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“Jonny Spielt Auf” (1927)
Work suggested by ... Center for Jazz Arts
Composer ... Ernst Krenek
“As an unparalleled example of the impact
of American jazz culture on the leading European
figures of the twentieth-century, the 1926
opera Jonny Spielt Auf was the earliest
work to be featured as part of the CJA’s
online Classical Arts activities.”
A defining symbol of the earliest influence of American jazz on contemporary classical opera, Jonny Spielt Auf ('Jonny Strikes Up' The Band), by Austrian composer Ernst Krenek, premiered on February 10th, 1927, in the city of Leipzig, with jazz-infused harmonies, syncopations, and story-lines; an African-American jazz-artist hero (Jonny); interracial romantic story elements; innovative Expressionist and Bauhaus influenced stage sets; and an unconventional incorporation of modern technology into classical opera, such as telephones, radios, and automobiles. An instant sensation, Jonny Spielt Auf would eventually be translated into dozens of languages, and performed around the world.
During the early twentieth century, Ernst Krenek was a major musical figure in Vienna, and even enjoyed a brief marriage to the daughter of composer Gustav Mahler. During the winter of 1925, having already begun the libretto for Jonny Spielt Auf several months earlier, Krenek attended an American revue featuring the music, songs, and arrangements of a then up-and-coming young composer named Duke Ellington, in the German city of Frankfurt.
Inspired by the overwhelming spirit and freedom of that performance, Krenek would infuse that experience into the crafting of his newest opera. Completed in June of 1926, Jonny Spielt Auf became a symbolic trans-Atlantic adventure of a black American entertainer, representing freedom and the future, and the rare violin of his contrasting main character, representing the weight of European culture, that will forever remain as one of the earliest and most culturally integrated entries of American jazz into European musical tradition.
At the time of his emigration to the U.S.,
in 1938, Krenek's reputation as one of the
most recognized living European composers
was largely due to the huge international
success of Jonny Spielt Auf.
About Ernst Krenek:
(b Vienna, 23 Aug 1900; d Palm Springs, CA, 22 Dec 1991). Austrian composer and author. One of the most prolific composers of the twentieth-century, Krenek received numerous awards, including the Cross of Austria, as well as memberships in the Berlin Academy of Arts, the Austrian State Academy of Music (Vienna), and the National Institute of Arts and Letters in New York. In 1970, he was appointed to the post of Regent's Lecturer at the University of California, San Diego.
About the CJA:
Established in 2004, the Center for Jazz Arts is an international institution devoted to the study and advancement of American jazz culture throughout the visual, literary, and classical arts, around the world. Through its primary operations in Los Angeles, it is building a prominent new platform of engagement for students, artists, educators, and the broader public, from every generation.
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