Josef Labor – Pianist, Organist, Composer in Vienna in the Fin de siécle

erstellt am: 12.11.2017 | von: MarkusD | Kategorie(n): Uncategorized

A trio of the blind and today nearly forgotten composer can now be rediscovered.

“15. November 1917” is written by hand at the end of Josef Labor’s Trio in e-minor for piano, clarinet and cello. Exactly 100 years and one week later this trio will be performed again in our concert on November 22nd at Haus Hofmannsthal in Vienna.

Josef Labor (1842 – 1924), left blind since childhood due to contracting smallpox, was highly notable pianist, organist and teacher in Vienna at the turn of the century.  Arnold Schönberg, Julius Bittner, Alma Mahler and Paul Wittgenstein were amongst his students. For Paul Wittgenstein, who had lost his right arm as a soldier in World War I but nevertheless intended to pursue his career as a pianist, Labor wrote the  aforementioned trio. The piano-part thus is written for the left hand, one of the first works of this kind, which was to be followed by many others, for example by Ravel, Hindemith, Britten, Korngold and Franz Schmidt.

Today Josef Labor is almost forgotten, even his memorial opposit of the Konzerthaus in Vienna is hardly known. November 22nd 2017, 07:30 pm Concert in Haus Hofmannsthal Reisnerstraße 37, 1030 Vienna Phone: (01) 714 85 33, Fax.: DW 9
office@haus-hofmannsthal.at

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