Austrian composer Georg Friedrich Haas is speaking today for the first time about his upbringing in a National Socialist environment in an interview published in the weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT. Most notably, his Grandfather Fritz Haas, a renowned architect, was a staunch National Socialist. Georg Friedrich Haas was brought up in this way and he himself supported the National Socialist ideology until he was 21 years old. In the conversation with the Journalist, Cordula Reyer, he explained how he was able to free himself from his family and his political views.

This past has strongly influenced his artistic work. Georg Friedrich Haas explains there are two very specific reasons for the darkness in his music. “The first reason has been discussed quite a lot since I “came out” at the beginning of the year: I have a sadomasochistic sexual preference, which I deliberately and determinedly fought for 40 years. The second, weightier source of motivation for my music is the huge feeling of guilt that I have because of my family.”

In the conversation, Georg Friedrich Haas paints a picture of his childhood shaped by lovelessness and violence: “I thought it was normal to be beaten three times a day, and it was normal to be forbidden to speak at mealtimes.” Repressing feelings was also a part of his upbringing. As a result of that, he hesitated as a composer to show feelings in his music for a long time. “That is one of my firmest beliefs, that Nazism was only possible because the people who were Nazis repressed their empathy so much. These thoughts are one of the reasons that I dare to be so emotional as a composer.” In the conversation, Georg Friedrich Haas describes three experiences that made him “into a new person”. The music of John Cage is one of them. “When you enter this world, the world of non-intentional music, which allows and doesn't restrict, which embraces everything that makes a sound, then that is incompatible with the reactionary views of my parents.” 

Georg Friedrich Haas, born 1953 in Graz is one of the most significant composers of our time. He has been awarded numerous prizes, including the Grand Austrian State prize. He has received commissions from the Berlin Philharmonic, the Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. His new composition, a Concerto for trombone and orchestra is having its world première at the Donaueschingen Festival 2016 on 16th October 2016. Georg Friedrich Haas lives in New York, where he has been Professor of Music at Columbia University since 2013. He also teaches as a professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Graz.