg 1919. In 1919, independently of Schoenberg, developed 12-note system and wrote his first 12-note piece, Nomos. Method based on 44 combinations (tropes) of 12 notes of the octave, each subdivided into 6-note groups. Did not get on well with Schoenberg because of his insistence that he first ‘discovered’ 12-note composition, even to proclaiming it on his stationery. Works incl. operas
Die schwarze Spinne (1932, f.p. Vienna 1966) and
Salambo (1930, f.p. Vienna 1983); oratorio
Wandlungen; pf. conc.; vn. conc.; Hölderlin songs; 3 str. qts. From 1939 all his works bore the title Zwölftonspiel (12-note piece).