Adolf But

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Emanuel Aber's office building and Adolf Aber's birthplace in Apolda, Bahnhofstrasse 7
Road sign of the arterial road to Jena

Adolf Aber (born January 28, 1893 in Apolda , † May 21, 1960 in London ) was a German musicologist and critic .

Life

Adolf Aber spent his childhood in Apolda, where his father Emanuel Aber ran a men's clothing store. The family was of Jewish origin. His special musical talent was recognized early on. In 1911 he passed his Abitur as a primary student at the Realgymnasium Weimar, which he would not have been able to do in Apolda until 1914. In the same year he went to Berlin University and studied musicology there . Hermann Kretzschmar (1848–1924) became his teacher. His doctoral thesis entitled “The care of music among the Wettins and the Wettin Ernestines from the beginnings to the dissolution of the Weimar court orchestra in 1662” was classified as so important that it was published in book form in 1921.

In 1919 Aber moved to Leipzig, where he worked as a critic for Leipziger Neuesten Nachrichten , at that time one of the most important daily newspapers in Germany, and as a music consultant from 1913 to 1933, and where he published some of his most important books, such as the 1922 “Handbuch der Musikliteratur in systematic-chronological order ”, which appeared in 1967 as a reprint. The concerts of the Gewandhaus Orchestra, the performances of the Leipzig Opera and the St. Thomas Choir in the St. Thomas Church provided him with plenty of material for his reporting. He graduated with many composers, such as B. Richard Strauss friendship. When the National Socialists came to power , Aber emigrated with his wife Mignon Aber, b. Platky, to London. He became an employee, later publishing director, of the music publisher Novello & Co. , which still exists today , printed the compositions of former Leipzig Thomaskantors, such as Johann Hermann Schein and Johann Kuhnau, and made a name for himself in promoting German music abroad, which was due to the aversion of the English against everything German was not easy. Thanks to Aber's dedicated work, popular chants by Franz Schubert , Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms were spread . He made contemporary composers such as Fritz Jöde and Cesar Bresgen known in England.

In 1958, on his 65th birthday, he was awarded the Great Cross of Merit by Federal President Theodor Heuss for his achievements . He and his wife were then received by Queen Elizabeth II .

On May 21, 1960, Adolf Aber died in London after a brief illness. In an obituary from the publishing house “Novello & Co.” it says about him: “Adolf Aber - a man of comprehensive culture and stimulating temperament. He will be very much missed, both in publishing circles and among his large group of friends, many of whom are among the most important musicians of our time. “The city of Apolda honored his memory in 1992 by renaming the former Philipp-Müller-Straße to Adolf- But street.

Works

literature

Web links

Commons : Adolf Aber  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME But, Adolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German musicologist and critic
DATE OF BIRTH January 28, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH Apolda
DATE OF DEATH May 21, 1960
Place of death London