Kurt Graunke

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Kurt Karl Wilhelm Graunke (born September 20, 1915 in Stettin ; † June 5, 2005 in Munich ) was a German composer and conductor, as well as the founder and director of the Graunke Symphony Orchestra , which was renamed the Munich Symphony Orchestra in 1990 .

Life

Kurt Graunke learned to play the violin at the age of twelve and was second concertmaster at the municipal orchestra in Kammin at the age of seventeen in 1933 . In 1934 he began studying at the Berlin University of Music , which he had to break off in 1935 for economic reasons. He became a member of the police music corps in Stettin, which was soon transferred to the Wehrmacht and relocated to Treptow an der Rega . Graunke switched to the Air Force in 1936 , where he worked again in Stettin - it was here that his first printed composition, The Little Volga Gypsy , appeared in 1936- until he was able to continue his violin studies in Berlin in 1938. After completing his studies, Graunke became head of an Air Force music corps in Vienna , but also performed as a violin soloist in the Reichssender Wien . Graunke undertook his first tours as a violin soloist during the Second World War .

After the end of the war, he came to bombed-out Munich via Würzburg , where he and the orchestra he founded gave a charity concert for the benefit of the Bavarian Red Cross on September 25, 1945 . From 1949 the Graunke Symphony Orchestra performed regularly in public. Graunke directed the orchestra he founded until 1989.

Kurt Graunke also appeared as a composer. He wrote nine symphonies in the traditional style, a violin concerto , a song cycle and smaller orchestral works. Edition Sedina , which he founded, has released two collector's CDs with his works. His symphonies have also been released on CD and are available through the edition.

The symphony No. 1 "The Homeland" shows his connection with his Pomeranian homeland and is based on suggestions from members of the Pomeranian Landsmannschaft ; in the 4th movement he incorporated parts of the Pommernlied . The publisher's signet of his Edition Sedina shows the Sedina, the embodiment of the city of Szczecin, as it was placed on the Manzelbrunnen , as well as the Szczecin coat of arms.

Graunke was a member of the advisory board of the Franz Grothe Foundation and an honorary member after his death.

Graunke was married to Helene, née Tusel (1921–1994), and had two daughters with her, the harpist Geraldine Weiner-Graunke and Gabriele Graunke, who continues to run her father's music publisher Edition Sedina.

Graunke was active as a cyclist until he was 76 and took part in the Senior World Cup , among other things .

Kurt Graunke died shortly before his 90th birthday and was buried on June 9, 2005 in the Munich forest cemetery.

Works (excerpt)

  • Symphony No. 1 in E major "Die Heimat" for orchestra with choir ad libitum (1969)
  • Symphony No. 2 (1971-72)
  • Symphony No. 3 (1976 - revision of the string quartet from 1974)
  • Symphony No. 4 (1977)
  • Symphony No. 5 (1980-81)
  • Symphony No. 6 (1981)
  • Symphony No. 7 (1982-83)
  • Symphony No. 8 (1985)
  • Symphony No. 9 (1985–1996)
  • Concerto for violin and orchestra (1959)
  • Ariette for the organ (1992) (versions for orchestra, harp and orchestra, organ, wind quintet; all 1993)
  • String Quartet (1974)
  • Wind quintet

Awards

Fonts

  • With Walter Lemke and Wolfgang Rupprecht: giants from yesteryear to today. The history of the German professional road cyclists . Edition Sedina, Munich 1993, ISBN 3980327302 .

literature

  • Helga-Maria Palm-Beulich, Michael Wilfert: Kurt Graunke. Composers in Bavaria - Documents of Musical Creation in the 20th Century, Volume 45. Hans Schneider, Tutzing 2005, ISBN 3-7952-1174-3
  • Eckhard Wendt: Stettiner Lebensbilder (= publications of the Historical Commission for Pomerania . Series V, Volume 40). Böhlau, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2004, ISBN 3-412-09404-8 , pp. 199-201.
  • Michael Wilfert: In many ways connected with the old homeland - the composer and conductor Kurt Graunke. In: Stettiner Bürgerbrief. No. 29, 2003, ISSN  1619-6201 , pp. 42-47.

Individual evidence

  1. http://www.franzgrothe-stiftung.de/stiftung.htm
  2. ^ Knaurs Prominentenlexikon 1980. Munich / Zurich 1979.

Web links