Uhl studied with Franz Schmidt at the Vienna Music Academy, receiving a diploma in

composition with honours in 1932. He subsequently worked as Kapellmeister of the Swiss

Festspielmusik in Zürich. While there he composed scores for a variety of cultural and industrial
films. He returned to Vienna in 1938 and in 1940 was drafted into the Austrian Army. From 1940 to
1942 he commanded a French prison camp in Neumarkt. He joined the faculty of the Vienna
Music Academy in 1945, where he taught theory, orchestration and composition until his
retirement in 1980. One of his notable students was Alfred Prinz. He was the recipient of the
Vienna Schubert Prize (1943), the Austrian State Prize (1960), the Vienna Music Prize (1961),
the Viennese Gold Medal of Honour (1969) and the Austrian Badge of Honour for Service
and Arts (1980). He also served as the president of the Austrian Gesellschaft der Autoren,
Komponisten und Musikverleger (1970) and the Künstler-Union (1976).
As a composer, Uhl synthesized elements from neo-classicism, atonality, serialism and traditional
tonal and contrapuntal idioms. His vibrant style combined technical sophistication and musical
charm with wit and humour, rhythmic inventiveness, thematic development and advanced harmonic
language. He wrote eight film scores, one opera, several choral works, and multiple symphonic
and chamber music pieces. He wrote extensively for the clarinet, including educational material
and works that are still common repertoire. His most famous educational pieces are the two
volumes which comprise the 48 Studies (see below). His Divertimento for Three Clarinets and
Bass Clarinet is one of the most performed works for the medium. Written in 1942 for
clarinettists from the Vienna Philharmonic, it is a very demanding 3-movement work
structured similarly to a conventional concerto.

48 Studies for clarinet

Two volumes of 24 studies each, first published in 1940 by Schott Music, were designed to
familiarise the advancing clarinettist with some of the more difficult possibilities being written
in modern instrumental music. This is stated by Uhl himself in a foreword to some, but not
all editions. As such, they occasionally include intervals which require sliding over keys on the
French system of clarinet, a technique that is generally frowned upon unless, as in these cases, it
cannot be avoided.

The studies are characterized by their extensive use of neo-romantic chromaticism and rhythmic
complexity. Occasionally viewed as less musical and more technical than most studies,
some clarinetists consider it a second goal to bring out the musicality of each piece, which may be
hidden behind technical complexities.

Uhl was assisted by Leopold Wlach of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, who made suggestions
and revisions throughout the writing process