This was announced by Concentus Musicus Wien in the afternoon. Harnoncourt is co-founder and longtime concertmaster of the Concentus Musicus Wien and widow of the pioneer of historical musical performance practice Nikolaus Harnoncourt, who died in 2016.
A short statement can be read on the ensemble’s Facebook page: “It is with great sadness, gratitude and admiration that we must announce that our Alice Harnoncourt passed away peacefully today, July 20, 2022 in the early hours of the morning surrounded by her family We will cherish fond memories of her unique violin playing, her tireless commitment to music and her great understanding of us musicians.”
Born Alice Hoffelner on September 26, 1930 in Vienna, she studied piano and violin in Vienna and met Nikolaus Harnoncourt during her studies. Both were fascinated by early music, the study of the original performance practice of Renaissance and Baroque music and the idea of making music on historical musical instruments. In 1949, together with Eduard Melkus and Alfred Altenburger, they founded the Vienna Gamba Quartet, in 1953 the Concentus Musicus Wien, whose concertmaster she was until 1981 and which not only revolutionized the understanding of early music, but also made a significant contribution to opening it up to a broad audience to win.
In 1953 Alice and Nikolaus Harnoncourt married in Graz. The couple had four children: Elisabeth (born 1954), Philipp (born 1955), Eberhard (1957-1990) and Franz (born 1961). “In addition to her functions in the family, she is the almost inexhaustible force behind all artistic activities and the only authority whose opinion is indispensable for him (Nikolaus Harnoncourt, note)”, she described Harnoncourt biographer Monika Mertl in her book “Vom Denken of the heart”. She has “a wealth of power” that she never plays out. “In personal dealings she is uncomplicated, lively, girlishly charming, sympathetic friendliness, wishes in principle accessible. (…) She did not subordinate herself to the goals that her husband had set for their life together, but joined them.”
In 2011, the couple received the “Golden Decoration of Honor for Services to the State of Vienna”. “The Harnoncourts live an artistic symbiosis like no other,” said Vienna City Councilor for Culture at the time, Andreas Mailath-Pokorny. Alice Harnoncourt was delighted: “I finally get an award.” In 2016, with the death of Nikolaus Harnoncourt, not only did this artistic symbiosis come to an end, but also an era.
Alice Harnoncourt kept alive the ideas she and her husband had advocated throughout their lives. In 2017 she published the book “We are a discovery community” with her husband’s notes on the origin of the Concentus Musicus, in 2018 she published a book with his notes about his family, in 2020 she published his essays “Über Musik”. And this year she could be heard together with Ö1 editor Judith Hoffmann in a podcast on newly discovered audio recordings of the conductor’s lectures from the 1970s. Her voice and her violin playing are now forever silenced.
Source: Nachrichten
