Biography |
Gertrud Kolisch was born in Karlovy Vary, and raised in Vienna, the daughter of Henriette Anna Theresia (Hoffmann) and Rudolf Rafael Kolisch, a prominent physician and Dozent at the University. Her father and maternal grandfather were Jewish, while her maternal grandmother was Catholic.
She wrote the libretto for Schoenberg's one-act opera Von heute auf morgen under the pseudonym Max Blonda. At her request Schoenberg's (ultimately unfinished) piece, Die Jakobsleiter was prepared for performance by Schoenberg's student Winfried Zillig. After her husband's death in 1951 she founded Belmont Music Publishers devoted to the publication of his works, and was also a key figure in bringing about the premiere of Schoenberg's opera Moses und Aron. Arnold used the notes G and E? (German: Es, i.e., "S") for "Gertrud Schoenberg", in the Suite, for septet, Op. 29 (1925).
Gertrud Schönberg died on February 14, 1967, in Los Angeles. |