Johann Nepomuk David |
Johann Nepomuk David
Austrian composer and organist. Having received his primary musical education at the monastery of St. Florian, became a public school teacher in Kremsmünster. He studied composition self-taught, then with J. Marx at the Vienna Academy of Music and Performing Arts (1920-23). In 1924-34 he was an organist and choral conductor in Wels (Upper Austria). From 1934 he taught composition at the Leipzig Conservatory (director from 1939), from 1948 at the Stuttgart Higher School of Music. In 1945-48 director of the Mozarteum in Salzburg.
David’s early compositions, contrapuntal and atonal, are associated with the musical style of expressionism (chamber symphony “In media vita”, 1923). Freed from the influence of A. Schoenberg, David seeks to enrich modern symphony with the means of ancient polyphony from the Gothic and Baroque times. In the mature works of the composer, there is a stylistic affinity with the work of A. Bruckner, J. S. Bach, W. A. Mozart.
O. T. Leontieva
Compositions:
oratorio – Ezzolied, for soloists, choir and orchestra with organ, 1957; for orchestra – 10 symphonies (1937, 1938, 1941, 1948, 1951, 1953 – Sinfonia preclassica; 1954, 1955 – Sinfonia breve; 1956, 1959 – Sinfonia per archi), Partita (1935), Divertimento on old folk songs Kume, kum, geselle min (1939), Partita (1940), Variations on a Theme by Bach (for chamber orchestra, 1942), Symphonic Variations on a Theme by Schutz (1942), Symphonic Fantasy Magic Square (1959), for string orchestra – 2 concerts (1949, 1950), German dances (1953); concerts with orchestra – 2 for violin (1952, 1957); for viola and chamber orchestra – Melancholia (1958); chamber instrumental ensembles — sonatas, trios, variations, etc.; for organ – Choralwerk, I – XIV, 1930-62; arrangements of folk songs.
