Erwin Kerber

Erwin Kerber (born December 30, 1891 in Salzburg ; † February 24, 1943 there ) was an Austrian theater director and director of the Vienna State Opera from 1936 to 1940.

Life

Erwin Kerber, son of Hermann Kerber , who had a reputation as concert organizers already to musical life in Salzburg earned, studied at the Universities of Vienna and Innsbruck law . During his studies in 1911 he became a member of the Landsmannschaft der Salzburger Wien . He was promoted to Dr. iur. PhD .

He then worked as secretary of the Salzburg Festival Hall (later managing director) and, as such, also helped found the Salzburg Festival . In 1933 Clemens Krauss brought him to the Vienna State Opera as a board member, and in 1935 he became administrative director. From September 1, 1936 to August 31, 1940 Kerber was director of the State Opera, where he also worked as a director and editor of libretti. In the artistic field he was particularly supported by Bruno Walter and Hans Knappertsbusch .

After the “Anschluss” of Austria , he implemented the Nazi requirements by dismissing more than 200 Jews and so-called “ Jewish half-breeds ” from both the artistic and administrative staff, including public favorites such as Richard Tauber . Like many others, he put himself at the disposal of the Nazi propaganda for the Viennese artists' appeal for a “ referendum ”. On the other hand, he also helped Bruno Walter's daughter, who had already been arrested, to flee Austria and supported his colleague Heinrich Reif-Gintl . He helped Josef Krips get an engagement at the opera in Belgrade.

There were five world premieres in his era . 1937: The atonement . ( Josef Wenzl-Traunfels ), The Stranger Woman ( Marco Frank ) and Wallenstein ( Jaromír Weinberger ); 1938: Iwan Sergejewitsch Tarassenko ( Franz Salmhofer ); 1939: King's Ballad (Rudolf Wille) and the premiere of Peace Day ( Richard Strauss ). The singers he hired to the house included u. a. Hilde Konetzni , Maria Reining , Esther Réthy , Herbert Alsen , Anton Dermota , Alfred Poell , Paul Schöffler and Set Svanholm as well as the director Oscar Fritz Schuh .

1942–1943 Kerber took over the management of the Salzburg State Theater . He died of a heart attack that he suffered during a theater rehearsal.

Fonts

• Eternal theater. Salzburg and its festival . Piper, Munich 1935.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Berthold Ohm and Alfred Philipp (eds.): Directory of addresses of the old men of the German Landsmannschaft. Part 1. Hamburg 1932, p. 414.
2. ^ Viennese artists on April 10th. In:  Neues Wiener Journal , April 7, 1938, p. 13 (online at ANNO ).
3. ^ "The connection from within" Interview with Oliver Rathkolb Salzburger Nachrichten of March 6, 2008

literature

• .pdf Kerber Erwin. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 3, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1965, p. 297.
• Wilhelm Beetz : The Vienna Opera House. 1869 to 1955 . 2nd edition, Panorama, Vienna 1955.
• Felix Czeike : Historisches Lexikon Wien , Volume 3. Verlag Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 1993, ISBN 3-218-00547-7 , p. 492.
• Austrian music lexicon . Volume 2. (Ed. Rudolf Flotzinger), Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2003, ISBN 3-7001-3044-9 , p. 988.
• Victims, perpetrators, bystanders. 70 years later - The Vienna State Opera and the “Anschluss” in 1938 . Exhibition catalog of the Vienna State Opera, Vienna 2008.

Web links

• Entry on Erwin Kerber in the Austria Forum  (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )