Frankfurt a. M., 1914 – 1995, Worcester Park
Walter Würzburger (Wurzburger) was the son of Jewish organist Siegfried Würzburger (1877 -1942). Following initial clarinet and saxophone studies, he became one of the first students to enter Frankfurt’s Hoch’sche Music Academy’s newly found Jazz Department, run by the Hungarian Mátyás Seiber. He also studied composition and theory with Bernhard Sekles until all Jewish students and faculty members, including Seiber, Sekles and Würzburger were removed by the Nazi regime in 1933. Würzburger went first to Paris before immigrating to Singapore, where he was interned as an “enemy alien” before being deported to Australia. Würzburger was able take up composition again while in the Australian internment camp Tatura. In 1942, he joined the Australian army while studying composition and clarinet at the same time at Melbourne’s conservatory. In 1950, he relocated to London where he was able to continue his studies with Mátyás Seiber. Walter Würzburger has composed in a wide range of genres extending stylistically from New Objectivity to light music; writing for all combinations from chamber music to large scale orchestral works to concertos and art-song.
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