Hanns Eisler (1898–1962)
Arnold Schoenberg’s pupil Hanns Eisler wrote his music for Berlin workers’ choruses and the Hollywood film industry, for avant-garde music festivals and Communist Party events, for radio, stage and cabaret.
1898
Born in Leipzig on 6 July as the son of the Austrian philosopher Rudolf Eisler
1901
The family moves to Vienna
1904-15
Schooling in Vienna
1909
First essays in composition
1916-18
Takes part in World War I as a soldier in an Hungarian regiment
1919
Studies at the Neues Wiener Konservatorium
1919-23
Private studies under Arnold Schönberg; in 1922 under Anton von Webern as well
1920
Proofreader at Universal Edition / Marries Charlotte Demant
1920/21
Conducts the Viennese workers' choruses "Stahlklang" and "Karl Liebknecht"
1925
Artist's Prize of the City of Vienna / Moves to Berlin
1926
Controversy involving Schönberg
1927
Begins his association with the political agitation group "Das Rote Sprachrohr" / First film music through the intermediary of Schönberg, and first incidental music
1927/28
Music critics for the journal "Rote Fahne"
1928
Begins working at the Marxist Workers' School (MASCH) / Birth of his son Georg in Vienna
1929
Begins his association with the singer Ernst Busch
1930
Begins his close working relationship with Bertolt Brecht / First trip to the Soviet Union
1931
Director of the work group "Über dialektischen Materialismus und Musik" (On Dialectic Materialism and Music) / Lecture "The Builders of a New Musical Culture"
1932
Prohibition and confiscation of Eisler's choral works / Travels to the Soviet Union / Member of the managing committee of the "International Music Bureau", recently founded in Moscow
1933
Beginning of his exile (Vienna, Paris, etc.)
1934
Visits Brecht in Denmark and travels to Paris and London
1935
Lecture and concert tours to the U.S. (teaching post at the New School for Social Research, New York), Strasbourg (takes part in the first "Worker and Song Olympics") and Moscow (Chairman of the International Music Bureau)
1936
Concerts and lectures in Western Europe
1937
Takes part in the Spanish Civil War / Sojourns in Denmark with Brecht and in Prague / Marries Lou Jolesch (Anna Louise von Gosztonyi)
1938
Settles permanently in the U.S. / Professor of Music at the New School for Social Research, New York
1939
Guest professor at the Conservatory in Mexico City
1940
Legal problems in the U.S. (warrant of arrest for "illegal residence")
1941
Stays in Woodbury, Connecticut
1942
Moves to Los Angeles, intensive collaboration with Brecht / Writes "Composing for the Film" (with Theodor W. Adorno)
1944
Nominated for a prize by the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences
1947
Interrogated in Los Angeles and Washington by the "House Un-American Activities Committee"
1948
Expulsion from the U.S. / Stays in Vienna / Takes part in the International Congress of Composers and Music Critics in Prague / Lecture "Fundamental Social Questions of New Music"
1949
Moves to East Berlin, begins working with Johannes R. Becher e. g. on the national anthem of the GDR (Auferstanden aus Ruinen)
1950
Moves to East Berlin, begins working with Johannes R. Becher e. g. on the national anthem of the GDR (Auferstanden aus Ruinen)
1951/52
Plans the opera "Johann Faustus". Publication of the libretto / Takes part in the "Nations Congress for Peace" in Vienna
1952/53
Criticism of Eisler's "undignified behaviour" and of his "Faustus" project in the newspaper "Neues Deutschland"
1953-58
Travels several times to Vienna and Paris (1955-57)
1954
Lecture "Schönberg and his Work"
1955-66
Lieder und Kantaten, 10 volumes (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel)
1958
Recorded conversations with Nathan Nothowicz and Hans Bunge / Marries Stephanie Zucker-Schilling / Awarded another National Prize 1st Class of the GDR
1960
Travels to Vienna, has heart attack there and is hospitalized
1961
Travels to Italy and France
1962
President of the Music Council of the GDR / Dies in East Berlin on 6 September