Karl Michael comma

Karl Michael Komma (born December 24, 1913 in Asch , Austria-Hungary , † September 23, 2012 in Memmingen ) was a German composer and music publicist .

Life

Karl Michael Komma studied at the German Music Academy in Prague with George Szell , Fidelio Finke and Theodor Veidl before coming to Heidelberg in autumn 1934 to study musicology with Heinrich Besseler . Komma received his doctorate in 1936 with a dissertation on Jan Zach (1699–1773). During this time he also studied composition with Wolfgang Fortner , who campaigned as a conductor for commas ( Donaueschingen , world premiere of “Deutsche Tänze” for string orchestra, 1938).

Komma appeared in 1935 with a cantata for an NSDStB rally, in 1938 he composed a jubilee choir for the annexation of the Sudetenland to National Socialist Germany and in 1939 came out with a pamphlet against the Jew Gustav Mahler . From 1940 to 1945 Komma was director of the music school in Reichenberg , Sudetengau and was honored for his achievements.

Komma was expelled from Czechoslovakia after the end of World War II. In 1952 he received the Nordgau Culture Prize of the city of Amberg in the "Music" category.

From 1954 to 1989 Komma taught music history, composition and composition at the Stuttgart University of Music and was still active as a music journalist and composer with an extensive oeuvre, even in old age. In 1981 he was appointed a full member of the Sudeten German Academy of Sciences and Arts , Class of Arts and Art Studies.

Works (selection)

• Two concerts for piano and orchestra
• Psalm cantata
• St. Matthew Passion for a cappella choir (1965)
• Lamento di Tristano for orchestra
• Triptych Christ is risen
• Lasso fantasy for organ
• Te Deum for organ
• String quartet
• Songs based on Hölderlin, Celan and Härtling
• Hommage à Handel for a cappella choir
• Die Hütte Gottes , oratorio for solos, choir and orchestra (premiered in 1977 by the Ulm Oratorio Choir under the direction of Edgar Rabsch on the occasion of the 600th anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone of the Ulm Minster )
• Four pieces for chamber orchestra (1987, dedicated to the Reutlingen Youth Orchestra (today Reutlingen Young Symphony))
• Elegy and Scherzo for English horn and orchestra (1999, dedicated to Rainer M. Schmid)
• Three Duos for Cello and Bassoon (1986)
• Sapphic stanzas for bassoon, violoncello and piano (1981, dedicated to Friedrich Edelmann and Rebecca Rust)
• Japanese-German seasons 1995/96, haikus for bassoon, cello and piano
• Dance of the Great Peace, Concerto grosso for cello, bassoon, piano and string orchestra (1993, dedicated to His Imperial Majesty the Emperor Akihito of Japan and His Imperial Majesty the Empress Michiko of Japan)
• Choral sonata (3 movements) for trumpet or trombone and organ

Publications

• Johann Zach and the Czech Musicians in the German Revolution of the 18th Century . Heidelberg, Phil. Diss., 1939. - Würzburg, 1938 (Also published by Bärenreiter-Verlag, Kassel, as: Heidelberger Studien zur Musikwissenschaft. Volume 7)
• Bohemian musicians (1960)
• Music history in pictures (1961)
• Songs and chants based on Friedrich Hölderlin (1967)
• Life Memories Paths of Life (1999)

Honors

• 1952: Nordgau Culture Prize of the City of Amberg
• 1982: Great Sudeten German Culture Prize
• 1984: Order of Merit of the State of Baden-Württemberg
• 1989: Federal Cross of Merit, 1st class

Web links

• Literature by and about Karl Michael Komma in the catalog of the German National Library
• Heike Nasritdinova:  Comma, Dr. Karl Michael . Entry in the database of the Oberpfälzer Kulturbund (currently not available)
• Appreciation on the website of the Württemberg Philharmonic
• Homepage with catalog raisonné
• Obituary in the Südwest Presse

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Fred K. Prieberg in Music in the Nazi State , 1982, and the same in Power and Music , 1992.