Leo Spies
Leo Spies was a Russian-born German composer and conductor active in the musical and theatrical life of Germany, and especially in Berlin.
Life and career
Spies was born in Moscow to a German diplomat and his wife. He had an older brother Walter Spies, who became an artist and musicologist, and from 1923 lived in Indonesia.His music
Spies was influenced by Russian romanticism and the works of Janáček in his own compositions. He composed in virtually all the classical genres: ballets, concertos, symphonies, chamber music, piano sonatas, lieder, and choral music. His principal ballet works are Apollo und Daphne, Der Stralauer Fischzug, Seefahrt, Die Sonne lacht, Pastorale, Die Liebenden von Verona, and Don Quijote.He also composed incidental music for plays, including the 1946 Berlin production of Zum goldenen Anker.
In 1956 Spies was awarded the National Prize of the German Democratic Republic. He died in Ahrenshoop shortly before his 65th birthday and is buried in the Dorotheenstadt cemetery.