Karol Town Hall

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Karol Rathaus ( Karl Leonhard Bruno Rathaus ; pseudonym Leonhard Bruno ; born September 16, 1895 in Tarnopol , Austria-Hungary ; † November 21, 1954 in Flushing / New York City ) was a composer of German-Austrian nationality who had to emigrate to the USA .

Life

Rathaus was married to Gerta and had a son named Bernt.

He began to compose at an early age and began studying at the Academy for Performing Arts and Music in Vienna in 1913/1914 , which was interrupted by his military service in the First World War in 1918/1919. As one of Franz Schreker's favorite students , he followed him to the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin , where he continued studying music and composition. After completing his studies, Rathaus held the position of a teacher for composition and music theory at the Berlin University of Music in the 1920s. First compositions followed, with which he caused a sensation and celebrated great success.

After his opera Fremde Erde in 1930, Rathaus also created film scores and was one of the most artistically outstanding film composers in Germany before 1933. He wrote the scores for three films by Fjodor Ozeps . In 1933 he went to Paris and lived in London from 1934 to 1938 before finally settling in New York. There he took up a professorship for composition at Queens College , in this position he brought it to reputation and popularity. In addition, he continued to be very productive as a composer. In addition to commissioned works, he also wrote some film scores. He died in New York in 1954.

His compositional work mainly includes instrumental works such as symphonies , orchestral works , serenades , sonatas and ballets . He saw his compositions in the tradition of Richard Strauss , Gustav Mahler , Igor Stravinsky and his teacher Franz Schreker.

At the beginning of the 1930s, until his emigration, Karol Rathaus made a name for himself primarily as a composer of film music. In the Third Reich his compositions were classified as “degenerate art” and a performance ban was imposed.

Works (selection)

  • 1st piano sonata op. 2 in c minor
  • Symphony No. 1 for orchestra op.5
  • Symphony No. 2 for orchestra op.7 (premiere 1924 Frankfurt)
  • 2nd piano sonata op.8
  • 1. Sonata for violin and piano op.14
  • Four dance pieces for orchestra op.15
  • Pastorale und Tanzweise op. 17 for mixed choir a cappella
  • The last Pierrot op.19 (ballet in one act)
  • Sonata for clarinet and piano op.21
  • Overture op.22
  • A small serenade for 4 wind instruments and piano op.23
  • Trois Mazurkas op. 24 for piano
  • Fremde Erde op.25 (Opera in 4 acts - premiered December 10, 1930 at the Berlin State Opera)
  • Lied and Fugue for mixed choir and chamber orchestra op.26
  • Suite for violin and chamber orchestra op.27
  • Suite for orchestra op.29
  • Prelude and Toccata for Organ op.32
  • Three Calderón songs op.34
  • Serenade for orchestra op.35
  • Counterpoint triptych op.37
  • Four studies for piano op.38
  • Pastorale and Dance for violin and piano op.39
  • 2. Sonata for violin and piano op.43
  • Notturno op.44, Jacob's Dream for orchestra
  • Piano concerto op.45
  • Three studies for piano op.46
  • Symphony No. 3 for orchestra op.50
  • Landscape in six colors for piano op.51
  • Polonaise symphonique op.52
  • Trio for violin, clarinet and piano op.53
  • Psalm XXIII op.54
  • Vision dramatique for orchestra op.55
  • 4th string quartet op.60
  • 5th string quartet op.71

Filmography as a composer (selection)

  • 1930: The murderer Dimitri Karamasoff
  • 1934: Amok
  • 1936: Broken Blossoms
  • 1939: let's live
  • 1945: Histadrut. Builder of a Nation

literature

  • Martin Schüssler: Karol Rathaus . (= Perspectives of Opera Research . Volume 6). Verlag Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main et al. 2000, ISBN 978-3-631-35382-0 .
  • Carmen Ottner : What at that time seemed unbelievably bold: Franz Schreker's Viennese composition class. Studies on Wilhelm Grosz , Felix Petyrek and Karol Rathaus . Publishing house Peter Lang, Vienna 2000.
  • Kay Less : "In life, more is taken from you than is given ..." Lexicon of filmmakers who emigrated from Germany and Austria between 1933 and 1945. A general overview. P. 409 f., ACABUS-Verlag, Hamburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-86282-049-8

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Town Hall, Karol
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rathaus, Karl Leonhard Bruno (full name); Bruno, Leonhard (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian-German-American composer
DATE OF BIRTH September 16, 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH Tarnopol , Galicia
DATE OF DEATH November 21, 1954
Place of death New York City