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Karl Amadeus Hartmann

Karl Amadeus Hartmann (August 2, 1905 - December 5, 1963) was a German composer. Some have lauded him as the greatest German symphonist of the 20th century.

Hartmann studied at the Munich Academy in the 1920s. He voluntarily withdrew completely from musical life in Germany during the Nazi era, while remaining in Germany, but his work continued to be performed, and his fame grew, abroad. During the war a pupil of Anton Webern.

After the war he finished a number of fine works, most notably eight symphonies.

Hartmann's style is eclectic. In the earlier works, the influence of Mahler and Bruckner is evident, as well as the contrapuntal idiom of Max Reger. Later, he adopted some stylistic traits of the neoclassical composers such as Paul Hindemith, and middle-period Stravinsky. Although he studied with Webern, and understood Schoenberg, the influence of Berg is more pronounced in his work than either of the other two members of the Second Viennese School.

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