Alfred Kalmus

Publisher; born 16 May 1889 in Vienna, died 25 September 1972 in London.

Biography

After studying law, Alfred Kalmus worked as a music publisher for Universal Edition in Vienna before emigrating to the United Kingdom in 1936. Kalmus was the founder of Universal Edition until he was dismissed by the Austrian Head Office in 1938. He continued with Universal Edition, London, with the support of Boosey and Hawkes, during the war years. He was reinstated as director of Universal Edition in London after the war. Kalmus is seen as one of the most important music publishers of the twentieth century, for in the post-war period, Kalmus paid particular attention to younger and more radical composers such as Luciano Berio from Italy, Pierre Boulez from France, and Karlheinz Stockhausen from Germany, as well as English composers such as Richard Rodney Bennett and Harrison Birtwistle. He died in London in 1972.

Links and sources

Alfred Kalmus in the University of Hamburg online database of musicians persecuted during the Nazi Period

Elsewhere in this resource 

Alexander Goehr interview

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