Richard of Kralik

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Portrait of Richard Kralik Ritter von Meyrswalden 1898
"Christmas 1914", poem in Richard Kralik's handwriting

Richard Kralik (actually Richard Ritter Kralik von Meyrswalden ; born October 1, 1852 in Eleonorenhain , Böhmerwald ; † February 4, 1934 in Vienna ) was an Austrian writer and cultural philosopher from the Kralik von Meyrswalden family . As a writer, he called himself Richard Kralik , after 1919 this became his official name due to the Nobility Repeal Act .

biography

Childhood and family

Richard Kralik was born on October 1st, 1852 as the son of the German-Bohemian glass manufacturer Wilhelm Kralik von Meyrswalden in Eleonorenhain / Lenora (Bohemia), the first of five children from his second marriage to Louise, nee. Lobmeyr. He had a close intellectual and cultural relationship with his younger sister Mathilde Kralik von Meyrswalden , who later became a Bruckner student and composer. He encouraged her musical talent early on in the context of house music. Working together resulted in a tremendous life's work, so he wrote the text for their fairy tale opera Flower and White Flower . Brother and sister have created over 120 songs together, see catalog raisonné in Mathilde Kralik von Meyrswalden's . Family life itself was artistically shaped, his father Wilhelm played the violin and his mother Louise the piano. It was in this milieu that Richard's writing skills developed. His father's financial circumstances made it possible for him to acquire a university education without having to take care of a living.

Richard Kralik is the father of Dietrich Kralik and Heinrich Kralik .

education

Richard attended elementary and grammar school in Linz and the university in Vienna. In addition to studying law, he devoted himself to philosophy and the ancient oriental languages. He also studied art and music as well as literature. After studying in Vienna, he studied at several universities in Germany. But he also turned his attention to contemporary social and political issues.

Act

Richard developed a bold plan, he wanted to elevate the present and the future to a blossoming of culture, sprouting from religion and folk, which would be equivalent to antiquity. He dedicated a life and work to the realization of this romantic Catholic cultural program. In Vienna, where he then settled permanently, he found an art-loving partner in Maria Pauline Sophie von Flattich (born October 25, 1858 in Stuttgart, † May 25, 1943 in Vienna), whom he married on October 15, 1882 in Vienna. His wife was the daughter of the then famous architect Wilhelm von Flattich .

In the 1880s, Kralik was associated with the Berlin literary revolution. But soon he broke away from her, as he immersed himself in his cultural program. He came into contact with the Leo Society and initiated the great festivals that have been staged with great success in the largest halls and in the broadest squares of Vienna since 1893.

He actively contributed to the establishment of the Association of Catholic Writers in Austria , from which the "Gralbund" branched off. The latter took up activity in 1905 and became the herald of the religious-national cultural program of Kralik. This happened through the magazine Der Graal , which was published under the direction of Eichert and then Friedrich Muckermann S.J. won more and more circles.

Richard Kralik was actively involved in the Catholic movement in Austria and founded the Catholic writers' association "Gralbund" with the magazine Der Grail , which appeared between 1906 and 1937. As a poet, playwright and storyteller, he was a representative of neo-romantic poetry, who published under the pseudonym Roman .

Under the influence of Richard Wagner and Pedro Calderón de la Barca , he tried to renew medieval games. From him comes The Mystery of the Life and Suffering of the Savior. Easter Festival (3 parts, 1895).

Richard Kralik had been in correspondence with Karl May , the creator of Winnetou and Old Shatterhand , since 1898 . May found himself drawn to Kralik's idealistic-romantic definition of art. The mystical element in May's late works also resembles the ideas of the founder of the Grail. Richard Kralik, in turn, had a penchant for May's travel stories.

Kralik's work "Weltschönheit" (Weltschönheit) attracted particular attention. Even Leo Tolstoy read this book . In his book What is Art? Tolstoy writes: "The German book by Kralik (Weltschönheit) is highly recommended for this purpose."

Kralik stood up for the Austrian attack on Serbia that sparked the First World War and published affirmative war poetry. As recently as 1917 he called for the defense against pacifist efforts, which should be "fought in their nullity".

One of Kralik's companions was the Fulda lawyer and writer Adam Trabert , who ended up in Vienna after the wars of German unification and who also died there.

Awards and honors

Vienna Central Cemetery - honor grave of Richard and Heinrich von Kralik

Richard Kralik received many awards for his life's work. Two orders from the Emperor and the Pope are worth mentioning:

The kk Wiener Zeitung published the official report in its No. 174 of August 1, 1903: “His kuk Apostolic Majesty, with the highest resolution of 23 July d. J. the writer Dr. Richard Ritter Kralik von Meyrswalden in Vienna graciously deigned to bestow the Order of the Iron Crown, third class, tax-free. "

Like his father Wilhelm Kralik von Meyrswalden , the son had now received the same award from the emperor. However, no aristocratic privileges were associated with it since 1884. A special symbolic meaning of the order for the spiritual direction represented by Kralik can be seen in the fact that it is donated and reproduced in memory of that historically memorable Iron Crown , the iron ring of which, according to tradition, was forged from a nail of the cross of Christ.

Previously, Kralik had from the hands of Pope Leo XIII. the Order of St. Gregor received. The Pope valued Kralik's clerical poetry, as he himself was active as a writer in addition to his church duties.

Richard Kralik rests in a grave of honor in the Vienna Central Cemetery (group 14C, number 9). In 1934 the Richard-Kralik-Platz in Vienna- Währing (18th district) and Döbling (19th district) was named after him.

Works

Philosophy:

  • Art booklet, fair, thorough use by all friends of poetry (1891)
  • World wisdom. Attempt at a system of philosophy (1895), in three parts: (1) World science. A metaphysical attempt (1896), (2) world justice. Attempt at a general ethic , (3) world beauty. Attempt at a general aesthetic
  • Cultural Studies (1899–1906)
  • New Cultural Studies (1903)
  • Cultural Issues (1907)
  • Cultural work (1909)
  • four culture books

History and Literature:

  • Maximilian , play (1885)
  • The Turks before Vienna , Festival (1888)
  • Calderon's great world theater
  • Markus Aurelius in Vienna , consecration festival; Commissioned by the Catholic youth association of Mariahilf, Vienna (1897)
  • The glory of Austria , after El segundo blason de Austria by Calderon (1898)
  • The expectation of the Last Judgment, consecration festival (1898) for the Catholic youth club of Mariahilf, Vienna
  • Ancient Greek Music (1900) - online
  • Socrates, according to the tradition of his pupils (1899)
  • Jesus' life and work (1904)
  • Saint Leopold (1905)
  • North Germanic sagas (1906)
  • The Danube Gold of St. Severin (1906)
  • Charlemagne in Vienna (1906)
  • Legend of the Grail (1907)
  • The Revolution , 7 Histories (1908)
  • Homeros . On the history and theory of the epic (1910)
  • Weltweisheit / Weltschönheit (1894) ( online )
  • World history by ages (1903)
  • World literature in the light of the world church (1918) - online
  • The concept of play in world literature (1911)
  • Vienna, history of the imperial city and its culture ; with H. Schlitter (1912)
  • Austrian history (1913)
  • Emperor Charles V (1913)
  • The last knight , reworking by Maximilian (1913)
  • The contemporary world literature
  • Angelus Silesius
  • General modern world history from 1815 to the present (1915–1923, continued by JB Weiß); Volume V: 1900 to 1913 ( online )
  • The history of the discovery of the Austrian state idea (1917)
  • Outline and core of world history (1920)
  • The last Nibelung in Vienna (1925)
  • The Argonauts on the Danube (1925)
  • The foundation of Vienna (1925)


In addition, Kralik wrote a generally understandable history of Vienna (1911–1933). See also texts from the catalog raisonné of his sister Mathilde Kralik .

Music:

In October 2013, chamber music compositions by him were found in a Vienna library. Until then it was hardly known that he had also composed.

  • Juvavia , Vindobona , Klagenfurt , festival songs, text and music by Kralik; performed by him on the occasion of the general assemblies of the Leo Society in Salzburg (1895), Vienna (1896) and Klagenfurt (1897).
  • Antigone by Sophocles . Translated by Michael Gitlbauer , with setting of the vocal parts by Richard Kralik. Braumüller, Stuttgart / Vienna 1897.

Lyric:

  • Novel , Little Book of Unwiseness (1885), Proverbs and Chants , Songs in the Holy Spirit (1896; set to music by Kralik), Revelation , Epistles and Elegies (1888)

Others:

  • From Dr. Faust , folk game, reworked (1895)
  • The Ostaralied , a winter fairy tale; epic poem (1886)
  • Prince Eugenius (1896)
  • Adam , German Puppet Shows; with J. Winter (1884)
  • Kraka , comedy (1893)
  • Mysteries of the Birth of the Lord - Christmas Play, performed by the Leo Society Vienna (1893)
  • Mystery of the Lord's Life and Suffering (1895)
  • Hans Sachs arrangements (1894)
  • Easter Festival (1894)
  • Epiphany Game , Christmas (1895)
  • Roland's Knappen , fairy tale for Carnival (1897)
  • Roland's Death , Tragedy (1897)
  • Veronika , Passion Spear (1898)
  • The Expectation of the Last Judgment (1898)
  • The German Book of Gods and Heroes (1899–1904)
  • Consecration songs and celebratory songs (1899)
  • The wonderful adventures of the knight Hugo von Burdigal (1902)
  • The golden legend of the saints (1902)
  • The Persian Bride , short stories (1903)
  • Proposal for the artistic design of the Leopoldsberg near Vienna (1903)
  • New Cultural Studies (1903)
  • The Poet's Drink of the Gods (1904)
  • Medelika , Festival (1904)
  • Saint Leopold (1904)
  • The Violet Festival (1905)
  • House bread , fairy tales and legends; with L. Auer (1907)
  • Homeland Tales (1909); New homeland narratives (1910)
  • The Catholic literary movement of the present. Collected works (1909 ff .; canceled)
  • Pentecost and Last Judgment Game , 50 Dutch. Stories (1921)
  • Days and Works (Memories) (1922)
  • Heinrich von Offtering's poetic broadcast Roman (1923)
  • Theophrastus Parazelsus , folk play (1925)
  • Munchausen. Biographical novel from the Enlightenment period (1930)
  • The enchanted donkey and the roses and the puzzle solved (1925)
  • Popular and puppet shows (1925)
  • Klingklanggloria or Tanton and Malvin (1925)
  • Dreiteufel's Memories of the Recently Past , novel (1925)
  • Establishment of 26 autos sacramentales by Calderon (1926)
  • New days and works. Memories (1927)
  • Through life with God. House Bible (1931)

literature

Bibliography:

  • F. Bambule: Directory of the printed and unprinted works of Richard Kralik , in: Mitteilungen der Kralik-Gesellschaft, July 1954 (incomplete)
  • M. Enzinger (Ed.): Grail and Romanticism , 1963

Web links

Commons : Richard Kralik  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Birgit Morgenbrod: Viennese upper middle class in the First World War. Publication of the Commission for Modern History of Austria, Vienna 1994
personal data
SURNAME Kralik, Richard of
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kralik von Meyrswalden, Richard Ritter (full name); Kralik, Richard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian writer and cultural philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH October 1, 1852
PLACE OF BIRTH Eleonorenhain , Bohemian Forest
DATE OF DEATH February 4, 1934
Place of death Vienna