Artist Info: Hanns Eisler

Hanns Eisler (July 6, 1898 - September 6, 1962) was a German and Austrian composer, a committed socialist, a lifelong collaborator with Bertolt Brecht, and the greatest lieder composer of the 20th century.

He was born in Leipzig where his Jewish father, Rudolf Eisler, was a professor of philosophy. In Vienna he studied under Arnold Schoenberg, and was the first of Schoenberg's disciples to compose using the twelve-tone or serial technique.

In 1925 Eisler moved to Berlin—then a hothouse of experimentation in music [read more...]