Max Kowalski

Max Kowalski (born August 10, 1882 in Kowal , Russian Empire , today Poland, † June 4, 1956 in London ) was a composer , singer, singing teacher and lawyer .

Life

Max Kowalski was born as the son of the Jewish cantor and teacher Abraham Kowalski and his wife Bertha Kowalski, b. Rosenthal, born in Kowal . A year later the family moved to Germany and lived first in Ballenstedt and from 1894 (or 1895) in Frankfurt am Main . After graduating from the Lessing-Gymnasium , Max Kowalski studied law at the universities of Heidelberg, Berlin and Marburg and received his doctorate in 1906 at the University of Marburg with a thesis on "The natural obligation". From 1909 he studied singing with Alexander Heinemann in Berlin and composition with Bernhard Sekles in Frankfurt am Main.

From 1909 to 1938 he worked as a lawyer and was a recognized authority in the field of copyright law. In 1924 he also became a notary . For example, in 1930 he represented Arnold Schönberg in a legal dispute with the Frankfurt Opera on the occasion of the performance of Schönberg's opera From Today to Tomorrow .

After the seizure of power by the National Socialists, the notary was revoked in 1933 as a Jew. As an "old attorney" he was initially allowed to work as a lawyer before he was banned from the profession in 1938 . On November 11, 1938, after his lawyer license had been withdrawn from him, Kowalski was arrested as a follow-up to the Reichspogromnacht and deported to Buchenwald concentration camp (prisoner number 21.609). The purpose of this action was to blackmail imprisoned Jews to emigrate in order to be able to confiscate their property. In this sense, Kowalski was released on November 27, 1938 as No. 195 along with 445 Jewish prisoners.

In March 1939, Kowalski went into exile in London with his daughter . Although his wife Anna Kowalski also had immigration papers for Great Britain , she committed suicide on October 25, 1938 (she was first imprisoned in Preungesheim prison in 1937, then in the Moringen , Lichtenburg and Ravensbrück concentration camps ).

In difficult circumstances, Max Kowalski earned his living in London as a piano tuner, synagogue singer and singing teacher.

Song creation and singers

Max Kowalski's oeuvre includes, in addition to the Two Piano Pieces op. 6, seventeen published and at least another seventeen unpublished song cycles. He set European and non-European poets to music (selection): Li Tai Po , Hafis , Omar Chajjam , Johann Wolfgang Goethe , Friedrich Hölderlin , Heinrich Heine , Conrad Ferdinand Meyer , Martin Greif , Friedrich Nietzsche , Paul Verlaine , Rainer Maria Rilke , Hermann Hesse and Klabund . His settings were also based on Jewish poems, poetry collections from Japan , India and poems from the Arab world.

Max Kowalski's songs were performed by the great singers of his time: before the Second World War a . a. by Paul Bender , Heinrich Rehkemper , Heinrich Schlusnus , Leo Schützendorf and Joseph Schwarz , after 1945 a. a. by Alexander Kipnis , Albert Fischer , Hans Hotter , Emmy Krüger , Karin Bransell and Wolfgang Holzmair.

Songs (selection)

Published

• op. 1: Six songs (1913), Simrock
• op. 2: The sun is sinking. Three poems by Friedrich Nietzsche (1913), Simrock
• op. 3: Six songs (1913), Simrock
• op. 4: Twelve poems from Pierrot Lunaire (1913), Simrock
• op. 5: Three songs based on poems by Martin Greif (1915), Simrock
• op. 6: Two piano pieces (1913), Simrock
• op. 7: Three ballads by Conrad Ferdinand Meyer (1914), Leuckart
• op. 8: Three poems by Martin Greif (1914), Leuckart
• op. 9: Four songs by different poets (1916), Simrock
• op. 10: Six songs on old poems (1914), Simrock
• op. 11: Six songs from the Rococo (1921), Simrock
• op.12: Five Marienlieder (1927), Leuckart
• op. 13: Six poems by Verlaine (1928), Leuckart
• op. 14: Five poems by Hermann Hesse (1931), Zimmerman
• op.15: Six poems by Klabund (1930), Zimmerman
• op. 16: Five songs by different poets (1931), Leuckart
• op. 17: Six songs from the west-east Divan by Goethe (1934), Universal
• op. 24: Six Heine Songs (1937), Schott Music
• op. 29: Six songs (Hölderlin) (1950), Schott Music
• op. 31: Seven Geisha Songs (1951), Schott Music

Numerous songs by Max Kowalski have been published by Recital Publications in Huntsville, Texas.

Not published

• op.18: Seven poems by Hafiz (1933)
• op. 19: Japanese Spring (10 songs) (1934–38)
• op. 20: Four additional songs (Japanese verses) (1934–37)
• op. 21: Five Jewish songs (1935–37)
• op. 22: Three additional Jewish songs (1935–37)
• op. 23: Twelve Children's Songs (1936)
• op. 25: Twelve songs by Li Tai Po (1938–39)
• op. 26: A song cycle by Omar Khayyam (1941)
• o. op .: Song for high voice and piano "Your Locken" (1947)
• op.27: Eight Songs (Hafiz) (1948)
• op. 28: Seven Songs (Meyer) (1949)
• op. 30: Seven Songs (Rilke) (1951)
• op. 32: Six songs based on Indian poems (1951–52)
• op.33: Five Songs (George) (1952)
• op. 34: Six songs based on Arabic poems (1953–54)

Discography

• Max Kowalski: 7 songs based on texts by Conrad Ferdinand Meyer. Otto von Rohr (bass), Wolfgang Rudolf (piano). Undefined Tone Recording Co., 160 West 73rd St., New York, 12 "LP, undated
• Max Kowalski: Seven songs based on Rilke. Willy Berling (baritone), Walter Faith (piano). Undefined Tone Recording Co., 160 West 73rd St., New York, 12 "LP, undated
• Max Kowalski: Pierrot songs. Hans Hotter (bass baritone), Michael Raucheisen (piano). Undefined Tone Recording Co., 160 West 73rd St., New York, 12 "LP, undated
• Max Kowalski: 5 songs based on Hölderlin. Otto von Rohr (bass), Wolfgang Rudolf (piano). Undefined Tone Recording Co., 160 West 73rd St., New York, 10 "LP, undated
• A Clown Behind the Masques of Music. A selection of four different settings of seven poems from “Pierot lunaire”. In it u. a .: Max Kowalski, selection from op. 4, with Edith Urbanczyk (mezzo-soprano) and Dunja Robotti (piano). Musicaphon, B00005LZS0, June 2001.
• Symposium Opera Collection 10: Paul Bender Sings. Recordings from 1907 to 1933. Therein u. a .: Max Kowalski, Pierrot Lunaire op. 4, No. 2 Robbery , No. 4 The Dandy , No. 10 The Lantern . April 2003.
• Songs based on poems by Stefan Zweig. In it u. a .: Max Kowalski, Mondschein op. 13 No. 6 (Stefan Zweig after Paul Verlaine), 1928. Production by the International Stefan Zweig Society and the University Mozarteum Salzburg 2008.
• Max Kowalski: Lieder op.1.Suzi More (soprano), Angela Manso (piano). Lil Red Hen 2008.
• Max Kowalski: Lieder op.2.Suzi More (soprano), Kendell Kardt (piano). Lil Red Hen 2010.
• Max Kowalski: Five songs from Mary op.12. Suzi More (soprano), Angela Manso (piano). Lil Red Hen 2010.
• Max Kowalski: Lieder op.16. Suzi More (soprano), Angela Manso (piano). Lil Red Hen 2010.
• Max Kowalski: Lieder op.3. Suzi More (soprano), Kendell Kardt (piano). Lil Red Hen 2012.
• Max Kowalski: Lieder op.5. Suzi More (soprano), Victoria Griswold (piano). Lil Red Hen 2012.
• Max Kowalski: Poems from Pierrot Lunaire op.4. Suzi More (soprano), Glenn Tiedemann (piano). Lil Red Hen 2013.
• Max Kowalski: Lieder op.8.Suzi More (soprano), Victoria Griswold (piano). Lil Red Hen 2013.
• Max Kowalski: Six love songs from the Rococo op.11. DJ Abbamont (soprano), Glenn Tiedemann (piano). Lil Red Hen 2013.
• Max Kowalski: Lieder op.9.Suzi More (soprano), Victoria Griswold (piano). Lil Red Hen 2014.
• Max Kowalski: Lieder op.13. Suzi More (soprano), Angela Manso (piano). Lil Red Hen 2014.
• Max Kowalski: Lieder op.14. Suzi More (soprano), Angela Manso (piano). Lil Red Hen 2014.
• Max Kowalski: Six songs on old poems op.10. Suzi More (soprano), Angela Manso (piano). Lil Red Hen 2015.
• Max Kowalski: Lieder op.15.Suzi More (soprano), Glenn Tiedemann (piano). Lil Red Hen 2015.
• Max Kowalski: Lieder op.17.Suzi More (soprano), Glenn Tiedemann (piano). Lil Red Hen 2015.

literature

• Peter Gradenwitz: Max Kowalski (1882–1956). Lawyer and sensitive musician. In: Bulletin of the Leo Baeck Institute 58, New York 1981, pp. 41-51.
• Gottfried Eberle: A second Pierrot lunaire. The composer Max Kowalski (1882–1956). In: mr-mitteilungen (30), Dec. 1998, pp. 1–5.
• Philip Lieson Miller: Kowalski, Max. In: MGG , Personal Teil , Vol. 10. Bärenreiter, Kassel a. a. 2003, col. 583-584.
• Joseph Walk (ed.): Short biographies on the history of the Jews 1918–1945. Edited by the Leo Baeck Institute, Jerusalem. Saur, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-598-10477-4 .
• Joachim Brügge (ed.): Facets I. Symposia on chamber music by Jean Sibelius, the song composer Max Kowalski and the Liszt reception (= musicological writings from the University of Music and Theater Munich. Ed. By Siegfried Mauser and Claus Bockmaier). Hans Schneider, Tutzing 2014, ISBN 978-3-86296-074-3 .
• Barbara Dölemeyer : Short biographies of lawyers of Jewish origin in the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court district; in: 125 years: Frankfurt am Main Bar Association, p. 166.

Web links

• Jutta Raab Hansen: Article Max Kowalski in the dictionary of persecuted musicians of the Nazi era
• Max Kowalski and the Jewish Cultural Association
• Overview of texts from selected songs by Max Kowalski
• Publisher Recital Publications in Huntsville, Texas
• Large parts of Max Kowalski's estate in the Leo Baeck Institute, NY

Individual evidence

1. ↑ https://www.tobias-broeker.de/rare-manuscripts/gl/kowalski-max/