Karl Rahner (musician)

Karl Rahner (born September 10, 1903 in Königszelt , † July 2, 1970 in Saarbrücken ) was a German Protestant cantor and church music director .

Live and act

Karl Rahner was born the son of an organist and teacher. He received musical suggestions from his father at an early age. After graduating from high school in 1920, he went to Leipzig to study organ with Karl Straube and Robert Teichmüller at the Leipzig Conservatory . His companions were among others the composer Kurt Thomas and the later Thomaskantor Erhard Mauersberger .

In 1925 he married the soprano Käthe Richter. In the same year, at Straube's suggestion, he applied as cantor at the Evangelical Church of Alt-Saarbrücken and was preferred to his competitor Erhard Mauersberger. In addition to his work as a church musician, he organized numerous concerts with a wide variety of ensembles in the Ludwigskirche . He became known in Saarbrücken as an organ virtuoso , but well-known guest interpreters such as Günther Ramin (1923 and 1924) and Albert Schweitzer (1929) also appeared there.

The year 1928 was a musical turning point for him: He came into contact with the singing movement , which made a lasting impression with its suggestions at a church music conference in Berlin that year . He then founded a synodal choir and a children's choir. He organized instead of concerts with his ensembles from now predominantly Vesper -Musiken on a smaller scale, such as in the castle church , where the "audience" was always helping to shape. So his musical endeavors changed more and more to choir work and active singing.

Another important event for Karl Rahner was the 1938 visit to a church music event in the Minster in Alpirsbach : Rahner, who was always on the side of the Confessing Church , was increasingly enthusiastic about the church work in Alpirsbach , a movement of renewal for the church and the Church service. Here he came into contact with Richard Gölz and Friedrich Buchholz. When the latter was called up for military service in June 1941, Rahner also took over his church music services as a representative in Alpirsbach.

Also in 1941, Rahner was awarded the title of church music director . At the same time, he was entrusted as professor with the management of church music training at the State University of Music in Saarbrücken . He carried out this activity until his retirement in 1967 and turned down numerous calls from other universities.

In 1943 he was called up for military service in the army . After the end of the Second World War , he returned to the destroyed Saarbrücken in 1945. In addition to his university activities, he founded the Evangelical Choir Association on the Saar , among others with Sofie Mayer , as its director until 1967. With this ensemble he was able to cultivate demanding choral music, perform the works in countless church music and also help to organize cross-community events. In addition, he continually took care of the installation of new organs in the rebuilt churches. In 1947 he became a member of the leadership group for church work in Alpirsbach. From 1949 he appeared again increasingly as an organist and took part in the Saarbrücken Bach Festival from 19 to 22 July 1950 as an organist, harpsichordist and conductor .

On his 60th birthday he received the Federal Cross of Merit, First Class, from Heinrich Lübke . Karl Rahner, who suffered from a progressive illness in his last years, died of suicide after several months in hospital in 1970.

meaning

Karl Rahner's idea of ​​church music was to proclaim the word in the guise of musica sacra . He shaped generations of church musicians and theologians in his more than forty years of church music work in Saarbrücken. He became the leading figure of a new singing in the church. With the death of Rahner, an epoch of church music and sociology ended.

literature

• Joachim Conrad: liturgy as art and game; The church work Alpirsbach 1933–2003. Lit, Münster 2003, ISBN 3-8258-6792-7 . S. 162 ff. Excerpts in the Google book search

Individual evidence

1. ^ In addition to being mentioned in the literature source, also here: Saarbrücker Zeitung, September 10, 1963, p. 5.
2. ^ Saarbrücker Zeitung of September 10, 1963, page 5.
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Another short biography with Joachim Conrad: Liturgy as art and play; The church work Alpirsbach 1933–2003. Lit, Münster 2003, ISBN 3-8258-6792-7 . P. 252
4. ^ Joachim Conrad: Liturgy as art and play; The church work Alpirsbach 1933–2003. Lit, Münster 2003, ISBN 3-8258-6792-7 . P. 162 and p. 175