Peter Stadlen

Stadlen premiered the Variations for piano, Op. 27 by Webern on 26 October 1937 in Vienna under the direction of the composer. (Much later he edited the definitive interpretive edition, published by Universal Edition in 1979). Stadlen was also the soloist in the German premiere of Schoenberg’s Piano Concerto at the Darmstadt Summer School on 17 July 1948. After the Anschluss, Stadlen left Austria and sought refuge in Britain in 1938. However, two years later he was interned and deported to Australia (between 1940 and 1942). Back in Britain he resumed performances at the National Gallery Concerts (organised by Myra Hess) with the Austrian Musicians Group, and in regular contemporary music broadcasts with the BBC. Eventually, however, a neurological finger malfunction caused him to give up performing, and he became a music critic, serving the Daily Telegraph for 26 years (the last decade as chief music critic, succeeding Martin Cooper). He retired in 1985. He became increasingly disillusioned with serial music and this was reflected in his criticism of contemporary music. Stadlen spent many years trying to track down Beethoven's metronome, an invention which Beethoven had commissioned. It was believed that the weight on his metronome was faulty as some of the speeds written on his pieces seemed incorrect. He wished to ascertain the make-up of this weight and to see the correct speeds which Beethoven himself had intended. He finally tracked it down to a small antiques shop only to discover that, although the metronome itself was intact, the weight itself was missing. Stadlen was a lecturer in music at the University of Reading (1965–1969) and visiting fellow of All Souls College, Oxford (1967–1968). He was married to the philosopher, political activist and musicologist Hedi Stadlen, with whom he lived in Hampstead. There were two sons: Nicholas (who became a High Court judge) and Godfrey (a civil servant in the Home Office). He died in London. His archive and scores are preserved by the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna.

Peter Stadlen studied at University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. Training under Joseph Marx is recorded. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are classical music. Employment is recorded with The Daily Telegraph, All Souls College and University of Reading. Distinctions recorded are Austrian Decoration for Science and Art.

• 'Serialism Reconsidered', The Score, No.22, February 1958 • Letter to the Editor, Tempo, New Ser., No. 88 (Spring, 1969), p. 57 • 'Schindler's Beethoven Forgeries', The Musical Times, Vol. 118, No. 1613. (July 1977), pp. 549–552. • 'The aesthetics of popular music', in British Journal of Aesthetics 2 (4) (1962), pp. 351–361.