Otto Luen: A Brief Biography

Otto Luening was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Otto spent most of his early childhood on a farm outside of Milwaukee. He started to take piano lessons at the age of four with his father and just two years later at the age of six he began to compose his very own music. When Otto was around 12 years old, he and his family moved to Munich, Germany. Here he studied about orchestration, harmony, flute, and piano at the Staatliche Hochschule fur Musik. Four years later when Otto was 16, he made his first debut as a flutist. When the United States get involved in World War 1 Otto moved to Zurich here in Zurich he studied at the Zurich Conservatory under Volkmar Andreae. (http://www.allmusic.com/artist/otto-luening-mn0001628781) He also had a short …show more content…
Otto was the youngest of six children of his family, his father, Eugene Luening (1852-1944), was a well-known conductor, composer, pianist, and professor at the University of Wisconsin. http://www.britannica.com/biography/Otto-Luening He also studied at the Leipzig Conservatory under Ignaz Moscheles and Carl Reinecke. For many years, he was the conductor of the Milwaukee Musical Society, and he founded the Luening Conservatory of Music. Otto's grandfather, Frederick August Luening, was an immigrant from Germany and was one of the first settlers of the town of Cedarburg, which is north of Milwaukee. Otto's mother, Emma Jacobs Luening (1861-1950), was an amateur singer. Otto's maternal grandfather was Colonel William Jacobs, who was a prominent Milwaukee banker who had emigrated from Germany in 1850. http://www.britannica.com/biography/Otto-Luening In 1912, his family moved to Munich because his father Eugene wanted to pursue a career in music. Here Otto also studied theory at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik with Anton Beer Walbrunn (1915-1917). Otto continued to go to different universities or conservatories. In the next few years Otto moved to Switzerland with his sister to study compositions with Ferruccio …show more content…
After his family moved to Munich Otto moved back to the United States in 1920 and worked as a teacher at Eastman school of music. He also held positions at the University of Arizona, Bennington College, and Columbia University. Columbia University is where he made the most impact. He stayed there from 1944 to 1970 a total of 26 years; that is incredible. There he had a spectacular career as a teacher and a composer. He was an amazing musician and instructor; when he died Columbia University put a book in their library dedicated just to Otto. In 1925, Mr. Luening served as the executive director of the opera department at Eastman and in 1930 Otto Luening created his own opera named Evangeline which is based on the narrative poem by Longfellow When Otto started working at Colombia University in 1944 he was pleased with how it was there. He stayed from 1944 until he retired in 1977. During this time, Otto co-founded the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center (CPEMC) with a friend, student, and composer Vladimir Ussachevsky. It was here in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s where Otto Luening started to experiment with acoustic instruments and electronic sounds. It was during this time that he wrote all of the songs he is famous for today. These songs include “Fantasy in Space” (1952) “Invention in Twelve Tones” (1952) “Low Speed” (1952) “Moonflight” (1953) “Incantation “(1954), his electronic music sounds very different from the