Werder Felix

Werder Felix German-born Australian composer and music critic; b. Berlin, Feb. 22, 1922. He acquired early music training from his father, a cantor and composer of liturgical music. He also learned to play piano, viola, and clarinet. Among his teachers were Boas Bischofswerder and Arno Nadel. His family went to England in 1934 to escape Nazi persecution and then settled in Australia in 1941. He taught music in Melbourne high schools, and was a music critic for the Melbourne newspaper Age (1960-77). He was a prolific composer but discarded many of his scores. Werder’s musical idiom was determined by the cross-currents of European modernism, with a gradual increase in the forcefulness of his resources, among them electronics.

Works

dramatic: Kisses for a Quid, opera (1960); En passant, ballet (1964); The General, opera (1966); Agamemnon, opera (1967); The Affair, opera (1969); Private, television opera (1969); The Vicious Square, opera (1971); The Conversion, opera (1973); Banker, music theater (1973); La belle dame sans merci, ballet (1973); Quantum, ballet (1973); Bellifull, music theater (1976); The Director, music theater (1980); The Medea, opera (1984-85; Melbourne, Sept. 17, 1985); Business Day, music theater (1988). ORCH.: 6 syms.: No. 1 (1948-51; withdrawn), No. 2 (1959), No. 3, Laocoön (1965), No. 4 (1970), No. 5 (1971), and No. 6 (1979); Flute Concerto (1954); Piano Concerto (1955); 2 violin concertos (1956, 1966); Brand, symphonic poem (1956); Sinfonia in Italian Style (1957); La Primavera, symphonic poem (1957); Abstraction (1958); Hexastrophe (1961); Monostrophe (1961); Clarinet Concerto (1962); Viola Concerto (1963); Konzert Musik for 10 Solo Instruments and Orch. (1964); Dramaturgie (1966); Morgen Rot for Violin and Chamber Orch. (1968); Stret-tophone (1968); Tower Concerto (1968); After Watteau for Violin and Orch. (1968); Sound Canvas (1969); Klang Bilder (1969); Triple Measure (1970); Don Giovanni Retired (1971); Prom Gothic for Organ and Orch. (1972); Sans souci, flute concerto (1974); Brandenburgisches Konzert I for Strings (1974) and II for Saxophone and Orch. (1988); Concerto No. 2 for Piano, Winds, and Percussion (1975); Cranach’s Hunt, horn concerto (1975); Strettone (1978); Concerto for Orchestra (1986); Concert Music for Bass Clarinet and Orch. (1987); Renunciation for Viola and Orch. (1987); The Wenzel Connection, clarinet concertino (1990); Music a While for Chamber Orch. (1991). CHAMBER: 4 violin sonatas: No. 1 (1958; old No. 2; former No. 1 of 1947 withdrawn), No. 2 (1963; old No. 3), No. 3 (1986), and No. 4, Music Today (1988); 12 string quartets, including Nos. 1-3 (withdrawn) and Nos. 4-12 (1955, 1956, 1962, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1974); 3 violin sonatas (1947,1958,1963); 2 piano quartets (1954, 1978); Cello Sonata (1956); 3 piano trios (1958, 1963, 1969); Quintet for Clarinet, Horn, and String Trio (1959); Flute Sonata (1960); Clarinet Sonata (1960); Horn Sonata (1960); Sonata for Wind Quintet (1961); Septet for Flute, Clarinet, Horn, and Strings (1963); Piano Quintet (1963); Sonata for Solo Violin (1965); Apostrophe for Wind Quintet (1965); Clarinet Quintet (1965); Satyricon for 6 Horns (1967); Sonata for Solo Cello (1968); Trio for Harp, Bass Clarinet, and Percussion (1969); Activity for Piano and Percussion (1969); Triphony for Flute, Guitar, and Bongos (1969); Faggotiana for Bassoon and String Trio (1970); Tetrad for Viola, Oboe, and 2 Percussion (1970); Divertimento for Guitar and String Quartet (1970); Wind Quartet (1971); Percussion Play for Percussion (1971); Index for Chamber Ensemble (1976); 3 for Piano Trio (1976); Night Out, flute quartet (1982); Aurora Australis for Chamber Ensemble (1984); Interconnections for 2 Violins (1986); Music at Night, flute quartet (1986); Off Beat for Cello and Piano (1990); Quadrella, saxophone quartet (1990); Tafelmusik for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano (1991). KEYBOARD: P i a n o : 5 sonatas (1942,1953, 1968, 1970,1973); Sonata for 2 Pianos (1960). Organ: Toccata (1971); Holy Thursday (1975); Epiphanien Weg (1987). Harpsichord: Sonata (1963). VOCAL: Radica Piece, anti-Vietnam War cantata (1967); Francis Bacon Essays, choral oratorio (1971); Terror Australis, cantata for Soprano, Percussion, and Strings (1980); Requiem for Soprano, Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Percussion, Organ, and Strings (1980); Belsazar for Chorus and Instrumental Ensemble (1988); Lost Dramas for Soprano and Chamber Ensemble (1990).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire