Hanns Eisler Music Videos

Hanns Eisler (6 July 1898 – 6 September 1962) was an Austrian/German composer. Eisler was born in Leipzig where his Jewish father, Rudolf Eisler, was a professor of philosophy. In 1901 the family moved to Vienna. His sister was Ruth Fischer (Elfriede Eisler), a leader of the German Communist Party (KPD) during the 1920s, author of several books, and from 2010, confirmed to have been a CIA spy. His brother was the journalist and Communist Gerhart Eisler, who was believed to be a major Comintern agent operating under the cover name of Hans Berger. Louis Budenz, a former managing editor of... MORE

Hanns Eisler (6 July 1898 – 6 September 1962) was an Austrian/German composer. Eisler was born in Leipzig where his Jewish father, Rudolf Eisler, was a professor of philosophy. In 1901 the family moved to Vienna. His sister was Ruth Fischer (Elfriede Eisler), a leader of the German Communist Party (KPD) during the 1920s, author of several books, and from 2010, confirmed to have been a CIA spy. His brother was the journalist and Communist Gerhart Eisler, who was believed to be a major Comintern agent operating under the cover name of Hans Berger. Louis Budenz, a former managing editor of the Daily Worker, called him in a speech in the fall of 1946 "the Number One Communist in the U.S.". Time Magazine wrote of him, "He turned up in China, charged with purging the party of spies and dissidents, sent so many men to their deaths that he was known as 'The Executioner'". During World War I Hanns Eisler served as a front-line soldier in the Austro-Hungarian army and was wounded several times in combat. Returning to Vienna after Austria's defeat, he studied from 1919 to 1923 under Arnold Schoenberg. Eisler was the first of Schoenberg's disciples to compose in the twelve-tone or serial LESS