Karl Föderl

Karl Föderl (born March 13, 1885 in Vienna ; † November 10, 1953 there ) was an Austrian composer .

Before the First World War, Föderl was a comedian at the Vienna Citizens' Theater and the Theater in der Josefstadt , where he played the piano during the rehearsal breaks to pass the time . A friend, the Wienerlied composer Rudolf Kronegger , encouraged him to become a professional entertainment pianist . Föderl followed this advice and was one of the most popular pianists in Vienna for several years until his friend, songwriter Roman Cornelius Domanig-Roll , asked him to write a melody for one of his texts. The result, That's how it was in Vienna , was Karl Föderl's first composition of the Viennese genre.

In the 1930s and 1940s Föderl was one of the most important and popular Wienerlied composers; In total, he created over 800 songs to texts by well-known authors such as Ernst Marischka . In addition, he wrote the film music for several films set in Vienna. In two cases, Föderl sang his own songs on recordings. At the same time, he ran a coffee house in the Hernals district of Vienna .

After his death in 1953, Föderl was buried in an honorary grave in the Vienna Central Cemetery (group 30 D, row 2, number 24). On March 9, 1954, the Föderlweg in Hernals was named in memory of the composer.

Karl Föderl's fame, which was once widespread beyond Austria, quickly waned after his death. Already in his travel report, which he wrote at the beginning of the 1960s , Does Vienna stay Vienna? Manfred Schmidt describes how a taxi driver wistfully pointed out Föderl's former home during a trip. The song and the author were completely unknown to me , wrote Schmidt (who also misunderstood the song In Erdberg is a Gasserl mentioned by the driver as Im Erdberg stands a Häuserl ). Nevertheless, I observed a devout minute of silence to honor the faded local celebrity.

literature

• Elisabeth Fritz / Helmut Kretschmer / Gertraud Schaller-Pressler / Ernst Weber: Vienna - music history . LIT Verlag Berlin-Hamburg-Münster, 2006. ISBN 382588659X
• Felix Czeike (Ed.): Föderl, Karl. In:  Historisches Lexikon Wien . Volume 2, Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 1993, ISBN 3-218-00544-2 , p. 324 ( digitized version ).
• Barbara Boisits: Föderl, Karl. In: Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon . Online edition, Vienna 2002 ff., ISBN 3-7001-3077-5 ; Print edition: Volume 1, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-7001-3043-0 .

Web links

• Karl Föderl in the Vienna History Wiki of the City of Vienna
• City of Vienna: reports from March 1954
• City of Vienna: important personalities of the 17th district