Rubin, Marcel

Rubin, Marcel , Austrian composer; b. Vienna, July 7, 1905; d. there, May 12, 1995. He studied piano with Richard Robert, theory of composition with Richard Stöhr, and counterpoint and fugue with Franz Schmidt at the Vienna Academy of Music; simultaneously attended courses in law. In 1925 he went to Paris, where he took private lessons with Milhaud. He was back in Vienna in 1931 to complete his studies in law, and in 1933 received his degree of Dr.Juris. After the Nazi Anschluss of Austria in 1938, Rubin, being a non-Aryan, fled to Paris, but was interned as an enemy alien; after France fell in 1940, he made his way to Marseilles. Convinced that only the Communists could efficiently oppose fascism, he became a member of the illegal Austrian Communist party in exile; in 1942 he went to Mexico and remained there until 1946; returned to Vienna in 1947. His music followed the modernistic models of Parisianized Russians and Russianized Frenchmen, with a mandatory hedonism in “new simplicity.” Although he studied works of Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern with great assiduity and wrote articles about them, he never adopted the method of composition with 12 tones in his own music.

Works

DRAMATIC: Die Stadt, dance piece (1932; rev. 1980); Kleider machen Leute, comic opera (1966–69; Vienna, Dec. 14, 1973). ORCH.: 10 syms. (1927, rev. 1957; 1937, rev. 1974; 1939, rev. 1962; 1943–5, rev. 1971; 1964–65; 1973–74, rev. 1983; 1977; 1980; 1984; 1986); Ballade (1948); Rondo-Burleske (1960); Drei Komodianten, little suite (1963); Sonatine (1965); Sinfonietta for Strings (1966); Pastorale for Strings (1970); Double Bass Concerto (1970); Trumpet Concerto (1971–72); Bassoon Concerto (1976; Vienna, Aug. 23, 1977); Hymnen an die Nacht (1982; Vienna, April 18, 1985). CHAMBER: String Quartet No. 1 (1926; rev. 1961); Trio for Strings (1927; rev. 1962); Sonatine for Oboe and Piano (1927); Cello Sonata (1928); Divertimento for Piano Trio (1966–67); Serenade for 5 Brass (1971); Violin Sonata (1974); Clarinet Quintet (1985). piano: 3 sonatas (1925, rev. 1974; 1926–27; 1928). VOCAL: Ein Heiligenstädter Psalm for Baritone, Chorus, and Orch., after Beethoven’s Heiligenstädt Testament (1977; Vienna, March 7, 1978); Licht über Damaskus, oratorio for 4 Soloists, Chorus, Organ, and Orch. (1987–88).

Bibliography

H. Krones, M. R. (Vienna, 1975).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire