Harry Halbreich facts for kids
Harry Halbreich was a Belgian musicologist, which means he was an expert who studied music. He was born in Berlin on February 9, 1931, and passed away in Brussels on June 27, 2016, at the age of 85. He spent his life studying and writing about music, especially modern and contemporary classical music.
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Early Life and Studies
Harry Halbreich's father was Jewish-German, and his mother was English. He studied music with famous composers like Arthur Honegger and Olivier Messiaen at the Paris Conservatoire. He was very good at it, winning top awards in music analysis and history. After his studies, he made Belgium his home.
Career in Music
From 1970 to 1976, Harry Halbreich worked as a teacher of musical analysis at the Royal Conservatory in Mons, Belgium. He also worked on many radio shows, sharing his knowledge of music with listeners. He helped start a Belgian music magazine called Crescendo and wrote many articles for it. From 1973 to 1976, he was the artistic director of the Festival de Royan, which is a big music event.
Books and Catalogues
Harry Halbreich was well-known for writing many books, articles, and studies about modern and contemporary music. He wrote detailed books about composers like Olivier Messiaen, Claude Debussy, Arthur Honegger, and Bohuslav Martinů.
He also created special lists, called musical catalogues, for the works of Honegger and Martinů. Because of his work, their musical pieces are often given an H number (like H. 200) to identify them. This makes it easier for musicians and scholars to find and refer to specific pieces.
Harry Halbreich also helped Nicolas Bacri arrange Honegger's opera La morte de Sainte Alméenne for an orchestra. This opera was first written in 1918 for just voice and piano. The new orchestral version was performed for the first time in Utrecht on November 26, 2005, which was 50 years after Honegger's death.
Interest in Modern Music
Harry Halbreich loved modern music. He wrote articles about many contemporary composers, especially those involved in Spectral music. Some of these composers include Horațiu Rădulescu, Iancu Dumitrescu, Ana-Maria Avram, Gérard Grisey, and Tristan Murail.
He also wrote about composers from the past, such as Edgard Varèse, George Enescu, Maurice Ohana, and even Ludwig van Beethoven. He was friends with many modern performers and composers like Iannis Xenakis, Giacinto Scelsi, György Ligeti, and Witold Lutosławski. He was a strong supporter of younger composers, always encouraging new talent.
Personal Life
Harry Halbreich had a wide range of interests beyond music. He was very knowledgeable about different cultures and spiritual histories, including Eastern traditions and Christian mystics. He had three children, and his oldest son, Frédéric, is a painter.
Sources
Part of the text was translated from the Harry Halbreich article in the French Wikipedia
See also
In Spanish: Harry Halbreich para niños
