Karl Peissner

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Karl Peissner (born December 24, 1890 in Auerbach in the Upper Palatinate , Bavaria ; † June 28, 1952 in Altstätten SG , Switzerland ) was music director and composer in Füssen , Hochdorf LU and Altstätten SG .

family

Karl Peissner comes from an old family of musicians and towers. The first verifiable Peissner was called Zacharias Ignatius, was employed in Hirschau before 1692 and went to Auerbach as a tower keeper .

The Peissner family lived in the town of Auerbach for generations. His father Johann Peissner was the last Peissner tower keeper and in 1898 became choir regent in Auerbach in the Upper Palatinate. Karl Peissner was born on December 24, 1890 in Auerbach, Upper Palatinate. His sister Margarete was exactly 10 years older to the day, both were born on Christmas. At the age of 29, Karl married Kreszentia Betz from Füssen in Hochdorf near Lucerne in June 1919, who died in Altstätten in 1937. On December 29, 1921, his wife gave birth to a daughter, Annelies, who died in Basel on February 3, 2009. At a music congress in Wiesbaden in 1938 , he met his second wife, who was musically trained in organ, piano and singing. They married August 10, 1939 in Gustavsburg . From this marriage two children were born, Bruno and Rainer.

Life

However, the young Karl was not supposed to become a musician, but a teacher and then had to attend the teachers' seminar in the city of Amberg (today Max-Reger-Gymnasium Amberg ). After the death of his father, however, he immediately switched to music, following his innate calling and the advice of the excellent Amberg choir regent Boehm. And then he received his first music lessons from Böhm. After three years of preparation, he went to the Regensburg Church Music School for a year in 1911 . There he learned from Weinmann, Grießbacher, Renner and Engelhardt. At the end of these academic years, the Regensburg Cathedral Choir performed a “Gloria” by Karl Peissner in a closing ceremony. Already this composition, which was described by the critics as “the work of the Sturm und Drang period of a talented musician”, already broke decisively with the so-called Regensburg tradition and moved in completely new directions for the time already.

Before the First World War , Peissner had his first job as deputy music director in the Allgäu district town of Füssen. From 1915 to 1918 he was in the military, most recently stationed in Lindau and since 1919 as choir director in Hochdorf, Canton Lucerne.

In 1924 at the age of 34, theoretically and practically the best proven musician, he was appointed to Altstätten as the successor to music director JN Thür. And here he worked for 28 years until his death as a successful organist for the Catholic parish, as conductor of the Cecilia Society , the orchestra, the Constantia male choir, the Frohsinn female choir, the daughter choir of the “Maria Hilf” institute, and as a private music teacher.

From 1929 to 1930 he went from Altstätten in the Rhine Valley to the State Academy of Music in Munich for two to three days a week and studied church music with Berberich and composition with Haas. In doing so, he had to reconcile his obligations as music director with his studies. There was a lot of correspondence with the two teachers even after my studies.

Since 1947, Director Peissner has been the editor-in-chief of the monthly magazine for Catholic church music «Der Chorwächter», published by the church music publisher Meinrad Ochsner & Co. Einsiedeln. He died on June 28, 1952 in Altstätten SG.

plant

Karl Peissner's musical works include 22 masses , 20 motets , eleven pictures of the Virgin Mary , five choral works , a sacred choral symphony, part 1 and part 2, as well as some secular songs.

During his tenure, several concerts and operettas were performed under Peissner's direction. On November 4th, 1934, he conducted a symphony concert by Beethoven and a cello concert by Haydn with cello soloist Franz Hindermann St. Gallen. Music educator Dr. Leo Rinderer (1895–1987) then judged: “The first laurels go to the Führer, the soul of the evening, the best known composer and conductor, Director Karl Peissner. He bears the lion's share of all the aforementioned good and recognition values. Altstätten owes the full success of the concert, in addition to the efficient participation of all players, primarily to its highly talented, tireless and energetic conductor, who knew how to use an orchestra that was able to follow the clearly directed baton freely and flexibly. All in all, the program and execution offered full enjoyment! "

The anniversary concert on October 29, 1950 in the Catholic Church Altstätten to celebrate Karl Peissner's 25th anniversary as a conductor was his last concert. The first part included “Fugue in A minor” and “Singet dem Herrn a new song” by Joh. Seb. Bach, “Sancta Maria, mater Dei” and “Laudate dominum” by WA Mozart and “God in nature” by Franz Schubert. The original score of the second part, "Spiritual Choral Symphony" by Karl Peissner, is stored in the State Museum in Bern.

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personal data
SURNAME Peissner, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German music director and composer
DATE OF BIRTH December 24, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Auerbach in the Upper Palatinate , Bavaria
DATE OF DEATH June 28, 1952
Place of death Altstätten SG , Switzerland