Viktor Ullmann was born on 1 January 1898 in
Cieszyn (Teschen), which belonged then to
Austrian Silesia in the
Austro-Hungarian Empire. Both his parents were from families of Jewish descent, but had converted to Catholicism before Viktor's birth. As an
assimilated Jew, his father, Maximilian, was able to pursue a career as a professional officer in the army of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In World War I he was promoted to colonel and ennobled. One writer has described Ullmann's milieu in these terms: "Like such other assimilated German-speaking Czech Jews as
Kafka and
Mahler, Ullmann lived a life of multiple estrangements, cut off from Czech nationalism, German anti-Semitism and Jewish orthodoxy". Beginning in 1909 Viktor attended a grammar school (
Gymnasium) in Vienna. His musical talents and inclinations soon gave him access to
Arnold Schoenberg and his circle of pupils. Upon finishing school, he volunteered for military service. After deployment on the
Italian Front at
Isonzo, he was granted study leave, which he used to start studying law at
Vienna University. There he also attended the lectures of
Wilhelm Jerusalem. At the beginning of 1918 he was accepted in Schoenberg's composition seminar. With Schoenberg he studied the theory of form,
counterpoint and
orchestration. Ullmann was an excellent pianist, although he had no ambitions for a career as a soloist. In May 1919, he broke off both courses of study and left Vienna in order to devote himself fully to music in
Prague. His mentor was now
Alexander von Zemlinsky, under whose direction he served as a conductor at the New German Theatre of Prague (now the
Prague State Opera) until 1927. In the following season, 1927–28, he was appointed head of the opera company in
Aussig an der Elbe (
Ústí nad Labem), but his repertoire, including operas by
Richard Strauss,
Krenek and others, was too advanced for local tastes, and his appointment was terminated. In 1923 with the
Sieben Lieder mit Klavier (
7 Songs with Piano) he witnessed a series of successful performances of his works, which lasted until the beginning of the 1930s (
Sieben Serenaden). At the
Geneva music festival of the
International Society for New Music in 1929, his
Schönberg Variations, a piano cycle on a theme by his teacher in Vienna, caused something of a stir. Five years later, for the orchestral arrangement of this work, he was awarded the
Hertzka Prize, named in honor of the former director of
Universal Edition. In the meantime he had been appointed conductor in
Zürich for two years. As a result of his interest in
anthroposophy, a movement founded by
Rudolf Steiner, he spent another two years as a bookseller in
Stuttgart, but was forced to flee Germany in mid-1933 and returned to Prague as a music teacher and journalist. During this period he worked with the department of music at
Czechoslovak Radio, wrote book and music reviews for various magazines, wrote as a critic for the
Bohemia newspaper, lectured to educational groups, gave private lessons, and was actively involved in the program of the Czechoslovak Society for Music Education. At about this time Ullmann made friends with the composer
Alois Hába, whom he had known for some time. Ullmann enrolled in Hába's department of
quarter tone music at the
Prague Conservatory, where he studied from 1935 to 1937. While his works of the 1920s still clearly show the influence of Schönberg's atonal period, especially the Chamber Symphony Op. 9, the George Songs Op. 15 and
Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21, Ullmann's compositions from 1935 onwards, like the String Quartet No. 2 and Piano Sonata No. 1, are distinguished by a musical development that is more independent of Schönberg's inspiration. Similarly the opera
Fall of the Antichrist develops the issues raised by
Alban Berg's opera
Wozzeck. Dissonant harmonics, highly charged musical expression, and masterly control of formal structure are characteristic of Ullmann's new and henceforth unmistakable personal style. ==Theresienstadt concentration camp==