Mathilde Kralik

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Mathilde Kralik on March 29, 1912

Mathilde Kralik (until 1919 Mathilde Aloisia Kralik von Meyrswalden ; born December 3, 1857 in Linz , † March 8, 1944 in Vienna ) was an Austrian composer from the Kralik von Meyrswalden family .

biography

Childhood and family

Mathilde Aloisia Kralik von Meyrswalden was a daughter of the Bohemian glass industrialist Wilhelm Kralik von Meyrswalden (1807–1877) from Eleonorenhain . She was the fourth of five children from her second marriage to Louise b. Lobmeyr. Her brother Richard Kralik von Meyrswalden , the poet-philosopher, historian and cultural politician, was a kindred spirit and confidante in his world of thought from childhood. She has enriched his life's work through her work, as her first compositions were based on poems and hymns by her brother, as well as the text of her three-act fairy tale opera Flower and White Flower . House music was played regularly in the family, her father played the violin and her mother the piano. In this musically influenced milieu, the children not only got to know classical chamber music, but also some orchestral music of the time (preferably by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven) arranged for string quartet by hearing the quartets at home. The parents recognized their daughter's talent early on. Her father's financial circumstances allowed Mathilde to take private lessons from the best music teachers of her time and not have to worry about her livelihood.

education

Mathilde Kralik was a student of Anton Bruckner , Franz Krenn and Julius Epstein . In the calendar from 1876 that Bruckner used as a notebook, the entry “Miss. Mathilde Kralik ... private student ”. In 1876 she passed the entrance exam for the Conservatory of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde and was accepted into the 2nd year of Franz Krenn's composition class. She graduated from the conservatory , which was then directed by Josef Hellmesberger senior , in the years 1876 to 1878. From the wide range of courses offered by the conservatory, Mathilde Kralik also took courses in music history in the third year in addition to courses II and III.

She received the annual financial statements with awards. In the first year (after completing the second year) she received the second prize for the scherzo of her piano quintet. After completing the third year, she received the first prize for her thesis, Intermezzo from a suite, which she conducted at the “Concurs of the Training School for Composition” on July 2, 1878 when she was 20 years old. Another six candidates from their composition class were examined at this competition, they were: Gustav Mahler , Hans Rott , Rudolf Pichler, Rudolf Krzyzanowski , Ernst Ludwig and Katharina Haus . Mathilde Kralik, Gustav Mahler, Rudolph Krzyzanowski and Rudolph Pichler each received 1st prize. Katharina Haus and Ernst Ludwig received 2nd prize. Only Hans Rott's work from the first movement of his symphony remained without price. Mathilde Kralik left the conservatory with a diploma in composition and the "Silver Society Medal".

Cover sheet for the trio, composed in 1880, printed in 1897 by Gutmann

Work and social life

Mathilde Kralik was one of the most famous personalities among the Austrian opera composers. Similar to her colleagues from the composer's guild, she was an integral part of concert life in Vienna around the turn of the century. On April 19, 1894 and April 19, 1895, there were musical and declamatory women's evenings in the Brahms Hall of the Musikverein, where works by her were played and sung. Dora Toula and Josefine von Statzer appeared as singers. Her piano trio in F major, composed in 1880, was presented at a concert by the Duesberg Quartet in the 1898/99 season. She gave this composition to the publisher Albert Gutmann to print. A high point was the spiritual concert organized by Josef Venantius von Wöss on January 12, 1900 in the Great Musikvereinssaal, at which Mathilde Kralik's work The Baptism of Christ based on a poem by Pope Leo XIII. for solo, choir and orchestra as well as the Christmas Cantata for four solo voices, choir and orchestra were performed.

Further examples are two composition concerts given on March 20, 1908 in the Brahms Hall. Songs and four arias from her fairy tale opera Flower and White Flower - and on June 26, 1911 in the Small Hall - the program only included songs, which were performed by Elsa Kaulich and Hermann Gürtler, accompanied by Carl Lafite - took place. The critic of the Reichspost wrote about the songs that they revealed an elegant musical education, had accurate characteristics and a beautiful vowel setting and the brilliant piano accompaniment was equivalent to a replica of Hugo Wolf . After the First World War , things may have calmed down around Mathilde Kralik: the musical taste had changed, but her compositions could be heard again and again on special occasions and festive events.

Mathilde Kralik in 1880

The soirees held regularly on Sunday afternoons in her home on Weimarer Strasse (Vienna-Döbling) were appreciated by music lovers, at which Mathilde Kralik offered some artistic enjoyment through her virtuoso piano playing. The collaboration between Brother Richard and Sister Mathilde also extended to the field of opera. Her first work was the three-act fairy tale opera Flower and White Flower , the libretto of which brother Richard had formed from the folk book Flos and Blankflos . Like many of her colleagues, Mathilde Kralik was active in club life: As Honorary President of the Vienna Ladies Choir, the Vienna Bach Community, the Austrian Composers Association, the Association of Writers and Artists of Vienna and the Club of Vienna Musicians . In the latter club she often met the composers Vilma von Webenau and Maria Bach as well as Alma Mahler . She had a close friendship with Vilma von Webenau. From a letter to her brother Richard from 1903, she describes Vilma as her "companion" at a funeral.

Mathilde Kralik was also in contact with the writer and women's rights activist Rosa Mayreder . On May 13, 1936, she wrote her a letter: "Dear Madam, I am delighted by your wonderful sonnets, which are equally perfect in form, deep in thought and so rich in linguistic beauty that they already contain the music ..." October 1905, her mother died at the age of 74. The death of her mother shook the then 48-year-old Mathilde Kralik badly, she reacted with a six-month stagnation of her work. From 1912, the until then single composer lived with Dr. Alice Scarlates (1882–1958) together in the apartment Weimarer Str. 89 in Vienna. There is no trace of her partner in her work. In her will of July 31, 1934, the "long-time friend ... who shared the joys and sorrows" with her is appointed as the main heir of her estate.

The highlights of their performances are the presentations of their fairy tale opera Flower and White Flower in 1910 in Hagen / Westphalia and 1912 in Bielitz / Silesia. This opera achieved popularity not only through these two performances, but also as a sensational plagiarism story in the press. The former Capuchin friar Nicasius Schusser (former porter of the Franciscan monastery in Falkenau) wrote an opera Quo vadis , in which he took 52 pages from the opera Flower and White Flower true to note . Kralik reacted in the press, but refrained from taking legal action against Schusser. Kralik worked well into old age, as an 80-year-old she still took part in a concert by “music-making women”, together with artists such as Johanna Müller-Hermann , Friederike Karger-Hönig, Emma von Fischer, Lise Maria Meyer and Juli Reisserova. She was buried at the Vienna Central Cemetery .

Mathilde Kralik in 1883

Autobiographical note dated October 19, 1904

“I was born on December 3, 1857 in Linz on the Danube. My father Wilhelm Kralik von Meyrswalden (d. 1877) was a glass manufacturer (head of the Meyr's Neffe company in Bohemia), my mother Louise was born Lobmeyr (sister of the mansion member and glass industrialist Ludwig Lobmeyr in Vienna). I owe the musical sense and love for music to my father and mother. My father was a passionate violin player, albeit an autodidact, and eagerly played the quartet in Bohemian Forest. As a dilettante, my mother played the piano well and, even as a girl, tended towards the classical direction. I first heard Beethoven's violin-piano sonatas from my parents, while Haydn's and Mozart's sounds were first conveyed to me through the domestic quartets. Later my two older brothers and finally I and them took over the house music, which consisted of duos, trios and quatuors of our classics.

I took my first piano lessons from my mother, then from Eduard Hauptmann in Linz. My first attempts at composition (note, Mathilde was only 15 years old at the time) was encouraged by my brother Richard, who was very interested in it. After we moved to Vienna in 1870, I received lessons in piano and harmony from Carl Hertlein (flutist at the court opera). In 1875 I became a private student of Professor Julius Epstein for piano. He took a serious interest in my compositions and advised me to continue training with Anton Bruckner for Contrapunkt, whose lessons I enjoyed privately for a year until I entered the composition school at the Vienna Conservatory in October 1876. I was in the second year, the school of Professor Franz Krenn , accepted. After completing the following third year I received the first prize. In the following years we used the a cappella singing in our house, which means that I can enjoy the works of the Dutch, Italian and German masters of the XV. and XVI. Century became more familiar. I consider Bach to be my chief teacher; Liszt is primarily interested in modern forms. Some of my compositions are printed, the greater part is still a manuscript. "

Performances in Krefeld and Vienna

On June 30, 2007, a concert took place in the “Old Church” in Krefeld under the musical direction of the pianist Timur Sergeyenia. This was dedicated to two forgotten composers, in the first part Tade Geisler Wyganowsky (1913–1989) and in the second part Mathilde Kralik. She played the piano sonata in F minor (quasi rhapsody), composed after 1895. The next day the press described this piece as: “Music like from a volcano.” The piece begins immediately in fortissimo. The wild passages of this rhapsody demand all technical skills from the pianist. Furthermore, a fugue was performed on the organ by Karlheinz Schüffler . The concert ended with the chamber music work Trio for piano, cello and violin , which Kralik had composed in 1880 at the age of twenty-two. The speakers were Timur Sergeyenia (piano), Judith Ermert (cello), Michail Bezverchny (violin).

In 2019, works by Mathilde Kralik were performed in a concert at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna , which took place as part of Europride and was dedicated to the music of Ethel Smyth and her "queer contemporaries".

Works

Songs with text, sheet music 1884

Song with instrumental accompaniment

(Selection from 20 works)

  • Autumn feeling, text JW v. Goethe, 1892
  • Fantasy in E minor (voice, piano, violin), text by Kurt Erich Rotter from Dying Dreams , 1928

Song with piano

(Selection from 116 works)

  • Lauretan litany , text by Brother Richard, 1898
  • The Rosary , text by Brother Richard, 1898
  • The Bridge of Love, ballad , text by Brother Richard, 1896
  • Empress Zita Lied , text by Heinrich Ritter von Turzansky, 1918
  • Vivat Austria , text by Josef von Eichendorff, 1908
  • Dragonerlied , text by Theodor Lehnstorff, 1914

Operas

  • Flower and White Flower , fairy tale game in 3 acts. With text by her brother Richard, based on the folk book Flos and Blankenflos . Performances on October 13, 1910 in the Stadttheater Hagen / Westphalia and on October 29, 1912 in Bielitz / Silesia.
  • Unter der Linde , lyric opera in one act with text by your brother Richard. The opera was never performed.
  • The Holy Grail , music for the dramatic poetry of your brother Richard in 3 acts. Premiere in 1912.

Oratorios

Poster for the world premiere of Mathilde Kralik's oratorio in 1933
  • Pentecost celebration , a liturgical oratorio. Text by PW Schmidt 1925/26
  • Saint Leopold , with text by her brother Richard. Premiere in Klosterneuburg, Stiftskellersaal on December 10, 1933

Orchestral works

  • Festive Overture in G major, January 1897
  • Festival Overture Charlemagne in Vienna , June 1906

Orchestra with concertos instruments

  • Violin Concerto in D minor (1st movement in 1937, 2nd movement in Dec. 1936)

Solo works: piano

  • Reigen , January 1882
  • Piano sonata in F minor (1st movement, quasi rhapsody) 1895
  • Prelude, Passacaglia and Fugato
  • Polonaise
  • Schubert homage march 1928. There's only a Schubert, city - there's only a Wean

Solo works: organ

  • interlude
  • Festival march, 1907
  • Offertory in E major, 1907

Vocal music (a cappella)

(Selection from 23 works)

  • The spirit of love , based on a text by Nathalie Duchess von Oldenburg, 1903
  • Spring is coming , music and text
  • Mrs. Nightingale , 1931

Chamber music

  • Sonata (violin and piano), 1878
  • Trio (piano, violin and cello), 1880
  • Fantasy (piano, cello), January 1929
  • Sonnet (clarinet, bassoon, horn) 1912
  • German Dances from Ostmark (2 clarinets, cello, viola) 1943

Trade fairs (offers, etc.)

(Selection from 25 works)

  • Mass in B flat major (Introit, Graduale, Offertorium, Communio), 1903
  • Ave Maria , 4-part female choir, 1936
  • Du sunny wonnige Welt , (4th mixed choir, solo, piano) Text: FW Weber

cantata

  • Volkers Wacht (Die Wacht an der Donau) , celebratory singing, solos and choir with text by her brother Richard 1907/1908

Melodrama (speaking voice and piano)

(Selection from 9 works)

  • Lukas, the doctor , with text from her brother Richard, 1895
  • Little princess in four-leaf clover , text by E. Reimer-Ironside, June 1912
  • Jean D'Arc's death path , text by Baron Alice von Gaudy , 1920

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Source: Vienna Library
  2. ↑ Scarlatescu, Alice, Scarlates. In: Ilse Korotin, Nastasjsa Stupnicki: Biographies of important Austrian scientists. Böhlau, Vienna et al. 2018, ISBN 978-3-205-20238-7 , p. 742 f. ( Open access publication )
  3. ^ Grave site Mathilde Kralik , Vienna, Central Cemetery, Group 16, Group Extension D, Row 1, No. 1.
  4. ↑ https://www.mdw.ac.at/gender/europride-2019-concert/

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Kralik, Mathilde
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kralik von Meyrswalden, Mathilde
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian composer
DATE OF BIRTH December 3, 1857
PLACE OF BIRTH Linz
DATE OF DEATH March 8, 1944
Place of death Vienna