Shlonsky, Verdina, 1905-1990
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Verdina Shlonsky, born 22 January 1905 in Yekaterinoslav (later to become Dnipropetrovsk), Ukraine, died 20 February 1990 in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Israeli composer, Pianist and essayist. She studied piano with Egon Petri and Artur Schnabel at the Berlin Hochschule fur Musik. In 1929 she moved to Paris, where she studied composition with Nadia Boulanger, Max Deutsch, and Edgar Varese. She visited Palestine during 1934-7 and at the beginning of World War II she went to Paris. Because of the German invasion she fled to London. In 1944 Shlonsky immigrated to Palestine where she settled in Tel Aviv. She composed Symphonic, Chamber and Piano music. She also composed music for the theater and lieder to Hebrew poems by prominent poets such as Lea Goldberg, Shin Shalon, Raphael Eliaz, and her brother Abraham Shlonsky. In her essays, published in the Israeli press, she portrayed musical life and the life of musicians in both Israel and Europe, and dealt with the lively ideological struggle between the supporters of avant-garde music and its opponents. These were also the topics of her prolific correspondence with leading musicians worldwide.
Among her works:
· Images Palestiniennes for voice and piano (1930)
· Still Life for piano (1932)
· Symphony No.1 (1935)
· Piano concerto (1944)
· String Quartet (1948)
· Hodaya (Thanksgiving) Cantata for Choir and Orchestra (1948)
· Two Sonatas for Violin and Piano (1954)
· Euphonia for chamber orchestra (1967)
· Silhouettes for Voice and Percussion (1977)
Shlonsky won the First Prize of the French Government Competition for Women Composers for her Poeme Hebraique for voice and piano (1931), Bartok Prize (1948), ACUM prizes (1973 and for Life's Work in Music - 1984).
References:
· Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol.18, 2nd ed., U.S.A., 2007
