KŘENEK, Ernst

A precocious musician in Vienna, he became prominent while still in his mid-twenties with the production in Leipzig of his opera Jonny spielt auf (1927) which portrays, in mostly atonal music, a black jazz musician pronouned Yonny, who became so famous he concludes the opera sitting atop a gigantic globe. Soon afterwards, the work was reproduced around the world and translated into over a dozen languages; it was even staged in New York at the Metropolitan Opera with the protagonist as...