[1906-1980]

Leopold Spinner - Passacaglia

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Year
ca.1934
Time
12'
Instr.
2Fl.(Picc.) Klar. Bklar. Fag. Cfag. 2Hrn. Trp. Pno. Vl. Vc.
Edition
Ms.Ebony Band/B&H
This composition has been played by the Ebony Band

The Passacaglia, composed in 1934, was awarded the Henri le Boeuf Prize in 1936 at a Brussels composition contest, whose jury included Albert Roussel, Arthur Honegger and the conductor Hermann Scherchen, who directed the first performance. The work demonstrates that Spinner, even before he studied with Webern, was familiar with the twelve-note system of the Schönberg school. He had not learned this from his first teacher Pisk, but had picked it up himself. This highly refined composition employs a twelve-note series in eighteen short variations, each with a maximum length of thirteen bars. The violin, cello and piano have solo roles, and the work ends with a slow epilogue 'qui se fond en une poussière sonore'.