Alice Harnoncourt

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Alice Harnoncourt
HarnoncourtLeonhardt1980.jpg
Alice Harnoncourt (left) at the Erasmus Prize ceremony for her husband (second from right), Marie Leonhardt and Gustav Leonhardt in 1980
Born
Alice Hoffelner

(1930-09-26) 26 September 1930 (age 90)
Vienna, Austria
Occupation
  • Violinist
  • Concertmaster
OrganizationConcentus Musicus Wien
Known forPioneer of historically informed performance
Spouse(s)Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Children4 (including Elisabeth von Magnus)

Alice Harnoncourt (née Hoffelner; born 26 September 1930) is an Austrian classical violinist. The wife of Nikolaus Harnoncourt, and principal violinist of the Concentus Musicus Wien ensemble playing on period instruments, she was a pioneer in the movement of historically informed performance.

Biography[]

Born in Vienna, Alice Hoffelner studied violin and other stringed instruments as a student of  [de], and subsequently became interested in baroque violin. In 1953, she married Nikolaus Harnoncourt, and the couple founded the period instrument ensemble Concentus Musicus Wien (CMW) the same year. Their ensemble strongly influenced and changed the performance and recording of early music by contemporary musicians, as it emphasized the use of period instruments, and knowledge about how to play them. Until 1968, she performed on a Jakob Stainer violin made in 1658. She switched to an instrument of 1665 vintage, also by a maker from the Absam region of Austria. In addition to baroque violin, she has performed on the pardessus de viole (the smallest form of the viola da gamba), viola and viola d'amore. She served as its principal violinist until 1985, and continued to perform with the CMW until her husband's retirement from conducting in December 2015, when she also retired from the ensemble.

She was married to Harnoncourt from 1953 until his death on 5 March 2016. The couple had a daughter, mezzo-soprano Elisabeth von Magnus, and three sons.[1] Their two surviving sons are Philipp and Franz. Their third son Eberhard, a violin maker, died in 1990 in an automobile accident.[2]

Publications[]

  • Alice Harnoncourt (ed.), Nikolaus Harnoncourt: Wir sind eine Entdeckergemeinschaft – Aufzeichnungen zur Entstehung des Concentus Musicus, Salzburg 2017, ISBN 978-3-7017-3428-3
  • Alice Harnoncourt (ed.), Nikolaus Harnoncourt: Meine Familie, Salzburg 2018, ISBN 978-3-7017-3465-8[3]
  • Alice Harnoncourt (ed.), Nikolaus Harnoncourt: Über Musik – Mozart und die Werkzeuge des Affen, Salzburg 2020, ISBN 978-3-7017-3508-2[4]

References[]

  1. ^ "Nikolaus Harnoncourt obituary". The Guardian. 6 March 2016.
  2. ^ Oestreich, James R. (10 November 1996). "Following His Fixations, Early Music to Whatever". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 October 2007.
  3. ^ Kübler, Susanne (12 February 2019). "Die Mutter wild, der Onkel ein Nazi". Basler Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  4. ^ {{cite web | url = https://www.residenzverlag.com/autor/alice-harnoncourt | title = Alice Harnoncourt | publisher = Residenzverlag | language = de | access-date = 3 January 2021 ]}

External links[]

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