Karl Kraft

The title of this article is ambiguous. For the SA leader see Karl Kraft (SA member) . For other people with a similar name, see Carl Kraft .

Karl Josef Kraft (born February 9, 1903 in Munich - Sendling ; † February 6, 1978 in Augsburg ) was a German organist and composer .

Life

family

Karl Kraft came from a Catholic family in Upper Bavaria. The family of the mother Franziska Kraft geb. Pachmayr had founded the beverage company of the same name in Munich and had been based in the Ammersee region for generations. The maternal grandfather was a teacher, choir director and organist in Breitbrunn am Ammersee. The father Karl Kraft (1875-1919) was a precision mechanic. After his death, the mother married his brother Joseph Kraft. The second marriage was childless. A sister Babette and a brother Josef had strength. He built the Kraft Baustoffe group of companies in Munich, which still exists today .

The young Karl Kraft received lessons in piano, violin, cello and later also organ. According to his first biographer, Ernst-Fritz Schmid , he was advised to become a teacher, which his grandfather had already exercised. A career as an organist and composer did not correspond to the family's bourgeois life plan, but was made possible for him at his own request.

Kraft's attitude towards authorities (state and church hierarchy), his satirical humor and the style of criticism, which he used in writing and orally, gave rise to the assumption that a certain regionally authoritative skeptical mental attitude could also have prevailed in his parents' house, as in the tradition of Derbleck'n is expressed.

education

Kraft attended secondary school in Munich and studied (without a university entrance qualification, but probably with special talent status) from 1919 to 1922 cello and organ at the then Academy of Music in Munich . His private composition studies with Gottfried Rüdinger, a student of Max Reger , are of greater importance . Kraft became his private student from 1920. The priest, musician and head of the Catholic Volksverein publishing house, Johannes Hatzfeld , also became an important sponsor during those years in Munich . He encouraged Kraft to write his first compositions, many of which were edited in his publishing house.

job

In January 1923, the position of cathedral organist at the Marienkathedrale in Augsburg was advertised. Kraft applied and prevailed against two competitors. He was to hold the position for over 50 years with a break. In 1925, after persistent differences with the clerical cathedral conductor Cassian Reiser , Kraft resigned his position, probably in an affect, with no prospect of another job. The cathedral chapter then hired the composer and later conservatory director Arthur Piechler as cathedral organist.

Kraft received an appointment as organist at the Liebfrauenkirche in Dortmund , but he turned it down. Finally, in October 1925, he asked to be allowed to resume his office as cathedral organist in Augsburg, which was granted to him because Piechler had accepted an appointment at the Leopold Mozart Conservatory after a few months of activity . From October 1925 to December 1976, Kraft remained cathedral organist in Augsburg without interruption.

Secondary employment, economic position

The cathedral organists in Augsburg have been documented with a few gaps since the Augsburg Interim . While until 1865 there were a number of people among the holders of the office who seem to be worth mentioning in musicological historiography due to their importance as composers, interpreters or in one case also as organ builders ( Jacobus de Kerle , Eusebius Amerbach, Johann Michael Demmler, Karl Kempter ) there was a phase of decline in the second half of the 19th century. The turnover has increased, the qualifications and pay of the incumbents have decreased, the source situation has deteriorated, and those concerned do not seem to have attached particular importance to the position. In this phase it became customary to employ the cathedral organist as chancellery or ordinariate clerk in the episcopal ordinariate in order to improve his remuneration.

Kraft, with whose assumption of office the decline can be regarded as ended, took over this secondary activity in 1923, but soon complained with written petitions that it prevented him from practicing and asked for the organist to be separated from the office. The request was granted; however, this halved his earnings to 567 RM per year. Kraft secured his existence through royalties from the performance of his works and income from the sale of sheet music. He also gave various music lessons in the novitiate and in the boarding school of the Franciscan Sisters of Maria Stern , at the St. Stephan high school and at the commercial school; according to other sources, he also held a teaching position at the Leopold Mozart Conservatory at times . Nevertheless, he lived on the verge of subsistence for a long time and was dependent on donations from patrons, befriended families and church benefactors such as the neighboring St. Elisabeth monastery at the cathedral, from whose kitchen he was regularly fed, for example. After the end of the war, his economic situation improved noticeably through the adjustment of church employment relationships to the norms of the public service . Now he was receiving a salary that, as a bachelor and in view of his modest way of life, was nowhere near used up. In the post-war decades, Kraft therefore often became involved as a benefactor for people and families in his environment in need.

Artistic collaboration

Between 1920 and 1921, Gottfried Rüdinger introduced Kraft to the poet Ludwig Thoma , whom they visited several times together in his house on the Tegernsee. Thoma presented his verse epic Holy Night to the young musician with the request that he set it to music. From this, Kraft composed several versions of Holy Night - the 5 chants to the Christmas legend .

In Augsburg, Kraft belonged to a loose association known as the Augsburger Künstlerkreis . Other members were in changing composition:

• Karl Erhard; Student of Kraft, later himself a composition teacher at the Leopold Mozart Conservatory
• Eugen Nerdinger ; Graphic artist
• Walter Klaß; Dancers at the Augsburg Ballet
• Annemarie Stahl; Dancer at the Augsburg Ballet
• Josef Kunstmann; Poet, visual artist, priest

Through the circle of artists, Kraft also came into contact with the expressive dancer Dore Hoyer in 1948 , who was a guest at the Augsburg theater during this time and had masks made by Kunstmann. Hoyer selected Kraft chamber music for her dance performances and Kraft is said to have made commissioned compositions for her, but these have not been preserved.

Liselotte Subklew, founder of the ballet school of the same name in Augsburg, wrote the text and choreography book for Kraft's dance pantomime The Swineherd and The Princess and the Pea , which consists of two fairy tale stories .

Political positions

Contemporary witnesses reported that the young Kraft had taken a “Bavarian-conservative” attitude and was most likely to be counted among BVP supporters during the Weimar Republic . Such an attitude, which can include Catholicism, patriotism related to Bavaria, loyalty to the king and also a certain skepticism of the republic, is also reflected in some of his compositions (for example Patrona Bavariae KWV 161). According to contemporary witnesses, Kraft is said to have distanced himself from Nazi ideology with satirical humor during the “Third Reich” . Not entirely in line with this report, however, is the fact that in eight individual cases he set texts to music that are close to National Socialism or originate from his ideas. They may be courtesy addresses. According to all available sources, Kraft was never a member of a party or a political organization. As a composer, however, he belonged to the Reich Chamber of Culture , whose Reichsführer Richard Strauss he admired for his compositions. The fact that he carried his membership card, which was personally signed by Strauss, in his wallet until the end of his life should be seen in this context. After the end of the war in 1945, Kraft never again dealt with politically motivated texts. In this phase of his life he evidently developed in the direction of the cliché of the politically disinterested artist, as which, although not entirely true, he remained in the memories of his contemporary witnesses.

Religious positions

For Kraft, attachment to the faith and liturgy of the Catholic Church was the essential basic attitude that shaped his thinking and artistic work. While his attitude to secular politics from his position in his youth through the above-mentioned compromises in the time of the “Third Reich” to political disinterest in his old age is visibly lost, his attitude towards the liturgy of the church and the associated church politics to find the opposite:

At a young age, Kraft belonged to the spiritual environment of the Catholic youth movement around Romano Guardini , represented reform concerns for the liturgy and made model compositions for a reformed liturgy. His unbroken loyalty to the Church and its traditional liturgy, which is emphasized by many contemporary witnesses, was colored in these years by a certain willingness to compromise with regard to the form of this liturgy. When, in the wake of the Second Vatican Council, a far-reaching liturgical reform became apparent, Kraft faced their demands again, dealt with the texts of the new German Proprien and developed a model for the 1 to 4-part recitation of these texts, which he for worked out the Sundays, feast days and memorial days for an entire church year . After the reform was completed, when the new “ordinary form of Holy Mass” became binding in 1969, Kraft was disappointed with the result of the reform and its consequences for the practice of worship. Now, in oral remarks, correspondence and glosses, he relentlessly went into judgment with the post-conciliar manifestations of sacred art, which he considered inappropriate to the teaching of the Church in general and the mystery of Holy Mass in particular.

Old age and death

By the time Kraft reached the standard retirement age at the end of the 1960s , he had already become a gray eminence for the music at the cathedral who was not considered easily replaceable. The cathedral chapter was not interested in urging such a widely respected artistic personality to retire. Kraft himself had developed an enormous vocational understanding with regard to the interests of church music, which for a long time prevented him from asking for his retirement. For example, when creating the new uniform hymn book for God's praise or when the organs in the cathedral were planned to be expanded at the time, he attached great importance to being heard. After an accident with torn cruciate ligaments in April 1972, he was physically limited, but continued to do his job. From this time it is reported that Kraft had now developed a style of improvisation in which the pedal was only used for long sustained organ points and the essential harmonic movements took place in the manual. In 1977, however, his health deteriorated so much that he had to ask to be removed from his post by the end of the year. He continued his concerns about the instruments in the cathedral afterwards in extensive correspondence with the decision-makers.

Karl Kraft died on February 6, 1978 in what was then the St. Barbara Clinic in Augsburg. He was buried in the grave of his parents in the Munich forest cemetery (old part) with great public sympathy .

Composing activity

Kraft left a compositional legacy of almost 1,000 works of various genres. Including mainly sacred vocal works but also instrumental pieces, chamber music, secular song cycles and stage music. Starting with the song cycle Altdeutsche Minnelieder (1920), Kraft counted his operas chronologically. By the end of the 1940s at the latest, however, this count had become extremely unreliable, as Kraft also included works that were not intended for the public in his opus census, but his publishers knew nothing about it and continued the census without these works. An opus number was used several times for different works, which later made renumbering or subdivision into a, b, c etc. necessary. In between, Kraft gave up the numbering, but began again later. When his estate was reorganized between 2009 and 2015, the Kraft catalog of works (KWV) was also created as a new catalog by category, which can be expanded as required if previously unknown pieces should appear. It is still considered to be the first comprehensive catalog raisonné by Kraft.

Works (selection)

• Missa Majestas Domini (1934) for 6-part choir a-capella, KWV 23; Music publisher Schwann Düsseldorf
• Mass in Es (1934), KWV 18; Music publisher Schwann Düsseldorf
• Missa Psallite Deo (1955), KWV 547; Böhm & Son Augsburg
• Missa Cantate Domino (1957) KWV 546; Böhm & Son Augsburg
• Missa Tui sunt coeli (1955); KWV 24; Coppenrath Altoetting
• Mass in As (date of origin unknown) for 8-part a-capella choir, KWV 14; Autograph, print version not preserved
• St. Simpertus Mass (1978) for choir and organ, KWV 579; Böhm & Son Augsburg
• Six chants based on texts by Angelus Silesius (1928), KWV 213; Music publisher Schwann Düsseldorf, Böhm & Sohn Augsburg
• A sketch booklet (1923) for piano, KWV 854; Volksvereinsverlag Mönchengladbach
• Die Gestrampften 12 Länders for piano 4 hands (1927), KWV 852; Volksvereinsverlag Mönchengladbach
• 6 Concerti breve (1941/1942) for orchestra and solo instruments, KWV 846, 847, 880, 863, 881, 882; different editions
• Prelude, Chaconne and Fugue in D minor (1932) for organ, KWV 819; Autograph, print version not preserved
• Introduction, Passacaglia and double fugue in B minor (1924) for organ, KWV 816; Volksvereinsverlag Mönchengladbach
• Dance pantomime The Swineherd and The Princess and the Pea (date of origin unknown, premiered in 1947 in the comedy of the Augsburger Theater), KWV 906; Autograph, print version not preserved

style

Kraft's artistic intention was less the striking representation of content through music than the deep reflection of the text, subject matter and atmosphere. His enthusiasm for tonal effects and effects, which was often the decisive factor in certain casting decisions, also plays a special role.

His musical means do not follow a profiled system. He uses means of expression that already existed before, but uses them selectively, alienates them and transforms them in order to help the respective content to be expressed. Nevertheless, there are certain typical features, such as the modal basic keys as a harmonic foil, various alienation effects of the harmony (addition of fourths, sixths and septa, secondary rubs, fluctuations between major and minor), mostly declamatory melodies, shifts in emphasis of the rhythm and frequent impression of a spontaneous course all musical parameters in the service of content expression.

The Salzburg university professor Josef Friedrich Doppelbauer described Kraft in a laudation in 1977 because of his reflective way of working based on Adalbert Stifter as a “quiet in the country”. In 2015, in a musicological dissertation on Karl Kraft, the term “Free Reflectism” appeared for the first time for his musical style.

Honors

• 1973: Papal New Year's Order
• 1977: Orlando-di-Lasso Medal
• In 1977 the regional council of Swabia suggested that Federal President Walter Scheel be awarded the Federal Cross of Merit for Kraft. In December 1977 the proposal was approved. The award planned for 1978 was no longer seen.
• The municipality of Leitershofen (district of Stadtbergen near Augsburg), where Kraft owned a garden plot that he lived in temporarily, renamed a street in his honor to "Karl-Kraft-Strasse" after his death.

Karl Kraft Society

Since Kraft, like his siblings, died without offspring, his estate was never systematically administered. The grave site at the Munich forest cemetery was also increasingly neglected and no measures were taken to keep his work or his memory in mind. For this reason, in 2014 the non-profit association “Karl-Kraft-Gesellschaft e. V. “, which has set itself the task of keeping the music and person of Kraft known through interpretation, edition and historiographical processing and to make them known further.

literature

• Ernst Fritz Schmid: Karl Kraft. In: Friedrich Blume (Ed.): The music in past and present. General encyclopedia of music. Kassel, 1989, Volume 7, pp. 1684-1686.
• Julian Müller-Henneberg: Karl Kraft - a monograph. Ed .: Innsbrucker Hochschulschriften. Dissertation, University of Innsbruck , 2015. ( Online )

Web links

• Karl Kraft in the Bavarian Musicians' Lexicon Online (BMLO)
• http://www.karl-kraft-gesellschaft.de

Individual evidence

1. ^ Julian Müller-Henneberg: Karl Kraft - a monograph . Ed .: Innsbrucker Hochschulschriften. Innsbruck 2015, p. 14, 15, 16 .
2. ^ Julian Müller-Henneberg: Karl Kraft - a monograph . Ed .: Innsbrucker Hochschulschriften. Innsbruck 2015, p. 18 .
3. ^ Julian Müller-Henneberg: Karl Kraft - a monograph . Ed .: Innsbrucker Hochschulschriften. Innsbruck 2015, p. 17 .
4. ^ Julian Müller-Henneberg: Karl Kraft - a monograph . Ed .: Innsbrucker Hochschulschriften. Innsbruck 2015, p. 18, 19 .
5. ^ Julian Müller-Henneberg: Karl Kraft - a monograph . Ed .: Innsbrucker Hochschulschriften. Innsbruck 2015, p. 22-25 .
6. ^ Julian Müller-Henneberg: Karl Kraft - a monograph . Ed .: Innsbrucker Hochschulschriften. Innsbruck 2015, p. 28, 29 .
7. ↑ Michael Zywietz: Jacobus de Kerle . In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Person part band 10 . Kassel 2001, p. 26th f .
8. ^ Hermann Fischer / Theodor Wohnhaas: The Augsburg cathedral organs . Sigmaringen 1992, p. 13 .
9. ↑ Kara Kusan-Windweh: Johann Michael Demmler . In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Person part band 5 . Kassel 2001, p. 799 .
10. ^ The cathedral chapter of the diocese of Augsburg: discussion protocol . Pers.Akt.2731L. Augsburg 1924.
11. ^ Julian Müller-Henneberg: Karl Kraft - a monograph . Ed .: Innsbrucker Hochschulschriften. Innsbruck 2015, p. 8-14 .
12. ^ Julian Müller-Henneber: Karl Kraft - a monograph . Ed .: Innsbrucker Hochschulschriften. Innsbruck 2015, p. 12, 13, 24, 29 .
13. ^ Julian Müller-Henneberg: Karl Kraft - a monograph . Ed .: Innsbrucker Hochschulschriften. Innsbruck 2015, p. 73 f .
14. ↑ Cäcilia Herrmann: Karl Kraft as the house composer of the Sternkloster from 1945 - approx. 1975 . In: Müller, Gernot Michael, Christoph Bellot and Herbert Immenkötter (eds.): Led by God's star . tape II . Kunstverlag Fink, Augsburg 2008, p. 327 ff .
15. ^ Julian Müller-Henneberg: Karl Kraft - a monograph . Ed .: Innsbrucker Hochschulschriften. Innsbruck 2015, p. 50, 85 f .
16. ^ Julian Müller-Henneberg: Karl Kraft - a monograph . Ed .: Innsbrucker Hochschulschriften. Innsbruck 2015, p. 71-86 .
17. ^ Müller-Henneberg: Karl Kraft - a monograph . S. 34 .
18. ↑ Julian Müller-Henneberg: Interview with Auxiliary Bishop Max Ziegelbauer from November 27, 2010 . S. 8 (unpublished manuscript; owned by the author).
19. ^ Julian Müller-Henneberg: Karl Kraft - a monograph . S. 46 .
20. ^ Julian Müller-Henneberg: Karl Kraft - a monograph . S. 33 .
21. ^ Julian Müller-Henneberg: Interview with Auxiliary Bishop Max Ziegelbauer . S. 13 (unpublished manuscript; owned by the author on November 27, 2010).
22. ^ Karl Kraft: Proprien for the church year . Ed .: Böhm & Sohn. Augsburg 1967, p. KWV 80 ff .
23. ^ Julian Müller-Henneberg: Karl Kraft - a monograph . S. 57 ff .
24. ^ Julian Müller-Henneberg: Kraft catalog raisonné . In: Innsbrucker Hochschulschriften (ed.): Karl Kraft - a monograph . tape 2 . Innsbruck 2015, p. 1-10 .
25. ^ Julian Müller-Henneberg: Kraft catalog raisonné . In: Innsbrucker Hochschulschriften (ed.): Karl Kraft - a monograph . 2 under the respective KWV number. Innsbruck 2015.
26. ^ Julian Müller-Henneberg: Karl Kraft - a monograph . Ed .: Innsbrucker Hochschulschriften. Innsbruck 2015, p. 270 .
27. ^ Josef Friedrich Doppelbauer: Laudation to Karl Kraft . In: Office for Church Music of the Diocese of Augsburg (Hrsg.): Church music messages . tape 12 . Augsburg 1977, p. 4-11 .
28. ^ Julian Müller-Henneberg: Karl Kraft - a monograph . Ed .: Innsbrucker Hochschulschriften. Innsbruck 2015, p. 271 .
29. ↑ Thea Lethmair: High Deserves to sacred music . In: Augsburger Allgemeine . No. 35, February 12, 1973 .
30. ↑ Thea Lethmair: As a person and musician an original . In: Augsburger Allgemeine . No. 32, February 8, 1978 .
31. ^ The cathedral chapter of the diocese of Augsburg to the regional council of Swabia: multi-part correspondence . Ed .: Archive of the Diocese of Augsburg. Pers.Akt.2731L, 1977.
32. ↑ Falk: City plan Augsburg . Q 49. Ostfildern 2012.
33. ↑ Julian Müller-Henneberg: Interview with Mr. Klaus Kölling from September 23, 2010 . unpublished manuscript in the possession of the author, p. 4 .