Boris Blacher

• One of the central figures in Berlin musical life after the 2nd World War
• Important as a composer of vivid stage and orchestral works and as a teacher
• Music noted for its colourful French-inspired instrumentation and its irreverence towards Austro-German tradition
• Experimented with ‘variable metrics’ in works like Piano Concerto No.2, where serial procedures are applied to metrical units
• Many stageworks based on classic texts including ballets Hamlet, Lysistrata, Der Mohr von Venedig and Tristan
• Paganini Variations is a repertoire piece in the orchestral world and was recorded by Solti
• Blacher’s pupils included Klebe, Einem, Erbse, Reimann, Yun and Klaus Huber

Works by Boris Blacher include:
Concertante Musik (1937) for orchestra
String Quartet No.2 (1940)
Variations on a theme by N Paganini (1947) for orchestra
Preußisches Märchen (1949/52) Ballet-opera in five scenes

Looking Ahead: 50th anniversary of death in 2025.

"Blacher summed up the reaction of sensitive Germans after the war against pathos, bombast, inflated emotion... [His music] has something of the bracing Berlin climate and something of the city's humour." — Financial Times