Hans Winterberg

Hans (Hanuš) Winterberg studied in his native Prague with Fidelio F. Finke, Alexander Zemlinsky and Alois Hába * Worked as a répétiteur * Was deported to Terezín in 1945 * Emigrated to southern Germany in 1947 and worked for Bavarian Radio and the Richard Strauss Conservatory * Composed orchestral works, ballets, vocal and chamber music * His highly personal style fuses the polyrhythms of the Bohemian-Moravian tradition with contemporary trends such as dodecaphony, polytonality and impressionism * Many of his compositions have a surreal, eerie subject and mood * His compositional output was played and recorded on radio during his lifetime, but never published * Under lock and key for several years after Winterberg’s death, it is now being made accessible and published for the first time by Boosey & Hawkes in cooperation with the Exilarte Centre of the mdw – University for Music and Performing Arts Vienna and the composer’s grandson.

Hans Winterberg’s works include:
Sinfonia drammatica (Symphony No.1) (1934)
Piano Concerto No.1 (1948)
Suite for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and harpsichord, or piano (1959)
7 Neo-Impressionistic Pieces in 12 Tones (1973) for piano
Suite Theresienstadt (1944) for piano

Looking Ahead: Publication of first editions of sheet music; CD of orchestral works with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin under Johannes Kalitzke, with Jonathan Powell, piano; Toccata Classics is preparing the CD "Piano Music, Volume Two" with Brigitte Helbig; first recording of songs with Irena Troupová, soprano, on the Prague label ArcoDiva.

“I have finally found for myself, even if only in my more advanced years, a personal style that represents something new, akin to a free variation of serialism.” — Hans Winterberg

Please also visit forbiddenmusic.org