Draga Matković
Draga Matković , less known as Draga Matković-von Auerhann (born November 4, 1907 in Zagreb ; † July 29, 2013 in Bad Reichenhall ), was a German pianist of Czech-Serbian origin who, at the age of over a hundred, was still performing public piano concerts at the highest level gave.
Life
Draga Matković was born in Croatia. Her father - the Czech Karl Auerhann von Hvezdobor - married a middle-class Serbian and committed suicide in connection with this improper relationship; little Draga was given up for adoption. She received her first piano lessons at the age of three from her strict adoptive mother, Sidonie Linke (also a pianist) in Aussig ( Bohemia ), who, however, did not allow the weak piano-obsessed child to practice for hours. She made her first public appearance at the age of seven in the officers' mess in Theresienstadt . Thanks to a special permit from the government, the then 15-year-old was allowed to begin her further training as a concert pianist at the German Music Academy in Prague and studied with Professor Franz Langer. She graduated at the age of 19 with the title of Professor of Piano . She also received violin lessons from Margarethe Hönel-Schweyda and singing lessons from Kammersängerin Olga Barko-Frank ( Vienna State Opera ).
Her first concert tour as a soloist she undertook to Poland in 1926. This was followed by extensive touring in 16 European countries, among others with the Finnish soprano Maire Virkunnen and German contralto Margaret Storsberg. Draga Matković accompanied a. a. also the famous tenor Joseph Schmidt . After her marriage to the violinist Arthur Arnold (1937 to 1942), she moved to Teplitz-Schönau in Bohemia, where she enjoyed great success as a chamber musician and with orchestral concerts. There she got to know the composer and later writer Karl Richard Tschon , because of which she got divorced. During the Second World War she got an engagement by the concert directorate Gudelius (on behalf of the Reich Propaganda Ministry ) for the artistic entertainment of the German soldiers a. a. in Norway and Greece . She also appeared together with Zarah Leander . After the beginning of the war, their conductor was arrested in Aussig when Draga Matković was playing the forbidden D minor piano concerto by the “ non-Aryan ” Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy . In the last two years of the war, she was granted a performance ban, because they in Bad Teplice, the 1943 also indicated B-minor Piano Concerto by Tchaikovsky wanted to play. The conductor Bruno Schestak (at the time the regional head of the music department of the NSDAP in Saxony) prevented her from being arrested by the German authorities before the planned concert. In 1945, as a result of the expulsion from the Sudetenland , Draga Matković found her new home in Bad Reichenhall .
On the occasion of her 100th birthday on November 4, 2007 in Bayerisch Gmain , Draga Matković u. a. the Polka de la Reine by Joachim Raff , the Impromptu op. 28 by Hugo Reinhold and works by Frédéric Chopin , Franz Liszt and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy . In October 2008 a current interview and a sample of her art was broadcast on Bavarian television . At the beginning of 2009, after the sudden death of her partner, she had to move to a retirement home in Bayerisch Gmain. Draga Matković was registered for the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest still practicing concert pianist. On her 102nd birthday, she shone with a previously unpublished tarantella that she had composed in 1927 (see web links). On September 15, 2010 in Berlin, the Future Forum Long Life presented the artist with a prize for virtuoso piano art from Rita Süssmuth in the category of high performance in old age . In a private concert on January 6, 2011, the 103-year-old pianist played, among other things, the concert waltz op. 34 No. 1 by Moritz Moszkowski . At the award ceremony for the tire performance in old age , she thrilled the audience with her music on September 13, 2011 in Munich. One of her last public appearances took place on June 8, 2012 in Traunstein with her own compositions and improvisations. After a short period of suffering, she died on July 29, 2013 in Bad Reichenhall . At the funeral service, they honored the 17-year-old cellist Felicia Hamza and her parents with a musical performance.
plant
She proved her musical versatility not only on the concert grand , but also as an occasional saxophonist , conductor and composer of various piano pieces and an operetta ( Golden Stars ), the libretto of which was lost in the course of the chaos of war. Her first television appearance in the 1960s was on the West German Radio in Cologne , radio recordings, among others, in Austria . She taught as a music teacher until the age of 95, mainly in the Berchtesgadener Land , including 30 years at the Christophorus School on Obersalzberg .
Her great love was the musical works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , Pjotr Tschaikowski , Frédéric Chopin , Franz Liszt , Joachim Raff , Moritz Moszkowski , Edvard Grieg and all Nordic and Slavic composers, especially their song compositions, which she performed together with famous singers and instrumentalists. The 105-year-old played a wide-ranging repertoire at the highest technical and artistic level until a few weeks before her death .
Others
Her favorite instrument was a Blüthner grand piano. Of her colleagues, she admired Vladimir Horowitz and Lang Lang the most for their pianistic brilliance and their humor on the concert podium. Matković was friends with the violinists Alfred Pellegrini and Váša Příhoda , as well as the actresses Magda Schneider (mother of Romy Schneider ) and Olga Chechowa . Humor, charm and wit, her keen interest in politics and social issues characterized Draga Matković as well as her commitment to animal welfare and the voluntary musical care of socio-psychiatric patients in Bad Reichenhall.
Web links
- Draga Matković: not a bit quiet at the age of 105. domus-mea.de, November 15, 2012
- Draga Matković died at the age of 105. domus-mea.de, August 9, 2013
Individual evidence
- ↑ Winner of the 2010 initiative ( Memento of the original from May 30, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on der-demografiekongress.de
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Matković, Draga |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Matković-von Auerhann, Draga |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German pianist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 4, 1907 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Zagreb |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 29, 2013 |
| Place of death | Bad Reichenhall |