Ferruccio Busoni
One hundred years ago, on July 27, 1924, Ferruccio Busoni, an Italian composer and adopted Berliner, a piano virtuoso, a herald of innovation in music, and, in his later years, the director of a now-legendary composition masterclass at the Academy of Arts, passed away in Berlin. This centenary offers an opportunity to highlight this significant musical figure in a series of contributions to faculty history.

As 2024 draws to a close, my attention was once again drawn to the calendar, where I noted the anniversaries of two prominent figures who passed away in 1924: Hermann Kretzschmar (1848–1924) and Ferruccio Busoni (1866–1924). These two figures could not have been more different. Kretzschmar, an ordinarius professor of musicology at Berlin University, became widely known for his Guide to the Concert Hall (first published in 1887). He championed reforms in school music education and served as acting director of the Hochschule für Musik from 1909 until the end of the German Empire, maintaining a good rapport with Kaiser Wilhelm II. Busoni, on the other hand, was an avant-garde composer and internationally renowned piano virtuoso who, by the standards of the early 20th century, was seen as modern, even futuristic. For this December column, I have chosen Busoni, who is likely still remembered by some in Berlin. Incidentally, he was Arnold Schoenberg's immediate predecessor as a composition teacher in Berlin.

Busoni moved to the Prussian-German capital in 1894, after stints in Leipzig, Helsinki, Boston, and New York. By his late twenties, he had already enjoyed a transatlantic career, both as a performer and as a teacher. Born in Empoli, near Florence, as the son of a clarinet virtuoso and a pianist, Busoni spent his early years in Trieste. Performing as a “child prodigy,” he began composing early on. The years when imperial Berlin became the center of his life marked the peak of his success as a pianist. At the same time, he was a champion of contemporary compositions, launching in 1902 a series of events with the Berlin Philharmonic that introduced new and previously unknown works to Berlin audiences. During World War I, Busoni moved to neutral Switzerland, as his native Italy had entered the war against the German Empire.

Busoni’s appointment as a composition teacher in the state of Prussia came in the early years of the Weimar Republic. His position was part of the renewal of musical life championed by the newly democratic cultural policies of the time. Busoni had also gained additional attention with his brief essay Sketch of a New Aesthetic of Music, which appeared in a second edition in 1916 through Insel. Following the November Revolution of 1918, the newly founded journal Melos, which became a Berlin-based platform for New Music, called on him to return to Berlin. In 1920, he was appointed director of a masterclass for musical composition at the Academy of Arts, and he began teaching there the following year.

This appointment was made possible, or at least facilitated, by a new personal constellation in the Prussian Ministry of Culture. A former student of Busoni’s, the pianist and socialist Leo Kestenberg, had just taken up a position as music advisor there. Kestenberg not only persuaded Busoni to return to Berlin during a trip to Zurich, but also successfully promoted his name within the ministry. He was assisted in this by the liberal state secretary Carl Heinrich Becker, a professor of Islamic studies, who was receptive to Busoni’s elitist—or, one might say, grand-seigneurial—demeanor. Kestenberg’s negotiating skills were tested by Busoni’s refusal to accept a professorship in piano at the Hochschule für Musik, as he instead sought a more prominent role as a composer. Incidentally, Busoni’s most important student, Egon Petri, was appointed as a regular instructor of piano at the Hochschule.

One of the paradoxes of the time was that Busoni—entirely at odds with his character—was attacked as a supposed revolutionary. In the charged atmosphere of the day, Hans Pfitzner authored an anti-Busoni pamphlet, The Futurist Menace (1917). Consequently, Busoni faced resistance from the music section of the Academy of Arts, where influential figures like Carl Krebs opposed him. Busoni responded to the outdated academic conventions with humor, remarking to Kestenberg about the peculiar practice of having his salary delivered by a mail carrier.

During his stay in Zurich, Busoni retained his spacious apartment in Schöneberg at Viktoria-Luise-Platz 11, with its extensive library. Despite the housing shortages of the postwar period, he was able to reclaim it and even received permission to conduct his teaching there. The setting contributed to Busoni’s charisma. While the number of his students was small, they included such figures as Kurt Weill, who had previously studied with Engelbert Humperdinck at the Hochschule, as well as Philipp Jarnach and Wladimir Vogel.

Busoni’s home became a meeting place for many young musicians. Max Rostal, for example, recalls being invited with friends to premiere a student’s string quartet. In his memoirs, Rostal describes Busoni as "tall, upright, with white hair," dressed "in a near-priestly black suit" reminiscent of Liszt. When Busoni questioned a particular interpretation during the session, the youthful Rostal arrogantly flaunted his technical prowess. Busoni, with a forgiving smile, countered, "I am also a virtuoso."

Busoni’s connections to the Hochschule für Musik were extensive, as illustrated by the anecdote with Rostal. They extended to the school’s leadership as well. Interested in microtonality, Busoni had plans for the construction of sixth- and third-tone harmoniums. With Kestenberg’s assistance, the Hochschule’s deputy director, Georg Schünemann, persuaded the piano manufacturer Schiedmayer to create instruments based on Busoni’s ideas. At the same time, the Czech Schreker student Alois Hába was experimenting with quarter-tone intervals at the Hochschule.

Busoni’s academic career was cut short by his early death in the summer of 1924. His opera Doktor Faust was completed by Philipp Jarnach and premiered posthumously in Dresden. The Prussian Ministry of Culture took steps to honor Busoni’s legacy: his grave, adorned with a delicate sculpture by Georg Kolbe commissioned by the state, is located in the cemetery at Stubenrauchstraße in Friedenau. Busoni’s estate was transferred to the Berlin State Library, which organized a major exhibition in 2016/17 in collaboration with the State Institute for Music Research under the title Freedom for Music.

Autor: Dr. Dietmar Schenk, ehem. Leiter des Universitätsarchivs