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The Latest Hans Winterberg Editions from Bote & Bock
- 11 Aug 2025
• First and revised editions
• Range of Study Scores, plus Scores and Parts
• Works published before, during, and after the Second World War
I. Streichquartett - "Symphony for String Quartet" (1936)
Hans Winterberg’s First String Quartet, finally premiered in 2024, is widely regarded as his most intricate and demanding pre-war work—“a masterpiece...of the entire string quartet repertoire of the 20th century” (Michael Haas). Composed in 1936, his most prolific year, it reflects a mature personal style shaped by studies with Zemlinsky and a bold step into large-scale forms like the piano sonata, symphony, and string quartet. At the time, Winterberg was working independently in Prague, just before the upheaval of Nazi Germany’s annexation of Czechoslovakia. Stylistically, the quartet sits between Janáček, Pavel Haas, and the Second Viennese School.
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II. Streichquartett (1942)
Composed in 1942 under brutal conditions in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, Hans Winterberg’s Second String Quartet stands as both a powerful artistic statement and an act of spiritual resistance. That year, his mother was murdered in a Nazi extermination camp, and he was separated from his wife and daughter, forced into a “Jews’ house” and into labor. Avoiding deportation to Theresienstadt likely saved his life. After emigrating to Munich in 1947, Winterberg rebuilt his career, and the work entered the repertoire of the Koeckert Quartet, who premiered it in 1951. Intensely expressive and complex, it is a musical diary of horror and endurance.
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III. Streichquartett (1957/1970)
Hans Winterberg’s Third String Quartet, composed in 1957 after his early successes in Munich, arose during another period of personal difficulty. Like much of his work, it remained unpublished in his lifetime. Its formidable technical and emotional demands meant that no ensemble could master it until 1970, when the renowned Sonnleitner Quartet—members of the Munich Philharmonic—gave its first performance. Written a decade after his escape from Czechoslovakia in 1947, the quartet reflects both artistic maturity and deep emotional intensity, standing as one of Winterberg’s most challenging and rewarding chamber works.
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IV. Streichquartett (1961)
Hans Winterberg’s Fourth String Quartet, composed in 1961, emerged during a turbulent period of doubt and uncertainty. As a younger generation of European composers broke sharply with tradition, Winterberg—himself a Shoah survivor—chose instead to preserve and renew the Czech-German-Jewish cultural synthesis that had shaped him. This work marks the start of a new creative phase, uniting Bohemian-Moravian folk influences in the lineage of Janáček with the modernist techniques of the Second Viennese School, learned from his teacher Zemlinsky. The result is a cohesive, rhythmically incisive, and powerfully expressive style that stands apart from the radical shifts of its time.
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Quintett for Violin, two Clarinets, Horn, and Piano (1935)
In the mid-1930s, Hans Winterberg entered a highly productive phase, composing his first major orchestral and chamber works alongside his debut piano sonata. Chosen for its distinct tonal colours, the quintet allowed him to experiment with overlapping rhythmic layers. This work fuses the Schönberg-Berg modernism inherited via his teacher Zemlinsky with the Bohemian-Moravian tradition of Janáček, creating music of striking tension and rhythmic vitality.
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Suite for Clarinet in B and Piano
Hans Winterberg’s Suite for Clarinet and Piano, composed in 1944 and published here for the first time, is both a substantial addition to the clarinet repertoire and a striking example of his mature style. Written with rhythmic vitality, vivid colour, the suite reveals a composer at the height of his craft. Its expressive range and finely wrought interplay between instruments make it not only a compelling concert work but also a unique artistic statement born from a time of profound personal and historical upheaval.
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Trio 1950
Hans Winterberg’s Trio for Clarinet (or Violin), Cello and Piano, composed in 1950, is one of his most confident and expansive chamber works. Written during a period of renewed stability and success in Munich, the year his First Piano Concerto was triumphantly performed by the Munich Philharmonic, the trio spans four movements and over 15 minutes. It distills the hallmarks of Winterberg’s style into a vibrant synthesis: the lush colors of Impressionism, the elegance of neoclassicism, and the rhythmic, folk-inspired vitality rooted in his Bohemian heritage. Published here for the first time in both versions, it is a significant addition to the 20th-century trio repertoire.
ISMN: 979-0-2025-3929-3 |
ISMN: 979-0-2025-3931-6 |
