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Maria Anna Gary
19.7.1903 – 3.11.1992
Vienna-born Maria Anna Gary studied organ with Karl Walter and composition with Alfred Uhl at the Music Academy, now called University of Music and Performing Arts (mdw), as well as German and history at the University of Vienna. She first worked as a secondary school teacher, but after early retirement she lived in Vienna as a freelance composer and lyricist.
Many of her numerous compositions have been performed in regular composition evenings in the Brahms Hall of the Vienna Musikverein and the Schubert Hall of the Vienna Konzerthaus, and elsewhere. In addition to numerous vocal works, chamber music works for a wide variety of ensembles can be found in her complete works, which were self-published during her lifetime. The estate is part of the music collection of the Austrian National Library.
Lieder nach Gedichten von Christine Busta für Sopran und Klavier:
Artists – Piano and Singer:
Dušan Sretović (Piano)
Vassia Alati (Sopran)
Suite für Violine und Bläser Quintett
Artists – Suite for Violin and Wind Quintett:
Raika Yamakage (Violin)
Zala Gvardjančič (Flute)
Ayaka Matsudomi (Clarinet)
Seiko Miyano (Clarinet 2)
Sebastian Breit (Oboe)
Tancredi Rossi (Bassoon)
Maria Stefan Mendl’s thoughts on the work
Maria Anna Gary is a composer who seems to have completely born out of her time. Born in 1903, she later became a student of Alfred Uhl, and when she died in 1992, she left behind an extensive oeuvre which, until the end, could not be assigned to any particular trend or development in 20th century music. Her music is artfully composed, always tonal and yet very personal. The four songs based on Christine Busta (1915-1987) particularly appealed to me because I was familiar with the poems of the now largely unknown poet from her children’s book “Die Sternenmühle” (The Star Mill) from an early age. Gary finds a simplicity and clarity to match the texts that makes rediscovering these works worthwhile.
Equally disarming is her suite, the wind quintet (2 clarinets, flute, oboe, bassoon) with violin op. 257 from 1975, which does not reveal the year of its composition in a single bar. The classical work can be perceived as naïve or harmonically harmless, but it is nevertheless a fascinating piece of music inspired by the baroque dance suite, whose charm also lies in the unusual sound combination of the wind instruments with the solo violin.