Musicians - Mieczyslaw Weinberg

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	Musicians - Mieczyslaw Weinberg

Mieczysław Samuilowicz Weinberg (also Moisei Vainberg) (December 8 1919 in Warsaw, Poland – February 26 1996 in Moscow, Russia) was a Polish Jewish composer who - after losing most of his family to the Nazis - spent most of his life in the Soviet Union and Russia. His large body of work included twenty-two symphonies and seventeen string quartets; according to one reviewer he ranked as, "the third great Soviet composer, along with Prokofiev and Shostakovich".

Names

Much confusion has been caused by Weinberg's different names. He was born 'Mieczyslaw Samuilowicz Weinberg', the surname being of German origin. He was given the Russian name 'Moisei' on his arrival in the Soviet Union, where he was also sometimes known by his nickname, 'Metak'. In Russia his name was naturally transliterated into the Cyrillic alphabet, from which re-transliteration back into the Latin alphabet produced a variety of spellings, including 'Vainberg' and 'Vaynberg'. The original spelling is used in the latest edition of Grove and by Weinberg's biographer, Per Skans.

Life

Weinberg was born in 1919 to a Polish Jewish family in Warsaw, where his father was a violinist and composer for a number of theatre companies. His family had already been the victim of anti-semitic violence — his great-grandfather and grandfather were killed in a pogrom in Chisinau in 1903. Weinberg entered the Warsaw Conservatory, studying piano, at the age of twelve, and graduated in 1939. He fled to the Soviet Union on the outbreak of war (his parents and sister remained behind and were killed in the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto). He spent time in Minsk, where he studied composition for the first time, and then in Tashkent, where he wrote works for the opera and met Solomon Mikhoels, whose daughter he married.

In 1943 he moved to Moscow at the urging of Dmitri Shostakovich, who was impressed by his talent and was to become his close friend. Meeting Shostakovich had a profound effect on the younger man, who said later that, "It was as if I had been born anew".

Mikhoels was murdered in 1948 as part of Stalin's post-war anti-semitic campaign. Some of Weinberg's works were among those banned during the Zhdanovshchina of 1948, and for a time he could make a livign only by composing for the theatre and circus. He was himself arrested in February 1953: Shostakovich wrote to Lavrenti Beria to intercede on Weinberg's behalf, as well as agreeing to look after Weinberg's daughter if his wife was also arrested. In the event, he was saved by Stalin's death the following month, and he was officially rehabilitated shortly afterwards.

Thereafter Weinberg continued to live in Moscow, composing and performing as a pianist. He and Shostakovich lived nearby, sharing ideas on a daily basis. Besides the admiration which Shostakovich frequently expressed for Weinberg's works, they were taken up by some of Russia's foremost performers, including Emil Gilels, Leonid Kogan, Mstislav Rostropovich and Kurt Sanderling.

Towards the end of his life, Weinberg was bedridden with Crohn's disease, although he continued to compose. He converted to Orthodox Christianity shortly before his death.

Works

Weinberg's output includes twenty-two symphonies, other works for orchestra (including chamber symphonies and sinfoniettas), seventeen string quartets, eight violin sonatas (three solo and five with piano), twenty-four preludes for cello and six cello sonatas (two with piano and four solo), six piano sonatas, numerous other instrumental works, and also a substantial number of film scores. He wrote seven operas, and considered one of them, Passazhirka (written in 1967-68), to be his most important work. His piano quintet, piano trio and cello works have received performances in concert series and festivals across Europe and the USA in recent years, and the British record label Olympia released over fifteen compact disc recordings of his music, consisting of both original recordings and remasterings of earlier Melodiya LPs.

Weinberg's works frequently have a strong programmatic element: throughout his life he continually referred back to his formative years in Warsaw and to the war which ended that earlier life. Typically, however, this darkness serves as a background to the finding of peace through catharsis. This desire for harmony is also evident in his musical style; Lyudmilla Nikitina emphasises the "neo-classical, rationalist clarity and proportion" of his works.

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