Hans Müller-Kray

Hans Müller-Kray (born October 13, 1908 in Kray near Essen , † May 30, 1969 in Stuttgart ) was a German conductor , professor and general music director .

He grew up as the youngest of 14 children of the colliery master Karl Müller, who from 1882 until his death in July 1937 was in charge of the miners' music corps of the Bonifacius colliery in Essen-Kray. Müller-Kray learned to play the piano and cello while still at school. After graduating from elementary school and high school, he studied composition and theory at the Folkwang School . He passed the final examination as a state-certified music teacher and took over the leadership of the folk choirs in Essen-Werden and Essen-Steele.

Further stations in his career were in 1932 as a répétiteur at the Stadttheater Essen , and in 1933/34 as the pianist of the ballet “Der Grüne Tisch”, where he worked with Kurt Jooss at home and abroad. From 1934 to 1941 he was first conductor at the theater in Münster , from 15 May 1942 chief conductor at the Reichsender Frankfurt am Main, from 1945 to 1948 first conductor at the Wiesbaden State Theater .

In 1948 the American military government appointed him head of the music department and, in personal union, chief conductor of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra at Süddeutscher Rundfunk . In this double function he worked until his death. Under his direction the symphonic repertoire was cultivated in all its breadth. Hans Müller-Kray devoted himself above all to works of modern music that had not yet been heard in Germany during the time of National Socialist cultural policy. He also dealt with the opera and so over 30 complete recordings were made.

Hans Müller-Kray was awarded the title of professor and general music director in 1961 by the state of Baden-Württemberg. By order of the district president of North Württemberg on June 22, 1955, he changed his family name from Müller to Müller-Kray.

He died of sudden heart failure at his workplace in the Stuttgart radio station. His grave is in the Steinenbronn cemetery .

literature

• Dieter Schorr: Hans Müller-Kray zum Gedaechtnis, in: Das Orchester, born in 1969, p. 317.
• Erwin Dick Hoff: Essen heads, publisher Richard Bacht GmbH, Essen, 1985, ISBN 3-87034-037-1 , pages 171/172

Web links

• Works by and about Hans Müller-Kray in the catalog of the German National Library
• Hans Müller-Kray in the Munzinger archive , accessed on January 27, 2020 ( beginning of article freely available)