Ernest Kanitz

Ernest Kanitz
Born
Ernst Kanitz

Vienna, Austria-Hungary
DiedApril 7, 1978(1978-04-07) (aged 83)
California , United States
GenreClassical music
Occupationscomposer and music pedagogue
InstrumentPiano

Ernest Kanitz (born Ernst Kanitz; 9 April 1894 – 7 April 1978) was an Austrian-American composer and pedagogue.

Biography

Kanitz was born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary on 9 April 1894. Born Ernst, he changed his name to Ernest in order to differentiate himself from a Viennese concert manager of the same name. He studied law at the University of Vienna concurrently pursuing piano lessons and studying theory and music composition. He graduated in 1918. He studied with Richard Heuberger for two years between 1912 and 1914 and Franz Schreker for six years from 1914. Schreker conducted the first performance of his Lustige Ouvertüre (Cheerful Overture) in the autumn of 1918. Following the performance, the overture was described as "a witty, pretty composition" and referred to as his best-known work in Musikblätter des Anbruch (1921).

In 1921, he received initial exposure through the première under Alexander von Zemlinsky of his oratorio Das Hohelied (The Song of Songs). This enabled him to take a professorship which commenced in 1922 at the Neues Konservatorium where he taught analysis, theory and composition for 16 years.

On 4 February 1926, Austrian conductor Clemens Krauss gave the successful première of Kanitz's Four Orchestral Songs.

He founded the Vienna Women's Chorus in 1930 which he conducted until 1938. In forming the chorus it was his objective to present contemporary choral music, including works by Stravinsky, Honegger, and Kodály, to audiences in European cities, such as Brno, Budapest, Paris and Vienna.

Kanitz was of Jewish ancestry, and although he had converted to Christianity in 1914, he was still forced to leave Austria following its annexation by the Nazis in 1938. After a short stay in New York, Kanitz and his wife Gertrude settled in Rock Hill, South Carolina, where he found a teaching position. After her early death from cancer, Kanitz relocated in California and established a successful teaching career at the University of Southern California. He retired from USC in 1960, but continued to compose, and his works were premièred by leading US orchestras, such as the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Kanitz died in Menlo Park, California on 7 April 1978. After his death, his music was largely forgotten and few recordings of it have been available. In 2025, an album of chamber works, including his Violin Sonata op. 10 (1921) and String Quartet (1945), was released by Chandos Records.

Teaching legacy

Your pupils—those in schools as well as your private pupils—love contemporary music; the good original, individual music of the type outlined in the first part of this talk ... These young people are the music performers, music teachers, and, the majority of them, the music public of the future. They should be given more music of the best living composers. Let them have a fair amount of the music of standard composers, but let a still greater amount of what you teach them and coach with them be interesting contemporary music! In undertaking this not-always-easy job, you will render a wonderful service to our country and to the culture of our time in general. — Ernest Kanitz Today's Music Teachers and Today's Music (1950)

From 1945, Kanitz taught at the faculty of the University of Southern California for 14 years. Among his more notable students were Houston Bright, Paul Cooper, Howard L. Quilling, Karl Schiske and Williametta Spencer, television composer Don B. Ray, musical theorist Leon Dallin and American composer Benjamin Lees (1924–2010). He taught at Marymount College for four years commencing in 1960. After his teaching term concluded at the Marymount College in Palos Verdes, California in 1964, Kanitz concentrated on teaching composition privately.

He wrote a manual on counterpoint: A Counterpoint Workbook : Fundamental Techniques of Polyphonic Music Writing which was written and copyrighted in 1947 and published in Los Angeles a year later.

Selected works

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Coranto. Friends of the Libraries, University of Southern California. 1992. p. 20. Ernest Kanitz … (Originally named Ernst, he later changed his name to distinguish himself from a like-named concert manager.) ... Fulfilling the wishes of his parents, he acquired a law degree from the University of Vienna in 1918; ...
  2. 1 2 3 Butterworth, Neil (2 October 2013). Dictionary of American Classical Composers. Routledge. p. 239. ISBN 978-1-136-79024-9. Kanitz studied in Vienna with Richard Heuberger (1912-14) and Franz Schreker (1914-20).
  3. 1 2 Stefan, Paul (1921). Neue Musik Und Wien [New Music and Vienna] (PDF) (in German). Wien: E. P. Tal & Co Verlag. p. 45. Retrieved 12 May 2025. Von Ernst Kanitz ist eine, "Lustige Ouverture" in Konzerten mit Erfolg aufgeführt worden, eine geistreiche, hübsche Komposition.
  4. 1 2 3 Musikblätter des Anbruch (in German). Universal-Edition. 1921. p. 86. LCCN 2005234055. Sein be kanntestes Werk ist die "Lustige Ouvertüre" für großes Orchester, die von Schreker im Herbst 1918 zur Uraufführung gebracht ... Die Uraufführung eines großen Chorwerkes "Das Hohelied" für Soli, Chor und großes Orchester steht im 7. Abon nementkonzert des Philharmonischen Chores unter Alexander v. Zemlinsky bevor.
  5. ↑ "Kanitz (Ernest) papers". oac.cdlib.org. Retrieved 11 May 2025. Early successes as a composer (principally the premiere of the oratorio "Das Hohelied" in 1921) aided his musical career,...
  6. ↑ Who's who in Austria. Pennsylvania State University. 1961. p. 264. Kanitz, Ernest, LL.D., composer, Emer. Prof. of Music, Univ. of Southern California; ... Career: 1922-38 Prof. of Theory and Composition, Neues Wiener Konservatorium;...
  7. ↑ Bechert, Paul (1926). "Musical Notes from Abroad". The Musical Times. 67 (997): 268–269. ISSN 0027-4666. JSTOR 912552. Clemens Krauss's other novelty was the first performance of Four Orchestral Songs by Ernst Kanitz (February 4) ... the songs fitted well into the complete Mahler cycle in which they were interspersed by conductor Krauss.
  8. ↑ World Biography. Institute for Research in Biography. 1948. p. 2494. LCCN sn85020391. Kanitz; … Founded Vienna Women's Chorus, 1930, Conducted until 1938;
  9. 1 2 3 4 "Ernest Kanitz Papers". oac.cdlib.org. Collection no. 0196. Retrieved 18 May 2025 – via USC Libraries. In 1930 Kanitz founded the Vienna Women's Chorus, with which he brought new choral music to the public in Vienna, Paris, Brno, and Budapest.
  10. 1 2 "Music In Exile: Chamber Works by Ernest Kanitz". Chandos.net. 1 October 2025. Retrieved 2 October 2025.
  11. ↑ Lebrecht, Norman (2000). The Complete Companion to 20th Century Music. Simon & Schuster. p. 193. ISBN 978-0-684-85176-1. Ernst Kanitz … d. Menlo Park, California, 7.iv.1978.
  12. ↑ Kanitz, Ernest (1 February 1950). "Today's Music Teachers and Today's Music". Music Educators Journal. 36 (4): 15–17. doi:10.2307/3387300. ISSN 0027-4321. JSTOR 3387300.
  13. 1 2 Chapters, Music Library Association Joint Conference of the Northern and Southern California (1988). California's Musical Wealth: Sources for the Study of Music in California : Papers Presented at the Joint Conference of the Northern and Southern California Chapters of the Music Library Association, May 17-18, 1985, Glendale Public Library, Brand Art and Music Library. Southern California Chapter, Music Library Association. p. 48. LCCN 90175877. Kanitz, Ernest (1894-1978): from Austria to the U.S. in 1938; to Los Angeles in 1945. Composer; Professor of music at USC (1945-59), Marymount College (1960-64).
  14. ↑ Smith, Norman E.; Stoutamire, Albert (1979). Band Music Notes. Kjos West. p. 38. ISBN 978-0-8497-5401-2. LCCN 79091984. Houston Bright ... received the B.S. and M.A. degrees at West Texas State College and the Ph.D. at the University of Southern California, studying with Halsey Stevens, Ernest Kanitz, and Charles Hirt.
  15. ↑ Arnold, Corliss Richard (1 January 1995). Organ Literature: Biographical Catalog. Scarecrow Press. p. 205. ISBN 978-1-4616-7025-4. LCCN 2021675298. Cooper, Paul b Victoria, IL, May 19, 1926. Studied with Ernest Kanitz, Halsey Stevens, Roger Sessions, U Southern CA; studied with Nadia Boulanger (Paris), 1953,...
  16. ↑ Press, Jaques Cattell (1985). Who's who in American Music: Classical. R.R. Bowker. p. 474. ISBN 978-0-8352-2074-3. Quilling, Howard Lee Composer, Educator b Enid, Okla, Dec 16, 35. Study: Univ Southern Calif, study with Ernst Kanitz...
  17. ↑ The Chesterian. 1949. p. 74. Karl Schiske (born in Hungary in 1916), pupil of Ernst Kanitz,...
  18. ↑ The American Music Teacher. Music Teachers' National Association. 1959. p. 28. LCCN 55034023. Ernst Kanitz, eminent composer and teacher ... Dr. Kanitz is the teacher of Williametta Spencer...
  19. ↑ Pfitzinger, Scott (1 March 2017). Composer Genealogies: A Compendium of Composers, Their Teachers, and Their Students. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 273. ISBN 978-1-4422-7225-5.
  20. ↑ McMullen, William Wallace (1994). Soloistic English Horn Literature from 1736-1984. Pendragon Press. p. 67. ISBN 978-0-918728-78-4. LCCN 93005286. Dallin, Leon American composer and professor of music b. Mar. 26, 1918 in Silver City, Utah Studied with Howard Hansen and Bernard Rodgers at the Eastman School of Music. Studied with Miklos Rozza and Ernest Kanitz at the University of Southern California.
  21. ↑ Anderson, Martin (1 September 2010). "Benjamin Lees". The Independent. London. ProQuest 748859287. Retrieved 13 May 2025. After the War he resumed his education, first at the University of Southern California (1945-48), where his teachers included Halsey Stevens for composition, Ernest Kanitz for harmony and Ingolf Dahl for basic orchestration.
  22. ↑ Kanitz, Ernest (1948). A Counterpoint Manual: Fundamental Techniques of Polyphonic Music Writing. C.C. Birchard. Copyright 1947 Ernest Kanitz.
  23. ↑ "A Counterpoint Workbook : Fundamental Techniques of Polyphonic Music Writing". lux.collections.yale.edu. Los Angeles. Retrieved 11 May 2025 – via LUX: Yale Collections Discovery.
  24. 1 2 Office, Library of Congress Copyright (1952). Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series. p. 111. Published music: Kanitz, Ernest, 1894-
  25. 1 2 3 Kapp, Reinhard (2001), "Kanitz, Ernest", Oxford Music Online, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.14674, ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0, retrieved 19 May 2025
  26. 1 2 Nemtsov, Jascha (2006). Jüdische Kunstmusik im 20. Jahrhundert: Quellenlage, Entstehungsgeschichte, Stilanalysen [Jewish art music in the 20th century: sources, history of origin, stylistic analyses] (in German). Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. p. 148. ISBN 978-3-447-05293-1. LCCN 2006421021. Ernst (Ernest) Kanitz … Lehrer für Musiktheorie, Dirigent, Komponist. Opern: "Cyrano de Bergerac" (1928), "Ku-mana" (1953), "Room No. 12" (1958), "Royal Auction" (1958), "The Lucky Dollar" (1959), ...
  27. ↑ Aronowsky, Solomon (1959). Performing Times of Orchestral Works. E. Benn. p. 387. LCCN 59004406. Kanitz, Ernst … Ballet Music - Small Orchestra and Female Chorus.
  28. 1 2 Spalek, John M.; Hawrylchak, Sandra H. (21 February 2014). Guide to the Archival Materials of the German-speaking Emigration to the United States after 1933. Volume 2. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 300–306. ISBN 978-3-11-097173-6.
  29. ↑ Grassl, Markus; Kapp, Reinhard; Rathgeber, Eike (2008). Österreichs neue Musik nach 1945: Karl Schiske [Austria's new music after 1945: Karl Schiske] (in German). Böhlau. p. 87. ISBN 978-3-205-99491-6. LCCN 2009376058. Kanitz vor allem an das Schicksal seines 1936 geschriebenen Oratoriums Gotthelf Schlicht, worüber er Schiske am 7. September 1947 schrieb: ...
  30. ↑ Saunders, Richard Drake (1948). Music And Dance In California And The West. Universal Digital Library. Bureau of Musical Research, Inc. – via Internet Archive. Concertino for theremin and orchestra.
  31. ↑ "God's minute". bibleaves.library.illinois.edu. Music and Performing Arts Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Retrieved 18 May 2025. Vocal score - Mixed, For rehearsal only, and SSATB.
  32. ↑ Fairman, Richard (1 November 2025). "Chamber Works by Ernest Kanitz album review — dreamy music from an Austrian émigré". The Financial Times. Retrieved 27 November 2025. The String Quartet (1945), with its "Old Viennese" tune, opens with a lovely elegy.
  33. ↑ Lorr, Ralph (1952). Woodwind Magazine. R. Lorr. LCCN 58049115. New Publications: Ernest Kanitz Notturno for Flute, Violin and Viola, Miniature Score and parts...
  34. ↑ Griffel, Margaret Ross (21 December 2012). Operas in English: A Dictionary. Scarecrow Press. p. 262. ISBN 978-0-8108-8325-3. LCCN 2012031874. Kumana, opera in one act (five scenes) by Ernest Kanitz; libretto (Eng) by Jane Marshall. Completed March 1953.
  35. ↑ Office, Library of Congress Copyright (1957). Catalogue of Title Entries of Books and Other Articles Entered in the Office of the Register of Copyrights, Library of Congress, at Washington, D.C. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 104. LCCN 06035347. Royal Auction, opera in one act (two scenes) Music by Ernest Kanitz; libretto by Sidney Shrager and Alexander Chorney. 1tz; 18Dec57; DU46048.
  36. ↑ Oja, Carol J.; Music, Brooklyn College Institute for Studies in American; Foundation, Koussevitzky Music (1982). American Music Recordings: A Discography of 20th Century U.S. Composers. Institute for Studies in American Music, Conservatory of Music, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. p. 184. ISBN 978-0-914678-19-9. LCCN 82083008. Visions at Twilight (1962).
  37. 1 2 Pan Pipes of Sigma Alpha Iota. George Banta Company. 1975. p. 58. LCCN sn78005219. Recordings: "Ernest Kanitz" - Visions at Twilight (flute, strings, piano and women's voices), Sinfonietta da Camera (violin, saxophone, piano or celesta and percussion) and Second Sonata for Violin and Piano, Orion Records, Malibu, Calif.
  38. ↑ Griffel, Margaret Ross (21 December 2012). Operas in English: A Dictionary. Scarecrow Press. p. 526. ISBN 978-0-8108-8325-3. LCCN 2012031874. Visions of Midnight, opera-cantata by Ernest Kanitz; libretto (Eng). First performance February 26, 1964, Los Angeles.
  39. ↑ Rasmussen, Mary (1967). Brass and Woodwind Quarterly. Appleyard Publications. p. 183. Kanitz, E. Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra. Presser.
  40. ↑ Preston Atkins (28 October 2022) [Recorded 1967]. Ernest Kanitz: Bassoon Concerto (1964). Retrieved 18 May 2025 – via YouTube.
  41. ↑ Londeix, Jean-Marie (1985). Music for Saxophone: General Repertoire of Music and Educational Literature for the Saxophone. Roncorp. p. 149. ISBN 978-0-939103-00-3. LCCN 85060557. Little Concerto (1970) Asx Solo.