Sechs Motetten nach Worten von Franz Kafka

After a critically acclaimed first disc devoted to his Lamentations of Jeremiah RIAS Kammerchor now returns to one of its favourite composers. Krenek was born in Vienna as the son of a Czech soldier in the Austro-Hungarian army. He studied there and in Berlin with Franz Schreker before working in a number of German opera houses as conductor. During World War I, Krenek was drafted into the Austrian army, but he was stationed in Vienna, allowing him to go on with his musical studies. In 1922 he met Alma Mahler, wife of the late Gustav Mahler, and her daughter, Anna, whom he married in March 1924, divorcing less than a year later. His journalism was banned and his music was targeted by the Nazis from 1933. The jazz variations on Jonny spielt auf were included in the 1938 Degenerate art exhibition in Munich. Nonetheless, despite protests by conservatives and the fledgling Nazi party, that work was a great success in Krenek's lifetime, playing all over Europe and becoming so popular that even a brand of cigarettes, still on the market today in Austria, was named 'Jonny'. In 1938 Krenek moved to the United States of America, where he taught music at various universities. He became an American citizen in 1945 and died in Palm Springs, California.