The publication about the work and life of the Jewish composer “Julius Bürger – Composer – Conductor – Vocal Coach” has now been published by Böhlau Verlag!
Author: Ryan Hugh Ross
Editor: Gerold Gruber
Publisher: Böhlau Verlag Vienna
110 pp. / Language: English
Böhlau Verlag Vienna, 1st edition 2024
“JULIUS BÜRGER Composer – Conductor – Vocal Coach”
Bürger studied with Franz Schreker in Vienna and Berlin. On Bruno Walter’s recommendation, Bürger later moved to the Metropolitan Opera in New York as an assistant to Artur Bodanzky. In 1929 he became Otto Klemperer’s assistant at the Berlin Kroll Opera and returned to Vienna after Hitler’s appointment as chancellor in 1933. En route from London to Vienna in 1938, Bürger and his wife foresaw what was to come in Austria and left their luggage in Paris. In 1939 Bürger moved to America, where he worked again at the Metropolitan Opera in 1949 and began a close friendship with Dimitri Mitropoulos. His mother was shot on the way to Auschwitz, and five of his brothers were murdered in the concentration camp.
Julius Bürger’s life and work would be impossible without the care and commitment of his friend, attorney Ronald S. Pohl, Esq. lost to history. Through Pohl’s efforts, much of Bürger’s music was premiered in numerous concert performances in the early 1990s. Selected orchestral works by the composer were also recorded for commercial release, contributing to the composer’s rediscovery. After Bürger’s death in 1995, Pohl continued the preservation and promotion of the unpublished compositions until he placed the estate on permanent loan in the Exilarte Center of the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, in the same building where Bürger began his studies.
The estate includes Bürger’s compositions in the form of autograph manuscripts as well as a large collection of personal documents and papers, recordings, newspaper articles and photographs.
The publication was published in English by Böhlau Verlag.
