Hans Franke (composer)

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Hans Franke (born September 17, 1882 in Volkmarsdorf near Leipzig ; † May 22, 1971 in Darmstadt ) was a German composer and conductor .

Franke grew up as the son of a mechanical engineer in a musical family in Altenburg . There he sang early in the church choir and received violin lessons. At the Kgl. Music school in Borna , he continued his musical education. In Leipzig he studied violin and instrumentation with Hans Sitt , conducting with Arthur Nikisch and piano and composition with Carl Reinecke . He later moved to Dresden , where he studied with Felix Draeseke and Heinrich Schulz-Beuthen . By training with these teachers, he covered the entire spectrum of 19th century music, to which he remained connected throughout his life. He did not take up newer musical trends. He later became concert and theater music director in Augsburg , Gera , Kattowitz , Dessau , Konstanz , Danzig and Dresden. He was also the orchestra leader at the Sarrasani Circus and founded a film orchestra in the mid-1920s that lasted until the mid-1930s. His compositions, full of simple harmonies, were also well received during the Third Reich , so that he survived this period almost unchallenged. Many of his works were premiered in Teplitz-Schönau in Bohemia. From 1946 Franke worked in Bensheim in Hesse, then from 1950 he lived in Darmstadt , where he also died.

Hans Franke's estate includes documents on 87 of his works. The collection was in the library of the University of Music and Performing Arts in Frankfurt am Main for several years , then became the property of the Hans-Franke-Stiftung (Schweinfurt) and has been in the German Composers Archive in the European Center of the Arts in Dresden- Hellerau . The compositions handed down in the estate bear opus numbers, the counting of which ranges from op. 49 to op. 869. The considerable gaps in the census resulted both from war losses in the air raids on Dresden and from later renumbering of earlier works. A catalog raisonné compiled in 1996 includes u. a. Notes incipits , dates of origin and performance of the works received. The piano trios No. 4 and 5 and the piano quintet No. 3 have been released on a CD by Signum. The piano concerto and the 6th symphony appeared on an Amphion CD. The sheet music for the works by Hans Franke is published by Vogt & Fritz Music Publishers, Schweinfurt / Karlsruhe.

Works

Franke's catalog raisonné includes 87 operas, including

  • 6 symphonies
  • 8 fairs
  • 6 concert overtures
  • 1 piano concerto
  • 1 organ concert
  • 6 orchestral suites
  • Chamber music
    • Piano Trio No. 4 in D minor, Op. 793 (1942)
    • Piano Trio No. 5 in D major op.801 (1947)
    • String Quartet No. 4 in E minor, Op. 780
    • Piano quintet No. 3 in F sharp minor, Op. 795 (1942), written in the air raid shelter
  • Film music
  • Circus music
  • Choral works
  • Marches
  • 2 stage works (Mazeppa, cast off)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans Franke in the VOGT & FRITZ catalog
  2. ↑ Inventory overview on the archive website
  3. ^ Schaller, Gabriele: Hans Franke. Inventory of the works preserved, self-published, 1996.
personal data
SURNAME Franke, Hans
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German composer and conductor
DATE OF BIRTH September 17, 1882
PLACE OF BIRTH Volkmarsdorf near Leipzig
DATE OF DEATH May 22, 1971
Place of death Darmstadt