August Reuss (composer)

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August Reuss (born March 6, 1871 in Liliendorf , Moravia , † June 18, 1935 in Munich ) was a German composer .

Life

As the son of a railway construction company, whose father had worked as a teacher and organist in Würzburg , August Reuss , who came from Lower Franconia and was born in Liliendorf in Moravia , joined his father's company after completing high school in Ingolstadt. Due to his untimely death, Reuss had to wait until 1899 before he could finally begin studying music with Ludwig Thuille in Munich after a long self-taught occupation . After a short time, Reuss had to break off the originally intended career as Kapellmeister in Magdeburg and Augsburg due to illness. In 1909 he settled in Munich as a freelancer. He co-founded the Trapp Music School (1927), the forerunner of today's Richard Strauss Conservatory , and worked there as a composition teacher. In 1929 he was appointed to the Academy of Music and Music, of which he remained a member and teacher until his death.

Autobiographical records, reports critical of culture and a functional theory in the manuscript have come down to us. A high conception of the ethos of art determined his thinking and work. The focus of his compositional work is chamber music and songs, supplemented by symphonic poems and two stage works. His often bitter, emotive tonal language touches that of his contemporaries Reger and Pfitzner in their clearly thought-out forms, idiosyncratic voice guidance and robust harmony.

Works

In the years after the First World War , Reuss turned away from future-oriented music trends. Since then he has been writing in a simple, transparent style. He realized his new tonal language primarily in pieces for smaller ensembles, which differed greatly from his early, expansive, late romantic works, which were based heavily on altered harmony.

"August Reuss broke away from the indulgent-pathetic romanticism of the turn of the century and came to an independent tonal language, often compelling by strong ideas, with a subtle differentiation of the means of expression, in the works of the maturity period also to diatonic relaxation of the harmony and melody and to real polyphony"

- MGG

Stage works

  • Duke Philip's Bridal Trip (based on Hanns von Gumppenberg ), Opera Pleasure 3 acts (1909 Graz)
  • Glassblower and Dogaressa (after Robert Laurency), Romantic Ballet Pantomime op.46 (1926 Munich)
  • Lantern and Mantle, Pantomime op.47 (1924)

Orchestral works

  • Johannisnacht tone poem for orchestra op.19
  • Judith tone poem for orchestra based on Hebbel's eponymous tragedy op.20
  • Summer Idyll op.39
  • Serenade for violin and small orchestra op.41
  • Concerto for piano and orchestra op.48

Piano music

  • Sonata for piano op.27
  • Fantasy music print in A minor; for 2 pianos op.42
  • Goldammer a mood picture for piano op. 43,1
  • Small sonata for piano op.55

Chamber music

  • Quintet in F minor, Op. 12
  • Quartet in D minor, Op. 25
  • Trio for violin, violoncello and piano op.30
  • Quartet in E major (Spring Quartet) op.31
  • Romantic sonata for violin and piano; op. 35
  • Octet for 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 horns and 2 bassoons in B major op.37

Vocal music

literature

Hörner, Stephan: August Reuss (1871-1935). A forgotten composer, In: New Musicological Yearbook, 7th year 1998, beginning and ed. v. Franz Krautwurst , published by Dr. Bernd Wißner, Augsburg 1998, Edition Helma Kurz, pp. 197-217. [With a list of approx. 70 works]

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Reuss, August
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German composer
DATE OF BIRTH March 6, 1871
PLACE OF BIRTH Lily village , Moravia
DATE OF DEATH June 18, 1935
Place of death Munich