Background
Jelinek was born and died in Vienna. His father was a machine operator (died 1917).
Jelinek was born and died in Vienna. His father was a machine operator (died 1917).
In 1918-1919 Jelinek studied briefly with Arnold Schoenberg in the composition seminar which Schoenberg gave at Eugenie Schwarzwald"s School in Vienna (with a focus on counterpoint and harmony), and privately with Alban Berg. However, in 1922 he broke off his studies for financial reasons, and thereafter studied music on his own.
At the age of 6 he began violin lessons and at age 7, began learning the piano. These two influenced him to write many works in the twelve-tone technique. In 1920 he started the study with Franz Schmidt at the Vienna Academy of Music.
In order to support himself as a self-employed composer in Vienna, he appeared as a pianist in bars and cinemas and composed popular music under the pseudonym Hanns Elin.
From 1958 on, he was a lecturer and, after 1965, a professor at the Vienna Academy of Music. In 1966, he was awarded the Grand Austrian State Prize.
Among his pupils were: Petr Kotík, Gunnar Sonstevold, Major Sønstevold, Igor Štuhec, Erich Urbanner, Junsang Bahk, Anne-Marie Ørbeck, Gregory Rose, Dawid Engela and Heinz Karl Gruber. Alireza Mashayekhi, one of the most important representatives of new music in Persia (Iran), studied under Jelinek for a while.
In 1918 he became a member of the newly founded Communist Party of Austria.