# Expatriate (and exiled) composers



## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Sometimes, when a composer (or artist in general) leaves their own country, they shed new light on the experience of being an "outsider" or just a person in exile. Sometimes, they just go on doing what they had always done, but I think that (more often than not) there is perhaps a subliminal influence in their music of their changed surroundings.

As is well known, many composers left Europe for the USA before the outbreak of WW2, with the rise of Facsism. In the Hungarian composer *Bartok*'s works completed in the USA, I can sense a certain tinge of homesickness and nostalgia. Bartok died in the USA in 1945, but *Martinu* lived for many years after the war but was not able to return home to Czechoslovakia for political reasons. Although he seemed to adopt a bigger brighter sound which I find similar to the Americans, he never strayed too far away from the inspiration provided by Czech folk music.

*Stravinsky* was another composer who left for the USA, but I'll leave other members to talk about how this affected his music. But he was perhaps the most uprooted composer of the century, moving from his native Russia to France and Switzerland, then to the USA. The only other similar globetrotter I can think of is *Bloch*, who went from Switzerland to France and then to the USA. Indeed, Wikipedia lists him as an "American composer."

Another composer who left to escape the Facsists was *Schoenberg*. His _Violin Concerto _(premiered in 1940), can be interpreted as a comment on current world events. Certainly the militaristic drum beats in the final movement suggests that to me, anyway. I haven't heard enough of his other works completed in the USA to make any further comments as to how his exile affected his music. The German composer *Hindemith* also had run-ins with the Nazis, and eventually made the USA his home, after spending time in Turkey. One piece that is inseperable from his new context is the _Pittsburgh Symphony_, having the clash, clatter and bang of industry, mirroring the business of that city's streets, and even quoting a negro spiritual in it's coda. Indeed it's hard to seperate what can be labelled as "Hindemith" and what is "American" in this work.

Sometimes a composer may leave because their native land is not receptive enough to new ideas. Certainly I feel this is the case with *Varese *(born in France) and *Grainger* (born here in Australia). Both were big innovators and lived most of their lives in the USA. With Varese in particular, his new surroundings provided added inspiration to his music. It's hard not to interpret some of his works as being sonic pictures of his adopted city, New York.

In other cases, it's because they've simply had enough of living at home, they want to have new experiences in another country, eg. *Walton* (from the UK) and *Henze* (from Germany) both moved to Italy. I'm not sure whether this affected their music, others may know more about this.

Of course, these are just some of the composers who I know more about. I'm not talking about composers who simply travelled to (for example) study. Dozens of composers from all around the world beat their paths to Nadia Boulanger in Paris, from Carter to Piazzolla to Glass. I'm talking more about composers who lived for extended periods outside of their native countries (and maybe even died there).

Of course, this didn't only happen in the C20th. Look at how *Handel* lived in the UK, *Haydn* in Hungary, *Field* in Russia and *Chopin* in France. Haydn in particular, said that being in those surroundings (virtually shut off from the rest of the world) forced him to become original. I think that this type of situation had a huge impact on composers, their adopted countries influencing how they created their music.


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## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

I can't believe you didn't mention *Wagner!* His exile from Germany was when he composed _Tristan und Isolde_ and the first half of the Ring cycle. Then there's also *Rachmaninov*, who emigrated to the U.S. after the Russian Revolution. Unfortunately, Rachmaninov basically stopped writing after he moved here because of his concert schedule..


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Well, I wasn't aiming to be comprehensive, just get the ball rolling. I didn't really think of either of those composers, but they definitely fit into the expatriate and/or exile category. It is hard for me to tell whether Rachmaninov (almost) fell silent after his departure from Russia because (as you say) of his performing duties, or because he felt that he was out of touch with the current trends in music, especially those in the USA(?). I remember reading a quote by him, saying that he simply couldn't fit in to the newer trends. But I doubt that being in exile made him really happy (despite the growing fame and fortune), and this probably was also a factor in him producing only a small handful of works after he left. But there are quite a few masterpieces amongst them, his _Symphonic Dances _are without a doubt one of the best "retro" type works to come out of that era.

I also know that Wagner died in Venice, but (as you suggest) he spent a lot of time outside of Germany (I think in Switzerland in particular?). No doubt the 1848 revolutions raging all over Europe had much to do with him choosing to reside in a "neutral" country for so long...


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

I must add that *Prokofiev* lived for quite a long time in France and toured the USA as a pianist, before returning to the USSR in the mid-1930's. I think that going outside of his native land definitely added various influences to his music, Neo-classicism for one (obviously in the first symphony). But he was also in that hotbed of Modernism, Paris, with it's miriad of eddies and currents, which he rode and easily assimilated with his talents as a composer and pianist. I'm not really sure if his style became more 'conservative' once he returned to (by then) Stalin's USSR? The member Air has stated before that any reduction of experimental tendencies in his music had more to do with the composer himself rather than the regime. It's probably debatable at any rate, his innovation did not stop (witness the "war" piano sonatas).

His compatriot *Shostakovich* never left the USSR to live anywhere (he simply could not, for political and probably personal reasons as well). But this was a man quite literally living in a type of _internal exile._ Same happened with *K.A. Hartmann*, who literally did not compose a note while the Nazis were in power in Germany. & *Roslavets*, the 'Russian Schoenberg' was made into a non-person, his name wiped out of the history books in the Soviet era. Composing music in a certain style could land you in hot water, the party's attempt to control the thoughts of the population (including artists) knew no bounds.

So "exile" is definitely not only a physical thing, it can also be a state of mind. The feeling of being an "outsider" is particularly strong with artists living under totalitarian regimes. These feelings undoubtedly affected every composer's output differently. Some, like Shostakovich, began composing music with hidden messages (that scholars are still debating about today). Others, like Hartmann, shut up shop. & guys like Roslavets tried to "adapt" to the political changes, writing music that was more "accessible" (but in his case, with little chance of "rehabilitation").


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

Dvorak moved his family to New York on the invitation of a rich business women. He was to become the first director of the young music school there and to start-up a great American style of music. Realizing that this should come from the Negro and Indian folk music he set about writing works based on these musics.. For example, the 9th symphony and American quartet.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Histrionic statements about figurative exiles aside, *Gustav Mahler* definitely left Germany at the end of his life for America. My guess is that he would have stayed there too; he just wanted to die in his homeland.

*Ferruccio Busoni* was born in Italy and lived much of his adult life/died in Berlin.

*Frederick Delius*, notable English composer, lived for a while in Florida and later settled in France, where he died.

*Miklós Rózsa*, born in Budapest, died in California.


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## Wicked_one (Aug 18, 2010)

*George Enescu*, born in Bucharest, Romania, died in France. And his body is still there.


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Andre said:


> Look at how *Handel* lived in the UK ...


He shaped English standards of music and established Lenten oratorio seasons even after his death. Massive forces continued to perform _The Messiah_ during the Victorian era verging on national idolatry. He was certainly the first English composer to have secured posterity's recognition immediately after his death, and one of the earliest of all composers (if not the earliest, I think). (J. S. Bach certainly did not yet have wide appeal to the public following a century after Bach's death in 1750).


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Yes, I think these composers made at least some (in Handel's case huge) impacts on their adopted country's musical lives. & I was thinking about Dvorak after I had created the thread. Wasn't he the guy that basically revitalised the classical music scene in the USA & said it was fine to 'borrow' from native sources and incorporate them into classical music? & Mahler also - New York was more receptive than the conservative Vienna. I have read that he caused some enmity with people in the musical establishment in NY by firing musicians he felt didn't make the grade from the NYPO. But his lifting of the USA's premier orchestra from it's provincialism into a more world class (European?) standard probably meant a lot for the musical life of the country in the long run.

Two other Hungarians who went to live abroad (& died there, never returning) were *Erno (Ernst von) Dohnanyi* & *Gyorgy Ligeti*. I'd pretty much argue that despite the great musical figures that Hungary produced, it was still a pretty provincial and conservative place until relatively recently. Of course, politics also made it hard to survive there, the country was constantly dominated by outside forces, from the Hapsburgs to the Russians after 1945. But I'd argue that these two composers may have also left to get out of that culturally stultifying atmosphere (Ligeti's escape in 1956 definitely speaks to this, & Dohnanyi, whose two sons also died during WW2, wanted to get straight out of that unhealthy context).

I think that both of these men made impacts (especially as teachers) in their adopted homelands - Ligeti in Germany and later Austria, and Dohnanyi in the USA. Ligeti basically established his international reputation after he left Hungary, while Dohnanyi was already an established composer when he left. It's probably different now, more than half a century after WW2 & 20 years after the fall of the Iron Curtain, but for their generation you either stayed their under difficult circumstances (like Kodaly and Kurtag - who also went into a long 'internal exile') or get out to experience some freedom (& of course, stay in touch with the current trends in music).


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

*I want to add three of my fav*

- Schreker and Zemlinsky and afterwards Wellesz (Jewish).

Martin


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