Sandberg, Mordecai

Sandberg, Mordecai , Romanian-born American composer and music theorist; b. in Romania, Feb. 4, 1897; d. Toronto, Dec. 28, 1973. As a child, he studied violin with a Gypsy violinist-conductor, composing the overture Demosthenes while still in his teens. He pursued training in music in Vienna while attending the Univ. there as a medical student (M.D., 1921). From 1922 to 1938 he was active as both a physician and a composer in Jerusalem, where he founded the local branch of the ISCM and the Inst. of New Music; in 1930 he served as contributing ed. of the Hebrew monthly music journal Hallel. In 1929–30 he pursued research on acoustics in Germany; also lectured at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik and publ. an essay on his music theories as Die Musik der Menschheit: Die Tondifferenzierung und ihre Bedeutung. In 1938 he lectured on microtones at the Congress of Music and Life in London. He went to the U.S. in 1939 and later settled in N.Y., where several of his works were premiered, including Ezkerah (I Remember; 1952), an oratorio “dedicated to the memory of all victims of persecution, oppression, and hatred.” From 1970 until his death he taught at York Univ. in Toronto. Sandberg was an original and prolific composer. He was one of the earliest explorers of microtonal music, originating his own “Universal Tonal System” using microtones based on a synthesis of Oriental and Western scales. To facilitate the writing and performance of microtonal music, he designed a refined notational system and several instruments, including 2 harmoniums—one bichromatic with quarter tones (1926) and one with 12^th and 16^th tones (1929), both built by Straube. He composed orch. works, including 5 syms., a Concerto for Clarinet and Strings, and a Concerto for Oboe, Viola, and Orch.; much chamber music, including sextets, quintets, quartets, and sonatas for cello, piano, violin, viola, and organ; numerous sacred and secular vocal works, including 15 oratorios, among them Ruth (N.Y., May 22, 1949) and Ezkerah (N.Y., April 22, 1952); Shelomoh, symphonic tetralogy for Soloists, Chorus, and Orch.; Jerusalem, cantata (N.Y., Nov. 10, 1943); Hebrew Spirituals and Prayer for Peace (N.Y., Jan. 16, 1946). His major achievement was his Symphonic Psalms, settings of the entire book of Psalms, among them Pilgrim Songs (Psalms 128, 130, and 134; N.Y., Jan. 16, 1946), Songs of Ascent (Psalms 126, 131, and 132; N.Y., June 17, 1947), and Psalm 51 (NX, May 30, 1987).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire