August Pepöck

August Pepöck (born May 10, 1887 in Gmunden , Upper Austria ; † September 5, 1967 there ) was an Austrian conductor and composer who was particularly successful with his operettas .

Life

August Pepöck was still a child when it turned out that the boy was extraordinarily musically gifted. At the age of twelve he entered the boarding school of the St. Florian Monastery in the Upper Austrian community of the same name and became a member of the local boys' choir, an internationally known choir to which Anton Bruckner had already belonged. From 1906 to 1911 he attended the conservatory in Vienna and studied composition and conducting. His teachers included Robert Fuchs and Richard Heuberger . During the First World War he was stationed in Galicia as an officer of the 14th Infantry Regiment.

After the end of the war he got his first job as a répétiteur at the Stadttheater Troppau . But he wasn't satisfied with that; because he wanted to conduct. This wish was fulfilled in the Bohemian Jihlava , where he was allowed to work as Kapellmeister for the first time. The other stations in this profession were Bozen , Reichenberg , Elberfeld and Dortmund . In his spare time he was busy composing male choirs, concert overtures and orchestral suites. He was so successful with this that he was soon able to devote himself entirely to this profession and in 1926 settled down as a freelance composer in his hometown.

In 1930 his first operetta, “Mädel ade”, came out in Leipzig, which earned him a respectable success. This spurred him on to dedicate almost all of his work to this art. After the less successful “love of the trumpet”, he hit the bull's eye in 1937 with the operetta “ Hofball in Schönbrunn ”. The poetic content of Josef Wenter's textbook also contributed to this . Pepöck was able to repeat his success in 1941 with “ Der Reiter der Kaiserin ”. Now his stage works have been shown in most theaters in German-speaking countries. His operettas, which followed this work, were less successful and are now forgotten.

In 1957 August Pepöck was given a special honor on the occasion of his 70th birthday: the Austrian Federal President awarded him the title of " Professor ".

Works (selection)

Operettas

Goodbye Girls (1930)
Trumpeter Love (1934)
Court Ball in Schönbrunn (1937)
The Empress's Rider (1941)
Three weeks of sun (1942)
A Little Love (1943)
Carnival in Vienna (1945)
Spring in Vienna (1946)
The Borrowed Woman (1946)
The Eternal Rascal (1947)
State commission, revision of Josef Strauss' spring air
Stories from the Salzkammergut (1953)
Wedding in Nymphenburg (1954)

Others

Music for the film The Woman of the Other (1936, together with Michael Jary and Harry Hilm, director: Herbert Selpin )
Male choirs
Overtures
Orchestral suites
Big festival fair

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Pepöck, August
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Austrian composer
DATE OF BIRTH	May 10, 1887
PLACE OF BIRTH	Gmunden
DATE OF DEATH	5th September 1967
Place of death	Gmunden