Hans Lanner

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Johann "Hans" Lanner (born December 5, 1873 in Reichenau an der Rax ; † February 13, 1964 there ) was an Austrian zither player , teacher and composer.

Life

Hans Lanner was born in Reichenau an der Rax in 1873 as the son of a woodworker on what is known as the Scheiterplatz . He spent almost his entire life at the Scheiterplatz, not far from the famous Thalhof Hotel , where important representatives from art and science were also guests at that time. Above all, Lanner's father was a sought-after companion on excursions, so-called games, in the area. At the age of ten, Hans Lanner received his first lessons on the zither and was also taught to play the violin in the local elementary school . While playing with his father, the young Hans Lanner came into contact with members of the Austrian imperial family and was able to bring them closer to his skills on the zither. Here he also got to know his patron, the then Archduke Carl Franz Joseph Ludwig Hubert Georg Otto Maria of Austria, who later became the last Emperor of Austria as Karl I. From 1910 he regularly played the zither for the Archduke at the time, but his main job, like his father, was a wood master. Nevertheless, he received repeated invitations to the imperial castle of Wartholz and in 1911 even played at the wedding of the Archduke with Zita von Bourbon-Parma . He also visited the couple in the garrison towns of Brandeis (in today's Czech Republic ) and Kolomea (in today's Ukraine ), where in 1912 he was also awarded the honorary title of "chamber zither player". Among other things, he traveled with his son Johannes to the imperial castle Hetzendorf to make music there.

After Charles I, who had meanwhile risen to emperor and who had resigned "every share in state affairs" in 1918, went into exile in Switzerland , he was invited here in 1920 to stay at Villa Prangins to play for “his” emperor on Lake Geneva . During the weeks of his stay there, numerous pieces of music were written for the members of the imperial family. These were the last of their kind and can be heard “as documents of a deep emotional relationship that also survived the catastrophic years of the First World War and the monarchy”. After the death of the emperor in Madeira in 1922 and the economic and political turmoil in the years to come, Lanner largely gave up playing the zither and concentrated on his profession as a wood master. Nevertheless, he appeared to a greater extent as a zither teacher in his immediate vicinity, which helped the instrument to flourish in the villages of Reichenau and Hirschwang and the other surrounding towns. Many people who were once taught by Hans Lanner still live in the region today. Due to its popularity, the Hans Lanner Regional Music School Association , named after him, was founded in 1999 and connects the communities of Breitenstein , Reichenau an der Rax, Payerbach , Semmering , Schottwien and Schwarzau im Gebirge .

The then 77-year-old had one last contact with the former imperial family at the wedding of Emperor Karl's eldest son, Otto von Habsburg , in Nancy , where he performed as a zither player. After the death of his wife Maria in 1953, Lanner lived on the Scheiterplatz for over a decade and, as in his youth, played the zither for the guests who were on holiday here, which made him well-known beyond the region. On February 13, 1964, Hans Lanner died at the age of 90 in his birthplace on Scheiterplatz in the Reichenau an der Rax community. 40 years after his death, the Austrian zither player Cornelia Mayer published the work Today you played again very, very beautifully! with an insight into the life of Hans Lanner and the print of his diary.

Style of play

Lanner played on and composed for a zither in the Umlauf Viennese tuning, also known as Viennese stringing, named after Carl Ignaz Franz Umlauf (1824–1902) . In contrast to the much more common standard stringing , this one had deeper bass in the bass register of the free string and also had the auxiliary string g1 on the fingerboard. The self-taught composer Lanner had his musical roots in folk music and later established himself in art music in the very highest circles.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ RIS - 1st Lower Austrian Association of Municipalities Ordinance, Section 124 - Consolidated provincial law Lower Austria, version of 11.09.2016. Retrieved December 19, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Official website of the Hans Lanner Regional Music School Association , accessed on March 5, 2017
personal data
SURNAME Lanner, Hans
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lanner, Johann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian zither player, teacher and composer
DATE OF BIRTH December 5, 1873
PLACE OF BIRTH Reichenau an der Rax , Austria-Hungary
DATE OF DEATH February 13, 1964
Place of death Reichenau an der Rax , Austria