Max Erdmannsdörfer

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Max Erdmannsdörfer

Max Carl Christian Erdmannsdörfer , later also von Erdmannsdörfer , (born June 14, 1848 in Nuremberg , † February 14, 1905 in Munich ) was a German conductor and composer.

biography

Pauline Erdmannsdörfer-Fichtner around 1892

Erdmannsdörfer was tutored from an early age by his father, the music teacher and concertmaster of the Nürnberg Musikverein, and gave his first concert at the age of ten. From 1863 to 1867 he studied music theory, piano and violin at the Leipzig Conservatory and trained as a conductor in Dresden in 1868/69. After a short time as a piano teacher in Nuremberg, in 1871 he succeeded Max Bruch as Kapellmeister of the Sondershausen court orchestra . In Nuremberg he became a member of the Masonic Lodge Joseph for Unity .

There he married the Liszt pupil and pianist Pauline Fichtner (1847–1916) in 1874 and founded with her the later well-known wage concerts , in which he was one of the first to advocate the works of the New Germans . He corresponded with Liszt and conducted the first performance of his symphony Hamlet in Sondershausen on July 2, 1876, and maintained contacts with the composer Joachim Raff . In 1877 he and Pauline played a version for two pianos of Raff's piano quintet (Op. 107). After Raff's death (1882), Erdmannsdörfer completed his unfinished Symphony No. 11, Op. 214 . In 1877 he conducted the premiere of the Overture Cervantes by the Scottish composer Alexander Mackenzie in Sondershausen. When his employer, Prince Günther Friedrich Karl II , abdicated in 1880, Erdmannsdörfer gave up his position and strengthened his reputation as a conductor through shorter stays in various cities, among others. a. in the music centers in Vienna and Leipzig.

In 1882 Erdmannsdörfer became first conductor of the Imperial Russian Music Society in Moscow and professor at the Moscow Conservatory , where in 1885 he founded the student orchestra association, which is important for Moscow's musical life. Here a collaboration with Peter Tchaikovsky took place and he conducted several of his works, some even as premieres: z. B. 1883 a revised version of the 1st Symphony Winter Dreams (op 13) as well as in 1884 the Suite No. 2 and the Concert Fantasy for piano and orchestra (op 56) and in 1886 the Manfred Symphony (op 58) a program symphony in four pictures . Tchaikovsky dedicated his 3rd orchestral suite to him in gratitude. Erdmannsdörfer celebrated great successes in Moscow, was honored many times (at the farewell concert he was awarded the big star for the Stanislaus Order in diamonds, he received valuable gifts and was made a lifelong honorary member of the Imperial Russian Music Society (1)) and gained a European reputation as a conductor.

In 1888, however , he could not resist Hans von Bülow's urging to take over the leadership of the famous artists' association concert in Bremen as his successor . There, too, he earned lasting merit by founding a municipal orchestra with permanent musicians with pension rights. In 1890 he also took over the Bremen Singakademie, founded in 1814, as the successor to Carl Martin Reinthaler . In 1892 he succeeded in uniting the Singakademie with the newly created Philharmonic Choir , which now conducted a cycle of mostly twelve Philharmonic concerts every season under his direction . Here, too, he achieved a high reputation among progressive-minded sections of the public. However, intrigues from conservative musicians and music organizers resulted in his filing for his dismissal in 1895. He left Bremen and moved to Munich, his final adopted home.

There he devoted himself to his compositions, but soon received the offer to take over the concerts of the Imperial Russian Music Society again in the 95/96 season, this time in St. Petersburg, which he could not refuse as an honorary member. In a short time he succeeded in bringing these concerts to a new bloom. so that he was also committed for the next season 1896/97. At the same time he was appointed as court conductor in the Munich court theater and in concerts of the Musical Academy and as professor of conducting at the Academy of Music , which in 1897 led to the end of Russian engagement. But his activity in Munich was only of short duration, since in March 1898 he asked for release from all official duties which he was granted under the gracious "retention of the title of court music director". Neither a request from the members of the Musical Academy to continue to direct their concerts, nor the post of director of the Academy of Music that was offered to him could reverse his decision to retire. For a few years it was quiet around him, it was not until 1901 that the Musikalische Wochenblatt reported guest performances by Erdmannsdörfer in Madrid (p. 24) and Paris (p. 242).

When, in the autumn of 1903, following the death of General Music Director Hermann Zumpe, the members of the Musical Academy were looking for a season replacement at short notice and the Porges Choir Association , whose founder and namesake Heinrich Porges had died in April 1900, fell into a crisis due to the lack of competent management and urgently asked for help, after initial hesitation Erdmannsdörfer could not refuse and took over both corporations. After conducting two subscription concerts of the Musical Academy in autumn 1903 with great success, he celebrated a triumph on December 13, 1903 with the grandiose performance of Berlioz's Requiem by the members of both associations, as well as the St. Matthew Passion on March 27, 1904 von Bach , his last of a total of six concerts with the Musical Academy. The Erdmannsdörfer couple earned lasting merit and cause for great gratitude by setting up a charitable foundation on November 15, 1903 with a capital of 130,000 marks in favor of the court orchestra, which was intended to provide court musicians with support "in all emergencies through no fault of their own" ( Bihrle p.139) Prince Regent Luitpold then awarded the "Hofkapellmeister Erdmannsdörfer the Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Bavarian Crown" and elevated him to the nobility. As agreed, Felix Mottl took over the direction of the concerts of the Musical Academy from Max von Erdmannsdörfer in autumn 1904, who remained loyal to the Porges Choir Association, but only two weeks after a last very successful concert on January 30, 1905, completely unexpectedly died as a result of an appendix operation.

literature

Web links

Commons : Max Erdmannsdörfer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Franz Liszt, Martin Haselböck, Hermann J. Busch, Michael von Hintzenstern: Franz Liszt and the organ. Universal Edition, 1999, ISBN 978-3-7024-0245-7 , p. 34.
  2. ^ Tchaikovsky Research
personal data
SURNAME Erdmannsdörfer, Max
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Erdmannsdörfer, Max Carl Christian von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German conductor and composer
DATE OF BIRTH June 14, 1848
PLACE OF BIRTH Nuremberg
DATE OF DEATH February 14, 1905
Place of death Munich