Migration, the Dodecaphonic Diaspora and the Transnational Network of Musical Modernism: The Varied Career of Hans-Joachim Koellreutter

Abstract

The career of the composer, performer, educator and diplomat Hans-Joachim Koellreutter was exceptionally varied, taking place over three continents. A refugee from Nazi Germany, he is primarily known for introducing serialism to Brazil. However, he not only returned to his native Germany for a short period but also lived and worked in India and Japan, before going back to Brazil. His life and work epitomize the role played by migrants in constructing a global diasporic network, illustrating both the promises and the shortcomings of global musical modernism. The consequences he drew, however, drove him to embrace a form of universalism that was at odds with the increasing ideological polarization of the 1970s and 1980s, notably in a Latin American intellectual climate dominated by dependency theory.