Erhard Kutschenreuter

Erhard Kutschenreuter (around 1923)

Erhard Kutschenreuter (born June 18, 1873 in Schalding on the right of the Danube , today a district of Passau , † May 6, 1946 in Landshut ) was a German elementary school teacher, composer and local researcher.

Life

Erhard Kutschenreuter was born on June 18, 1873 as the ninth child of track master Christian Kutschenreuter and his wife Anna (née Bill) in Passau-Schalding around the Danube. His father died when he was nine years old, after which his uncle, the teacher and choir regent Josef Bill, was appointed guardian and took care of the further school and musical education of his ward . After attending the secondary school and the preparatory school in Passau, Kutschenreuter graduated from the teacher training institute in Straubing . He was then initially a school intern with his uncle at the elementary school of St. Nikola near Passau. However, he soon fell out with his guardian and therefore became an assistant teacher in Niederhöcking on December 1, 1891 . Further stations were Zenting , Pankofen , Sankt Englmar , Rainding (now part of the community of Haarbach ) and finally Rudelzhausen in the Hallertau , where he was appointed school administrator on December 1, 1899 . On October 30, 1900, he married the farmer's daughter Theres Maier and on September 10, 1901 his daughter Theres was born. At that time he self-published his first printed Four Latest Salon Marches for piano.

On November 16, 1902, he was transferred to Neuschönau in the Bavarian Forest as a teacher , where his first son Franz Xaver was born on February 15, 1903. Out of joy, he composed a march on the same day, for which the young district forester Max Mang (1871–1954) wrote the text a few months later. This is how the Waldlermarsch came into being, which became Kutschenreuter's most popular march and which later found its place in his most successful Singspiel Der Holledauer Fidel .

On February 1, 1904, he was transferred to Oberiglbach - today part of the Ortenburg market - as a teacher . On December 4, 1907, his first operetta, Der Hauptmann von Köpenick, premiered in the Passau City Theater, for which beneficiary Sebastian Wieser (1879–1937) wrote the text. The librettist had dealt with the well-known and much laughed-at bourgeois prank that actually happened in 1906 and to which Carl Zuckmayer set a lasting monument years later, namely in 1931, in his play of the same name. Another operetta Der Fremdling (Text: Heinrich Schießleder) was premiered on March 17, 1910 in the Wieninger Hall in Vilshofen on the Danube by the “Operettas and Novelties Ensemble Julie Hillebrand and Josef Kappl” from Vienna under Kutschenreuter's musical direction.

On December 1, 1910, he was transferred to Geratskirchen , where his second son Erhard was born on December 10 of the same year. Finally, on March 1, 1913, Kutschenreuter was transferred to Neukirchen near Arnstorf as a teacher . On July 8, 1917, his first wife died; Barely a year later, on April 30, 1918, he married the teacher's daughter Berta Hoppichler. On April 1, 1920 he was promoted to senior teacher.

On April 14, 1920, his most famous Singspiel Der Holledauer Fidel premiered with great success in the Passau City Theater. The composer originally wrote the text himself, but had it reworked for the premiere by the Passau tax officer and local poet Franz Josef Scherrer (1890–1946). This popular operetta quickly spread throughout Lower Bavaria and far beyond. As early as 1938, the 3,000th performance in the Passau Nibelungenhalle , which Kutschenreuter himself conducted. The Holledauer Fidel is still played in many places and has already been performed in Austria, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and by German immigrants on the island of Sumatra.

On May 1, 1920 he was transferred to Dietersburg . There he created a children's play for the first time, A Spring Fairy Tale, based on a text by Sparkasse official Richard Meisl (1897–1974). It was performed for the first time in Dietersburg on July 23, 1922. Another operetta that is still played often today is Die Donauliesl, which was successfully premiered on May 26, 1923 in the Vilshofen concert hall. As with the Holledauer Fidel , the libretto was written by Franz Josef Scherrer. For the libretto by Josef Bauer (1880–1954), economist and from 1908 to 1918 a member of the Reichstag, Kutschenreuter wrote the singspiel Der Schwur des Kreuzhofbauern , which premiered on April 13, 1924 in Dietersburg.

On November 16, 1924, he was transferred to Rattenbach - today part of the municipality of Rimbach - and retired early on March 1, 1927 for health reasons. Kutschenreuter then moved to Velden , where he lived as a music teacher and freelance composer. On the occasion of the city elevation of Vilsbiburg , he wrote the music for the Vilsbiburg Festival , the text of which was written by the Benedictine monk and professor P. Bonifaz Rauch (1873-1949) from the Metten Monastery . The premiere was on September 22, 1929 in Vilsbiburg.

He continued the series of popular operettas with the piece An der Böhmische Grenz , which was first performed on February 22, 1930 in Vilsbiburg. The libretto was written by Siegfried Jaennichen (1884–1968), senior teacher in Kirchberg near Eggenfelden . The continuing success of his Holledauer Fidel prompted the composer, who moved to Vilsbiburg on January 15, 1931, to continue. The Holledauer Fidel Part II (text: Franz Josef Scherrer) premiered on April 6, 1931 under Kutschenreuter's direction in Dorfen . Although the world premiere was a great success, the second part did not even come close to the success of the first part.

The last operetta was first performed on September 16, 1933 in Rohr in Lower Bavaria . Die Handwerksburschen was the name of the piece with the text by Marie Crüger (1867–1945) from Plattling. On November 18, 1934, Kutschenreuter's second children's song, Winter's Tale (text: Richard Meisl) was played for the first time in Vilsbiburg .

On April 14, 1937, Kutschenreuter moved to Landshut , where he spent the rest of his life and died on May 6, 1946 as a result of a stroke.

personality

Obviously, Kutschenreuter's musicality was “born in the cradle”. As a little boy he had already thought up a poem and wrote a melody for it. His later guardian, who was himself an organist and choir regent in Passau, gave him a comprehensive musical education. In addition, there were music lessons at the teacher training institute in Straubing, which at the time was equal to that of a conservatory.

As a primary school teacher, Kutschenreuter also had to take on the duties of organist and choir director at the school locations. Although this obligation was abolished by law in Bavaria after the First World War, he remained true to this activity throughout his life. He also created numerous church music compositions.

Kutschenreuter loved socializing and the evening beer table. As a teacher, he had some difficulties in reconciling his artistic work with his official duties, which occasionally led to disputes with the authorities and to sanctions.

He observed the country and its people very closely. Because he had worked professionally in so many places in Lower Bavaria, he was considered a profound expert on his Lower Bavarian homeland. Several local history treatises in various magazines bear witness to this.

Kutschenreuter was also deeply involved in Lower Bavarian folk music, which he greatly encouraged. He was one of the organizers and judges of the first Lower Bavarian Folk Singing on June 20, 1931 in Landshut, which at the time was broadcast across Germany. In 1938 he published a pioneering harmonica school for two-row diatonic instruments.

It was also radio that broadcast Kutschenreuter's music and made it known and popular far beyond domestic borders. In 1931 Bayerischer Rundfunk produced the Holledauer Fidel for radio. Kutschenreuter also composed more than 60 marches as well as waltzes, polkas and dances, which earned him the title "Lower Bavarian March King".

The composer's estate includes other Singspiele and other unperformed compositions:

• The Hirmonhopser von Bischofsmais (Text: Richard Meisl)
• The lucky children (Text: Michael Geiger)
• The beautiful Anna girl (Text: Franz Josef Scherrer)
• The Antichrist with the sentences: Overture - In Paradis - The fratricide. This could be the music for a planned mystery play (lyricist unknown)

The composer's estate has been in the Forest Museum in Zwiesel since autumn 1973 .

literature

• Karl-Heinz Reimeier: Erhard Kutschenreuter, the "Lower Bavarian March King " . Morsak, Grafenau 1989, ISBN 3-87553-317-8 .
• Hans Proft: “The Kutschenreuter always stays happy and cheerful” . Stutz, Passau 2004, ISBN 3-88849-206-8 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Erhard Kutschenreuter in the catalog of the German National Library
• Erhard Kutschenreuter in the Bavarian Musicians' Lexicon Online (BMLO)