Kurt Rapf

Kurt Johann Rapf (born February 15, 1922 in Vienna ; † March 9, 2007 there ) was an Austrian composer , conductor and organist .

Life

Rapf studied conducting , organ , harpsichord , piano and composition at the Vienna Academy for Music and Performing Arts . After completing his studies, he was initially employed at the Zurich Opera House as assistant to Hans Knappertsbusch in the 1948/49 season . From 1949 to 1953 he was a professor at the Vienna University of Music . Then he was music director of the city of Innsbruck until 1960 and thus also chief conductor of the Tyrolean Symphony Orchestra . From 1960 Rapf worked as a freelance conductor, organist, composer and piano accompanist. In 1968 he took over a “Repertoire Studies” class for singers and instrumentalists at the Vienna Conservatory .

Shortly after the end of the Second World War, Rapf founded the “Collegium Musicum Wien”, which he directed until 1956, and in 1986 he founded a chamber orchestra, the “Wiener Sinfonietta”. From 1970 to 1987 he was head of the music department in the City of Vienna's Department of Culture and from 1970 to 1983 President of the Austrian Association of Composers . As a conductor, he has been on numerous international tours. As a composer he created over 150 works, including an opera , two oratorios , four symphonies , numerous orchestral works, vocal, organ and chamber music . In 1981 he was the only European to receive the Outstanding Composition Award for the composition and world premiere of his orchestral work "Poème symphonique" at the Yamaha Festival in Tokyo.

Awards and honors

• 1970 - Professor title
• 1981 - Yamaha Festival, Tokyo: Outstanding Composition Award
• 1982 - Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art, First Class
• 1988 - Prize of the City of Vienna for Science and Culture
• 1992 - Gold Medal for Services to the City of Vienna
• 2002 - Great Decoration of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria
• Honorary membership in the Austrian composers' union and other organizations

literature

• Lukas Haselböck : Kurt Rapf . Lafite-Verlag, Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-85151-070-4 .
• Karl Schütz : On the death of Prof. Kurt Rapf . In: The Organ Forum . Issue 10 (July 2007). Association of Austrian Organ Forum, Vienna 2007, pp. 6-9.

Web links

• Media from and about Kurt Rapf in the catalog of the German National Library
• Kurt Rapf (1922-2007) - Portal.
• Kurt Rapf . In: mica.at (biography); Retrieved November 10, 2010.
• Entry on Kurt Rapf in the Austria Forum  (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )

Individual evidence

1. ^ Vienna 1968: Reports from August 1968 (…) August 22, 1968: News from the Conservatory of the City of Vienna . In: wien.gv.at , accessed on November 7, 2010.
2. ↑ from October 1, 1970. - See: Fritz Walden : Kulturforum. AZ interview with Professor Kurt Rapf: Improving the good even further . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna November 18, 1970, p. 10 , bottom right ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
3. ↑ from January 1, 1970. - See: FW (d. I. Fritz Walden): Kulturforum. Music education for amateurs . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna December 23, 1970, p. 10 , bottom right ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
4. ↑ Permalink Austrian Library Association .