Petyrek, Felix

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Petyrek, Felix

Petyrek, Felix, Czech composer and teacher; b. Brunn, May 14, 1892; d. Vienna, Dec. 1, 1951. After training with Godowsky and Sauer (piano), he studied with Schrecker (composition) and Adler (musicology) at the Univ. of Vienna (graduated, 1919). He taught at the Salzburg Mozarteum (1919–21), the Berlin Hochschule für Musik (1921–23), the Athens Odeon Athenon (1926–30), the Stuttgart Cons. (1930–39), the Cons, and Univ. in Leipzig (1939–49), and the Vienna Academy of Music (1949–51). In his melodic writing, he adopted the scale of alternating whole tones and semitones as a compromise between tonality and atonality.

Works

dramatic:Die arme Mutter und der Tod, musical fairy play (1923); Der Garden des Paradieses, opera (1923–41; Leipzig, Nov. 1, 1942); pantomimes. orch.: Sym. (1919); Sinfonietta (1921); 2 concertos for 2 Pianos and Orch. (1931, 1949). chamber: String Quartet (1913); Violin Sonata (1913); String Quartet (1914); Piano Trio (1921); Divertimento for 8 Winds (1923); Sextet for Clarinet, String Quartet, and Piano (Donaueschingen, July 30, 1922); piano pieces. vocal: Choral music; songs.

Bibliography

L. Mahn, F. P.: Lebensbild eines “vergessenen” Komponisten (Tutzing, 1998).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire