Rudolf Halaczinsky English

❋ July 31, 1920 in Emmagrube, county of Rybnik,

(today Poland).

+ July 28, 1999 in Bensberg

At eight years old he took up playing the piano. In 1939 Halaczinsky began studying music in Graz, Austria. He was drafted into the military on October 3,1940.

After a short period serving as an organist and choir leader at the congregation of Waidhofen in Bavaria near Ingoldstadt, Rudolf Halaczinsky became the composer in residence, band leader and répétiteur at the city theater in Augsburg. He composed his orchestral mass “Dona Nobis Pacem” thankfully devoted to God asking for lasting peace. He married Ilse Palm 1946 and fathered five sons, Raimund (*1947), Matthias (*1948), Manfred (*1949), Lothar (1952*) and Thomas Halaczinsky (*1958).

In 1952 at the age of 32 he took up his music studies at the music conservatory in Munich again. In 1954 he moved with the family to Rheydt in lower Westphalia where he served as organist and choir leader at the Herz Jesu-church (heart of Jesus church). In addition he taught music at the local high school (Gymnasium). In 1969 he was internationally recognized when he was awarded the third prize at the international composition competition „La Reine Elisabeth“ in the category symphonic music for "Lumière imaginaire". It premiered conducted by Michael Gielen in Brussels.

1971 Halaczinsky became a professor at the educational college in Cologne where he taught composition and harmony. Sound and color as forms of artistic expression became more and more important for him. Orchestral compositions such as Lumière Sonante (1971) Nachtklang (Night sound) (1986) and Apokalypse (1984) reflect his search fort he origin of beeing. A highlight of this period was the poème for piano „Tönende Sonne“ ( Sounding Sun), completed in 1977, that together with a painting of the same title, is regarded one of his main works.

1981 Halaczinsky received the lifetime achievement award „Johann-Wenzel Stamitz“ prize from the “Künstlergilde Esslingen” (Art Association Esslingen). In 1985 he won the first prize of the composition competition by the Gerhard-Maasz Foundation for Werk L'umiere d' Eternité and in 1987 the second prize in the same competition for “Nacht über Endenich” (night over Endenich) for piano.

The years following his retirement as a professor were very productive for the painter and composer, who regarded himself an optimistic pessimist. From 1984 until his death in 1999 he composed about 30 oeuvres. The majority of his piano work was recorded by the German pianist Marcus Kretzer.

“All people who shared my life, supported, joined, and helped me shaping it the way it was with all its joy and sorrow, deserve my gratitude.

I was born in July, July child, a child of summer, warmth and foremost the sun. I loved her for the polar light, more than anything more than the stars and the moon. She was the light enlightening my journey. “Lumière d’eternité” may it shine on my way into the universe, into enternity.

I devoted my life to music as the art of all arts, but also to painting. May my humble contribution not have been for nothing.

Rudolf Halaczinsky Awards

1962 Sponsorship through the Johann-Wenzel-Stamitz-Prize from the “Künstlergilde Esslingen e.V. (art association Esslingen)

1964 2. prize of the Gereon-Jansen Award for composers in the association of staff members of the

catholic church

1969 3. Prize in the category Symphonic Music of the international composition competition “La Reine Elisabeth” , Brussels, for “Lumière imaginaire, Poème symphonique, op. 35

1978 honorable recommendation to perform the concert for piano and orchertsa, op. 58, at the international composition competition of the city of Trieste, Italy

1981 Lifetime achievement award „Johann-Wenzel Stamitz“ prize from the “Künstlergilde Esslingen” (Art Association Esslingen)

1984 3. prize at the second composition competition by the foundation “Ostdeutscher Kulturrat, Bonn for the choir music “Gott ist das Licht” (God is the light) op.65

1984 honorable recommendation to perform the piece “Und die Sonne wurde schwarz wie ein härenes Trauergewand” (and the sun turned dark like a vesture of sorrow) op. 66 (Text: Ernesto Cardenal)

1985 First ever composition award from the Gerhard-Maasz- Foundation for “Nachtklang”, (Night Sound)

Poème for chamber orchestra, op. 71

1987 3. Prize in the compostion competition of Gerhard-Maasz- Foundation for “Lumière d’Eternité”, Poeme symphonique, op. 74

1996 1. Prize in the compostion competition of Gerhard-Maasz- Foundation for “Nacht über Endenich” for solo piano (Night over Endenich) op. 8

In his work music and painting often merged into one. Being able to see sounds and hear colors – this unique ability to process two completely separate perceptions in his brain and connect those (Synesthesia) - was Halaczinsky’s strength. While he turned his attention to figurative themes (mainly to landscape water colors) in the beginning of his career he later in life enjoyed to experiment with different materials, colors and mixed media.

Light as the symbol of the universe and the divine as well as light as the expression of the mental and supramental consciousness; day, night, sun and moon and the interconnection of those contradictions shaped his work and his thinking as a composer and painter. Painting evolved as the secondary expression in Halaczinsky’s creative work and the cosmos and its relationship to the harmonies of sounds became center stage of his work.

Clouds of fog hovering above rocks, the “sounding sun“ unifying light and sound as the symbol of all creation is the key tone in the dance of the planets. Somewhere between big bang and infinity the cosmic dance is interrupted and captured in a snap shot - in the images by a painter, musician and music teacher from Upper Silesia.

Karin M. Erdtmann