Felix Werder

Felix Werder was born in Berlin in 1922. He fled the worsening political climate of Nazi Germany in 1935 and reached Australia in 1940 with his father, formerly a cantor and liturgical composer at a leading Berlin synagogue. On arrival he was interned for four years as a political prisoner; a large body of his early work was written in the camp.

It is generally agreed that Werder’s German and Jewish heritage shaped his music more deeply than forty years of Australian life. He grew up surrounded by music, and by modern music in particular – his family belonged to Schoenberg’s circle – and from the age of eight he acted as copyist for his father. Those years gave him technique and a strong sense of tradition.

The first major Australian performance of one of his works came in 1955, when the Sydney Symphony Orchestra played the orchestral poem Balletomania under Sir Eugene Goossens. At the time Werder was close to abandoning composition, having been told by several organisations, including the ABC, that his scores were unplayable and too avant-garde for the public. Over the next two decades he came to be regarded as a leading figure of the Australian musical avant-garde, and his music was widely performed. The early twelve-tone manner later gave way to a freer, improvisatory, collage-like style that often makes virtuosic demands on its players.

In 2002 concerts of his music marked his eightieth birthday. The University of Melbourne paid further tribute by awarding him the degree of Doctor of Music (honoris causa).