Křenek, Ernst (krĕ`nĕk, Czech kerzhĕ`nĕk), 1900–1991, Austrian-American composer, b. Vienna. to Czech parents. He studied in Vienna and Berlin, and in the early 1920s he composed chamber music, a violin concerto (1924), and two operas, in a neoclassical style. In 1925 he became conductor at the opera house in Kassel. His jazz opera Johnny Strikes Up (1926), was extremely successful and has been translated into many languages. He returned to Vienna in 1928, and after a brief period of neo-Romanticism, during which he wrote the opera Leben des Orest (1930) and a Schubertian song cycle, he gradually adopted the twelve-tone technique (see serial music serial music, the body of compositions whose fundamental syntactical reference is a particular ordering (called series or row) of the twelve pitch classes—C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B—that constitute the equal-tempered scale.
..... Click the link for more information. ) originated by Arnold Schoenberg. His opera Karl V (1933) is entirely in the twelve-tone system. In 1937, Křenek moved to the United States, where became a citizen (1945). There he taught and composed chamber, orchestral, and choral music and wrote the operas Tarquin (1940) and Sardakai (1969) and the chamber opera Dark Waters (1950). He composed Eleven Transparencies (1956) for orchestra and electronic music. Křenek was also known as lecturer, pianist, and the author of Studies in Counterpoint (1940), Self-Analysis (1950), excerpts from an unpublished autobiography, and Exploring Music (tr. 1966).

Krenek, Ernst

(born Aug. 23, 1900, Vienna, Austria—died Dec. 23, 1991, Palm Springs, Calif., U.S.) Austrian-born U.S. composer. He studied composition from age 16 with Franz Schreker (1878–1934) and first gained attention with his atonal Second Symphony (1923). After a brief Neoclassical phase, he reestablished his radical credentials with the jazz-influenced satiric opera Johnny Strikes up the Band! (1926), which created a sensation. Intrigued by Arnold Schoenberg's 12-tone method (see serialism), he devised his own version—which involved “rotation” of the set's order—for the opera Karl V (1933), the first 12-tone opera. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1937 and taught at several institutions, but his large body of work remained more highly esteemed in Europe.

Krenek, Ernst (1900–91) composer; born in Vienna, Austria. Having attracted attention in Germany as a composer, his 1925–26 "jazz opera" Jonny spielt auf was an international success and remains his best-known work. Turning to a more rationalized 12-tone idiom around the time of the opera Karl V (1931–33), he came to the U.S.A. in 1937, where he became an influential avant-garde composer and teacher.