© Photo: Archiv Breitkopf & Härtel
Current performances
2026/09/30
from that: Der Rote Wedding
OPUS 45
Bad Salzungen, Evangelische Stadtkirche St. Simplicius, 7.30 pm
2026/10/01
from that: Der Rote Wedding
OPUS 45
Eisenach, Freie Waldorfschule, 10.30 am
2026/10/01
from that: “Das Lied vom Kelch”, “Vom Sprengen des Gartens”, “An den kleinen Radioapparat”, “Das Vielleicht-Lied” and “Das Lied von der belebenden Wirkung des Geldes”
Scarlett O´ und Jürgen Ehle
Buckow, Brecht-Weigel-Haus, 6.00 pm
2026/10/01
from that: Der Rote Wedding
OPUS 45
Arnstadt, Oberkirche, 7.00 pm
2026/10/02
from that: Der Rote Wedding
OPUS 45
Hameln, Theater, 7.30 pm
2026/10/03
from that: Der Rote Wedding
OPUS 45
Aue-Bad Schlema, Katholische Kirche Mater Dolorosa, 10.00 am
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.
Biography
1898
Born in Leipzig on 6 July as the son of the Austrian philosopher Rudolf Eisler
1901
The family moves to Vienna
1904–1915
Schooling in Vienna
1909
First essays in composition
1916–1918
Takes part in World War I as a soldier in an Hungarian regiment
1919
Studies at the Neues Wiener Konservatorium
1919–1923
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 critic 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 Bertolt 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”
1953–1958
Travels several times to Vienna and Paris (1955–57)
1954
Lecture “Schönberg and his Work”
1955–1966
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