Josef Reiter (composer)

Josef Reiter, 1905

Memorial plaque dated June 15, 1938 on the Wien-Penzing house , Kendlerstrasse 25

Josef Reiter's grave

Josef Reiter (born January 19, 1862 in Braunau am Inn , † June 2, 1939 in Bad Reichenhall , sometimes also: Bayerisch Gmain ) was an Austrian music teacher , choir director , conductor and composer .

Live and act

Reiter was the son of Franz Reiter (born November 26, 1835 in Bad Ischl, † November 27, 1888 in Linz-Urfahr, pedagogue, organist, singing teacher and composer of more than 400 church compositions and settings of Stelzhamer poems), attended grammar school and the teacher training college in Linz and then worked as a teacher in various Upper Austrian locations.

After passing the state examination for organ , piano and voice in 1884, he taught singing at a girls' bourgeois school in Hernals from 1886 to 1889 and was then music teacher at a grammar school in Margareten from 1886 to 1908 . In addition, from 1886 to 1893 he taught first piano and later also singing and organ at the Horak music schools in Vienna . He had a larger group of admirers, who joined together in 1899 in the German-nationally oriented Josef-Reiter-Verein. His one-act play Der Bundschuh was performed on November 13, 1900 under the direction of Gustav Mahler at the Vienna Court Opera .

From 1908 to 1911 he was director of the Salzburg Mozarteum . He founded and directed various choral societies and from 1912 lived again as a freelance artist in Vienna, where he was appointed Kapellmeister of the Hofburgtheater from 1917 to 1918 by his librettist and friend Max von Millenkovich-Morold (1866–1945) .

From 1921 he stayed frequently at Riedegg Castle near Gallneukirchen and in Großgmain and Bayerisch Gmain. He was u. a. Member of the Innviertel artists' guild .

Reiter was a candidate for the NSDAP as early as 1929 . At his permanent place of residence in Großgmain, it was assumed that Reiter was looking after illegals in his house on their way to the safe Bayerisch Gmain. After the expatriation in the federal state of Salzburg (which resulted in the loss of the old-age pension), the composer moved to across the border in 1933, where he was received by Adolf Hitler at the Berghof at Easter of that year . In 1938, a few days after the Anschluss , he returned to Austria (accompanied by celebrations).

On June 7, 1939, on the occasion of Josef Reiter's death, a memorial service was held in the Wiener Konzerthaus , at which SS-Standartenführer Hanns Blaschke (1896–1971), head of the City of Vienna's Cultural Office , gave the commemorative speech. Reiter was subsequently buried in a grave of honor at the Vienna Central Cemetery (Group 32C, number 17). The honorary grave status was revoked in 2004, the grave site is today without any special dedication.

Works

He became known for his song and choral compositions, while his operas could not prevail. His orchestral and chamber music works are based on classical music.

• The Bundschuh (1894)
• Klopstock in Zurich (1894)
• The Dance of Death (1908)
• Tell (1917)
• Incidental music for Ferdinand Raimund's Der Bauer als Millionär (1918)
• Goethe Symphony (1931; second movement dedicated to Adolf Hitler)
• Cantata about the Anschluss (1938)
• measure up
• 150 songs and ballads
• 300 choirs
• 40 piano and organ works

Honors, awards, prizes (selection)

• Memorial plaque on the Vienna-Meidling house , Hetzendorfer Straße 89 (1927; reference: 1893, Klopstock in Zurich )
• Honorary member of the Vienna Men's Choir Association (1929, when the written estate was donated)
• Honorary Citizen of Vienna (before 1938)
• Honorary citizen of Braunau am Inn (before 1938)
• Beethoven Prize (Prize of the Prussian Academy of the Arts) (1937)
• Goethe Medal for Art and Science (1937)
• Honorary Citizen of Salzburg (1938)
• Golden party badge of the NSDAP (no year)

literature

• Max Morold , Josef Reiter-Verein (Ed.): Josef Reiter. A study with two portraits of the artist . Fromme, Vienna (among others) 1904, OBV .
• Ludwig Etzmansdorfer: Josef Reiter. Life picture of the clay poet . Verlag Josef Stampfl Leopold Höglinger, Braunau am Inn 1923, OBV .
• Karl Hilscher : Festschrift for the unveiling of the memorial plaque for the clay poet Josef Reiter at the house 12., Hetzendorfer Straße 89 . Central Committee for Local History Research, Vienna 1927, OBV .
• A. Carolo (pseudonym for Karl Josef Haudek , 1892–1958): Hetzendorfer Sangesfreunde, since January 11, 1930 Wiener Chorverein Josef Reiter . Chorverein Josef Reiter, Vienna 1930, OBV .
• O (thmar) Wessely :  Rider, Josef. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 9, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1988, ISBN 3-7001-1483-4 , p. 65 f. (Direct links on p. 65 , p. 66 ).
• Alexander Rausch : rider, family. In: Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon . Online edition, Vienna 2002 ff., ISBN 3-7001-3077-5 ; Print edition: Volume 4, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2005, ISBN 3-7001-3046-5 .
• Josef Reiter . In: Rudolf Vierhaus (Ed.): German Biographical Encyclopedia (DBE) . 2., revised. and extended edition. tape 8 : Poethen – Schlueter . De Gruyter / KG Saur, Berlin / Boston / Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-11-094025-1 , p. 311 ( books.google.at - limited preview).
• Thomas Hochradner: "Mozart in the heart!" ...? The episode Josef Reiter . In: Julia Hinterberger (text, ed.): From the music school to the conservatory. The Mozarteum 1841–1922 . Hollitzer, Vienna 2017, ISBN 978-3-99012-309-6 , pp. 317–336.

Web links

• Entry on Josef Reiter (composer) in the Austria Forum  (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )
• List of stage works by Josef Reiter (composer) based on the MGG in Operone

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} sound poet Joseph Reiter dies. In:  Illustrierte Kronen Zeitung. For the German people! , No. 14.143 / 1939 (XL. Year), June 4, 1939, p. 6, column 3. (Online at ANNO ). .
2. ^ Josef Reiter at music austria, music information center austria.
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} Karl Borromä:  Josef Reiters German broadcast. A chat with the master in his home in Vienna. In:  Das kleine Volksblatt , No. 140/1938, May 22, 1938, p. 21. (Online at ANNO ). .
4. ^ ^{A b} Kurt Maix:  Theater and Art. The funeral service for Josef Reiter. In:  Neues Wiener Tagblatt. Neue Freie Presse - Neues Wiener Journal , No. 155/1939 (LXXIII. Volume), June 8, 1939, p. 11, column 1. (Online at ANNO ). .
5. ↑ Hedwig Abraham (Red.): Josef Reiter, composer, 1862 to 1939 . In: viennatouristguide.at , accessed on April 4, 2018.
6. ↑ KA:  Josef Reiter's funeral. The funeral of the city of Vienna in the Konzerthaus. In:  Neues Wiener Tagblatt. Neue Freie Presse - Neues Wiener Journal , No. 154/1939 (LXXIII. Year), June 7, 1939, p. 12, column 2 f. (Online at ANNO ). .