Max Deutsch

Max Deutsch (17 November 1892 – 22 November 1982) was an Austrian-French composer, conductor, and academic teacher. He studied with Arnold Schoenberg and was his assistant. Teaching at the Sorbonne and the École Normale de Musique de Paris, he influenced notable students such as Philippe Capdenat, Donald Harris, György Kurtág, Philippe Manoury, and Jeannine Richer.

Career Born in Vienna, Deutsch was a pupil of and assistant to Arnold Schoenberg. He studied under him in Vienna before the First World War, and followed Schoenberg as his assistant to Amsterdam in 1921. Deutsch was a fellow and taught at UNESCO and at the Sorbonne (Paris IV) from 1970 to 1971, and finally, from 1972 to the École Normale de Musique de Paris. He died in Paris.

After the Second World War, he devoted himself mainly to teaching music, chiefly following the principles of Schönberg. In Paris, among his hundreds of students, there were composers: Jorge Arriagada, , Colette Bailly, Sylvano Bussotti, Philippe Capdenat, Gérard Condé, Rudi Martinus van Dijk, Ahmed Essyad, Jacqueline Fontyn, Sylvia Hallett, Donald Harris, Félix Ibarrondo, Oswaldo González, György Kurtág, Philippe Manoury, , Luis de Pablo, Yves-Marie Pasquet, Kyriakos Sfetsas, Raymond Vaillant; American composers David Chaitkin, Edmund Cionek, Eugene Kurtz, Allen Shearer, and Dean C. Taylor; British composer Nicholas Maw; Canadian-born Srul Irving Glick; the conductor ; and music critic Heinz-Klaus Metzger.

Legacy Before he died, Deutsch attempted to destroy all of his compositions, so that his only surviving legacy would be his students. However, some of his work survived. Notwithstanding the efforts of Deutsch to destroy his oeuvre, at least a few examples survive.

Works

, opera (1923) Der Schatz, revue (Moulin Rouge) and film music for G. W. Pabst (1923) Die freudlose Gasse (1925) , opera (1972) Incidental music for Tristan Tzara's epic poem La Fuite (1946) Prayer for us carnal, choral symphony with a text by Charles Péguy Choirs of men from Vinci