{{Short description|German-Chilean composer (1924–2005)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2026}} {{Family name hatnote|Alexander|Pollack|lang=Chilean}} {{Infobox person | name = Leni Alexander | image = Leni Alexander.jpg | birth_name = Helene Sara Alexander | birth_date = {{Birth date|1924|06|08|df=yes}} | birth_place = Breslau, Province of Lower Silesia, Free State of Prussia, Weimar Republic (now Poland) | death_date = {{Death date and age|2005|08|07|1924|06|08|df=yes}} | death_place = Santiago, Chile | other_names = Helene Sara Alexander Pollack | citizenship = German (1924–1940) <br/> Chilean (from 1951) | education = University of Chile, 1942 <br/> Conservatoire de Paris | occupation = Composer | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = | spouse = {{marriage|Ernst Bodenhöfer|1941}} | children = 3, including <br/> Bastián Bodenhöfer | relatives = Miranda Bodenhöfer (granddaughter) }} '''Helene Sara Alexander Pollack''' ({{nee|Alexander}}; 8 June 1924 – 7 August 2005) was a German-Chilean modernist composer who was among the first to experiment with electronic music in Chile. She fled to Chile in 1939 to escape the Nazi regime in Germany and eventually became a naturalised Chilean citizen in 1951. Alexander was also known for her efforts to promote Chilean and Latin American music across Europe, in addition to her musical educational schemes in Chile.

==Early life and education== Helene Sara Alexander was born on 8 June 1924 in Breslau, Province of Lower Silesia (present-day Wrocław, Poland) to a Jewish family.<ref name="Index">{{cite journal |title=Alexander, Helene Sara |journal=Name Index of Jews Whose German Nationality was Annulled by the Nazi Regime (Berlin Documents Center); Aal, Adolf – Brüll, Erich |volume=National Archives Collection of Foreign Records Seized |publisher=National Archives |location=Washington D.C.}}</ref><ref name="Bustos">{{cite journal |last1=Bustos Valderrama |first1=Raquel |title=Leni Alexander Pollack (1924-2005) |journal=Revista musical chilena |date=June 2007 |volume=61 |issue=207 |pages=28–64 |doi=10.4067/S0716-27902007000100002 |url=https://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0716-27902007000100002 |access-date=6 May 2026 |location=Santiago, Chile |language=es|doi-access=free }}</ref> Alexander's father, Max Alexander (1898–1962), was a publishing executive and her mother, Ilse Pollack (1894–1964), was an opera singer.<ref name="Bustos"/><ref name="Archiv">{{cite web |title=Leni Alexander (1924–2005) |url=https://www.archiv-frau-musik.de/en/leni-alexander-1924-2005 |website=Archiv Frau und Musik |access-date=6 May 2026 |location=Frankfurt, Germany}}</ref><ref name="Bodenhöfer">{{cite web |last1=Bodenhöfer |first1=Andreas |title=Alexander, Leni (1924-2005) |url=https://www.certosaverlag.de/komponistinnen/ |website=Komponistinnen |publisher=Certosa Verlag |access-date=6 May 2026 |location=Körborn, Germany |language=de}}</ref> Alexander grew up in Hamburg where she first studied piano.<ref name="Bustos"/><ref name="Bodenhöfer"/>

In 1938, the family survived Kristallnacht and Alexander's stepfather Siegfried Urias (1895–1953), a lawyer and chairman of the Reichsbund jüdischer Frontsoldaten in Hamburg, was stripped of his law credentials by the Nazi regime.<ref name="Archiv"/><ref name="USHMM">{{cite web |title=Siegfried Urias |url=https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn676304 |website=Collections Search |publisher=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |access-date=6 May 2026 |location=Washington, D.C. |date=17 March 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Siegfried Urias |url=https://keydocuments.net/person/gnd/1027435211 |website=Key Documents of German-Jewish History |publisher=Institut für die Geschichte der deutschen Juden |access-date=6 May 2026 |location=Hamburg, Germany}}</ref> In April 1939, Alexander, her mother and step-father fled Nazi Germany on one of the last German ships destined to Santiago.<ref name="Bustos"/><ref name="Archiv"/><ref name="USHMM"/><ref name="NortonGrove">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/nortongrovedicti00sadi/page/7/mode/2up|title=The Norton/Grove dictionary of women composers|first1=Julie Anne|last1=Sadie|first2=Rhian|last2=Samuel|year=1994|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=9780393034875|accessdate=5 May 2026}}</ref><ref name="Spencer">{{cite book |editor1-last=Spencer |editor1-first=Roswitha |title=Women composers in Germany |date=1996 |publisher=Inter Nationes |pages=85-86 |url=https://archive.org/details/womencomposersin0000unse/page/84/mode/2up}}</ref> On 28 October 1940, Nazi regime stripped Alexander of her German citizenship.<ref name="Index"/>

In Santiago, Alexander studied piano under Rudy Lehmann (1913–1975), the cello under Hans Loewe and harmony and counterpoint under Lucila Césped.<ref name="Bustos"/><ref>{{cite web |last1=Fugellie |first1=Daniela |title=Datos Personales: Hans Loewe Helbing |url=https://basedeconciertos.uahurtado.cl/public/bio/34 |website=Intérpretes y Conciertos Doctos en Chile |publisher=Alberto Hurtado University |access-date=6 May 2026 |location=Santiago, Chile |language=es |date=9 September 2022}}</ref> Alexander later studied psychology at the University of Chile, where she specialized Montessori method of teaching for children with disabilities.<ref name="Bustos"/><ref name="Spencer"/> In 1942, Alexander graduated and beginning working with young people and children with disabilities.<ref name="Bustos"/><ref name=bio2>{{cite web|url=http://mugi.hfmt-hamburg.de/A_lexartikel/lexartikel.php?id=alex1924|website=MUGI|language=de|accessdate=5 May 2026|title=Leni Alexander|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719041638/http://mugi.hfmt-hamburg.de/A_lexartikel/lexartikel.php?id=alex1924|archive-date=19 July 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> During this period Alexander developed her interest in composition.<ref name=bio2/>

Between 1949 and 1953, Alexander studied with Dutch composer Fré Focke. To further her musical studies, she travelled to Paris to study with Olivier Messiaen at the Conservatoire de Paris, then tutored with Rene Leibowitz. She would later also be taught by Bruno Maderna and Luigi Nono.<ref name="GalvanSchleifer">{{cite book |editor1-last=Galván |editor1-first=Gary |editor2-last=Furman Schleifer |editor2-first=Martha |title=Latin American Classical Composers A Biographical Dictionary |date=28 January 2016 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |isbn=9780810888715 |page=18 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Latin_American_Classical_Composers/JrZnCgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22leni+alexander%22&pg=PA18&printsec=frontcover}}</ref>

== Career == In 1955, Alexander returned to Chile.<ref name="GalvanSchleifer" /> New York Symphony Orchestra conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos commissioned Alexander to compose a piece for the orchestra in 1959. She represented Chile at the International Society for Contemporary Music in Cologne in 1960. Whilst she was in Germany, she used the West German Radio's electronics studio to experiment with the electronic genre,<ref name="Spencer" /> becoming one of the first Chilean composers to do so.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Garcia |first1=Isaac Diego |last2=Moro Vallina |first2=Daniel |last3=Palacios |first3=Montserrat |title=Artivist Sonorities Liminal Listening in Ibero-American Experimental Music and Sound Arts |date=2026 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH |isbn=9783111454436 |page=100 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Artivist_Sonorities/pbjTEQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=leni+alexander&pg=PA100&printsec=frontcover}}</ref> Between 1963 and 1968, she continued to focus on electronic music, composing a number of pieces.

In 1969, Alexander was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship and moved to Paris, where she befriended Pierre Boulez and John Cage.<ref name="Spencer" /> That same year, she also began working for a year at the electronic studio at Columbia University.<ref name="GalvanSchleifer" /> Following the 1973 Chilean coup d'état, Alexander remained in Paris as a supporter of the Unidad Popular.<ref name="Bodenhöfer"/>

Alexander was heavily invested in promoting Chilean and Latin American music abroad, and once stated that the "permanent cultural exchange between Latin America and Europe seems essential". One of the ways she did this was creating pieces to be played on West German Radio.<ref name="Spencer" /> She also focused on improving public knowledge about contemporary music within Chile via multiple educational projects.<ref name="NortonGrove" />

Besides her modernist work, Alexander also composed for film, television and the theatre.<ref name="Spencer" />

==Personal life== In 1941, Alexander married the architect Ernst Bodenhöfer.<ref name="D’Alençon">{{cite journal |last1=D’Alençon Castrillón |first1=Renato |last2=Gómez Maestro |first2=Carmen |last3=Korwan |first3=Daniel |last4=Salinas Moraga |first4=Camila |editor1-last=Celli |editor1-first=Sofia |editor2-last=Deo |editor2-first=Federica |title=Modern Migrants: Center-European Architects and Their Chilean Exiles |journal=Architects in Exile. Stories of New Spatial Experiences |date=2023 |pages=54–55 |url=https://philarchive.org/archive/MEHTIA |access-date=6 May 2026 |publisher=Thymos Books |location=Naples, Italy}}</ref> Alexander and Bodenhöfer had three children including Andreas Alexander Bodenhöfer, a composer, and Bastián Bodenhöfer, an actor, theater director, musician and cultural manager.<ref name="bio2" /><ref name="GalvanSchleifer" /><ref name="Bodenhöfer"/> Alexander was the grandmother of Miranda Bodenhöfer, a ballet dancer and actress, {{ill|Maira Bodenhöfer|es}}, an actress, and {{ill|Damian Bodenhöfer|es}}, a model and actor.<ref>{{cite web |last1=González |first1=Rodrigo |title=Miranda Bodenhofer, la bailarina que quería actuar |url=https://www.latercera.com/noticia/miranda-bodenhofer-la-bailarina-que-queria-actuar/ |website=La Tercera |access-date=6 May 2026 |language=es |date=10 May 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Han participado en teleseries y realities: Conoce a los hijos de los actores Bastián Bodenhöfer y Consuelo Holzapfel |url=https://www.13.cl/rec/articulos/han-participado-en-teleseries-y-realities-conoce-a-los-hijos-de-los-actores-bastian |website=Canal 13 |access-date=6 May 2026|language=es}}</ref>

In 1951, Alexander officially gained Chilean citizenship.<ref name="GalvanSchleifer" /> In later life, she split her time living in Chile, Cologne and Paris.<ref name="Spencer" />

On 7 August 2005 Alexander died in Santiago, aged 81.<ref name=bio>{{cite web |url=http://www.letralia.com/128/0807alexander.htm|title=Muere en Santiago la compositora Leni Alexander|publisher=El Mercurio|date=15 August 2005|accessdate=5 October 2010|language=es}}</ref><ref name="Bodenhöfer"/>

==Works== Selected works include:

*''String Quartet'' (1957) *''Cantata of death in the morning'' (1960) *''Aulicio''<ref name=bio /> *''Aulicio II'' *''Méralo'' for guitar (1972) (dedicated and premiered by Leo Brouwer) *''Ellos se perdieron en el espacio estrellado'' for orchestra (1975) *''Chacabuco: Ciudades fantasmas'', hörspiel (1994) *''Cuando aún no conocía tu nombre'' (1996)

==Discography== *''Jezira'' Santiago de Chile: Proyecto FONDART 2000.<ref name=bio2 /> *''Homenaje'' Santiago de Chile: Proyecto FONDART 2009.

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20110707012413/http://www.revistamusicalchilena.uchile.cl/pdf/207/RMCH207_003.pdf List of works]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Leni}} Category:1924 births Category:2005 deaths Category:20th-century classical composers Category:Chilean classical composers Category:Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to Chile Category:German emigrants to Chile Category:Chilean women classical composers Category:German classical composers Category:German women classical composers Category:Jewish classical composers Category:Twelve-tone and serial composers Category:People from the Province of Lower Silesia Category:Silesian Jews Category:20th-century women composers Category:Conservatoire de Paris alumni