WALTER ARLEN (né Aptowitzer) ; born on this date, is
an Austrian-born American composer, specializing mainly in voice and
piano scores, having published around 65 works. He is also a music
critic for the Los Angeles Times.
Arlen was born in Vienna.
His parents ran a department store until it was taken from them by the
Germans in 1938. His father was sent to Buchenwald concentration camp
and his mother committed suicide after a breakdown. Walter lost his
first love, Budapest native Fülöp “Lumpi” Loránt, during the war — the
latter starved to death while at a heinous labor camp at the age of 24
or 25.
After the war,
Walter relocated to Chicago. While living there, Aptowitzer changed his
name to Walter Arlen. (He is not related to "Over the Rainbow" composer
Harold Arlen.) He staved off depression by writing music. He won a prize
in a song cycle contest and became an assistant to the American
composer Roy Harris. Because of that, he had a chance encounter with
Schubert composer, Otto Erich Deutsch, and having promise was encouraged
to compose, he records for Decca Records, with many of his works only
discovered recently, having trained at the University of California, Los
Angeles under Leo Sowerby and Roy Harris. His assistance and knowledge
has been fundamental in tracking down other artists from the period
whose works where lost or forgotten due to the Nazi Regime.
Whilst working as
a journalist, he founded the music department at Loyola University
Chicago. Arlen established friendships with numerous other German and
Austrian emigrees, including Stravinsky, Milhaud, Villa-Lobos and Chavez.
Arlen pursued his
musical studies at UCLA, worked as a driver for Igor Stravinsky and,
before long, was hired as a classical critic for the Los Angeles Times. I also write for the LA Times, but
had never heard of Arlen until I was introduced to him by Michael Haas —
a musical historian who arranged for Arlen's work to be recorded along
with many other Jewish composers. For decades, Arlen's music remained in
his desk drawer.
Among the
recently recorded work is an oratorio, "The Song of Songs," based on the
ancient Jewish love poem and composed by Arlen in the early 1950s.
Walter Arlen has
been happily married to his partner of 65 years Howard Myers since July
2, 2013. They are featured in the 2023 Netflix documentary Eldorado: Everything the Nazis Hate.
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