Leni Alexander

Leni Alexander
Born
Helene Sara Alexander

(1924-06-08)8 June 1924
Breslau, Province of Lower Silesia, Free State of Prussia, Weimar Republic (now Poland)
Died7 August 2005(2005-08-07) (aged 81)
Santiago, Chile
Other nameHelene Sara Alexander Pollack
CitizenshipGerman (1924–1940)
Chilean (from 1951)
EducationUniversity of Chile, 1942
Conservatoire de Paris
OccupationComposer
Spouse
Ernst Bodenhöfer
​
(m. 1941)​
Children3, including
Bastián Bodenhöfer
RelativesMiranda Bodenhöfer (granddaughter)

Helene Sara Alexander Pollack (née Alexander; 8 June 1924 – 7 August 2005) was a German-Chilean modernist composer who was among the first to experiment with electronic music in Chile. She fled to Chile in 1939 to escape the Nazi regime in Germany and eventually became a naturalised Chilean citizen in 1951. Alexander was also known for her efforts to promote Chilean and Latin American music across Europe, in addition to her musical educational schemes in Chile.

Early life and education

Helene Sara Alexander was born on 8 June 1924 in Breslau, Province of Lower Silesia (present-day Wrocław, Poland) to a Jewish family.[1][2] Alexander's father, Max Alexander (1898–1962), was a publishing executive and her mother, Ilse Pollack (1894–1964), was an opera singer.[2][3][4] Alexander grew up in Hamburg where she first studied piano.[2][4]

In 1938, the family survived Kristallnacht and Alexander's stepfather Siegfried Urias (1895–1953), a lawyer and chairman of the Reichsbund jüdischer Frontsoldaten in Hamburg, was stripped of his law credentials by the Nazi regime.[3][5][6] In April 1939, Alexander, her mother and step-father fled Nazi Germany on one of the last German ships destined to Santiago.[2][3][5][7][8] On 28 October 1940, Nazi regime stripped Alexander of her German citizenship.[1]

In Santiago, Alexander studied piano under Rudy Lehmann (1913–1975), the cello under Hans Loewe and harmony and counterpoint under Lucila Césped.[2][9] Alexander later studied psychology at the University of Chile, where she specialized Montessori method of teaching for children with disabilities.[2][8] In 1942, Alexander graduated and beginning working with young people and children with disabilities.[2][10] During this period Alexander developed her interest in composition.[10]

Between 1949 and 1953, Alexander studied with Dutch composer Fré Focke. To further her musical studies, she travelled to Paris to study with Olivier Messiaen at the Conservatoire de Paris, then tutored with Rene Leibowitz. She would later also be taught by Bruno Maderna and Luigi Nono.[11]

Career

In 1955, Alexander returned to Chile.[11] New York Symphony Orchestra conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos commissioned Alexander to compose a piece for the orchestra in 1959. She represented Chile at the International Society for Contemporary Music in Cologne in 1960. Whilst she was in Germany, she used the West German Radio's electronics studio to experiment with the electronic genre,[8] becoming one of the first Chilean composers to do so.[12] Between 1963 and 1968, she continued to focus on electronic music, composing a number of pieces.

In 1969, Alexander was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship and moved to Paris, where she befriended Pierre Boulez and John Cage.[8] That same year, she also began working for a year at the electronic studio at Columbia University.[11] Following the 1973 Chilean coup d'état, Alexander remained in Paris as a supporter of the Unidad Popular.[4]

Alexander was heavily invested in promoting Chilean and Latin American music abroad, and once stated that the "permanent cultural exchange between Latin America and Europe seems essential". One of the ways she did this was creating pieces to be played on West German Radio.[8] She also focused on improving public knowledge about contemporary music within Chile via multiple educational projects.[7]

Besides her modernist work, Alexander also composed for film, television and the theatre.[8]

Personal life

In 1941, Alexander married the architect Ernst Bodenhöfer.[13] Alexander and Bodenhöfer had three children including Andreas Alexander Bodenhöfer, a composer, and Bastián Bodenhöfer, an actor, theater director, musician and cultural manager.[10][11][4] Alexander was the grandmother of Miranda Bodenhöfer, a ballet dancer and actress, Maira Bodenhöfer, an actress, and Damian Bodenhöfer, a model and actor.[14][15]

In 1951, Alexander officially gained Chilean citizenship.[11] In later life, she split her time living in Chile, Cologne and Paris.[8]

On 7 August 2005 Alexander died in Santiago, aged 81.[16][4]

Works

Selected works include:

  • String Quartet (1957)
  • Cantata of death in the morning (1960)
  • Aulicio[16]
  • Aulicio II
  • Méralo for guitar (1972) (dedicated and premiered by Leo Brouwer)
  • Ellos se perdieron en el espacio estrellado for orchestra (1975)
  • Chacabuco: Ciudades fantasmas, hörspiel (1994)
  • Cuando aún no conocía tu nombre (1996)

Discography

  • Jezira Santiago de Chile: Proyecto FONDART 2000.[10]
  • Homenaje Santiago de Chile: Proyecto FONDART 2009.

References

  1. 1 2 "Alexander, Helene Sara". Name Index of Jews Whose German Nationality was Annulled by the Nazi Regime (Berlin Documents Center); Aal, Adolf – Brüll, Erich. National Archives Collection of Foreign Records Seized. Washington D.C.: National Archives.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Bustos Valderrama, Raquel (June 2007). "Leni Alexander Pollack (1924-2005)". Revista musical chilena (in Spanish). 61 (207). Santiago, Chile: 28–64. doi:10.4067/S0716-27902007000100002. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 "Leni Alexander (1924–2005)". Archiv Frau und Musik. Frankfurt, Germany. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Bodenhöfer, Andreas. "Alexander, Leni (1924-2005)". Komponistinnen (in German). Körborn, Germany: Certosa Verlag. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  5. 1 2 "Siegfried Urias". Collections Search. Washington, D.C.: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 17 March 2026. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  6. ↑ "Siegfried Urias". Key Documents of German-Jewish History. Hamburg, Germany: Institut für die Geschichte der deutschen Juden. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  7. 1 2 Sadie, Julie Anne; Samuel, Rhian (1994). The Norton/Grove dictionary of women composers. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 9780393034875. Retrieved 5 May 2026.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Spencer, Roswitha, ed. (1996). Women composers in Germany. Inter Nationes. pp. 85–86.
  9. ↑ Fugellie, Daniela (9 September 2022). "Datos Personales: Hans Loewe Helbing". Intérpretes y Conciertos Doctos en Chile (in Spanish). Santiago, Chile: Alberto Hurtado University. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  10. 1 2 3 4 "Leni Alexander". MUGI (in German). Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 5 May 2026.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Galván, Gary; Furman Schleifer, Martha, eds. (28 January 2016). Latin American Classical Composers A Biographical Dictionary. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 18. ISBN 9780810888715.
  12. ↑ Garcia, Isaac Diego; Moro Vallina, Daniel; Palacios, Montserrat (2026). Artivist Sonorities Liminal Listening in Ibero-American Experimental Music and Sound Arts. Walter de Gruyter GmbH. p. 100. ISBN 9783111454436.
  13. ↑ D’Alençon Castrillón, Renato; Gómez Maestro, Carmen; Korwan, Daniel; Salinas Moraga, Camila (2023). Celli, Sofia; Deo, Federica (eds.). "Modern Migrants: Center-European Architects and Their Chilean Exiles". Architects in Exile. Stories of New Spatial Experiences. Naples, Italy: Thymos Books: 54–55. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  14. ↑ González, Rodrigo (10 May 2009). "Miranda Bodenhofer, la bailarina que quería actuar". La Tercera (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  15. ↑ "Han participado en teleseries y realities: Conoce a los hijos de los actores Bastián Bodenhöfer y Consuelo Holzapfel". Canal 13 (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  16. 1 2 "Muere en Santiago la compositora Leni Alexander" (in Spanish). El Mercurio. 15 August 2005. Retrieved 5 October 2010.
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