Waldemar von Baußnern

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Waldemar von Baußnern (1887)

Waldemar Edler von Baußnern (also: von Bausznern , born November 29, 1866 in Berlin , † August 20, 1931 in Potsdam ) was a German composer and music teacher .

Life

Waldemar von Baußnern came from the ethnic group of the Transylvanian Saxons . He was born as the son of the tax clerk Carl August Philipp Edler von Baußnern and his second wife Frederike in Berlin and grew up in Transylvania and Budapest . From 1882 to 1888 studied at the Royal Academic College for Performing Music in Berlin with Friedrich Kiel and Woldemar Bargiel .

After his marriage to Elsbeth Dorothea Louise Fischer in 1889, he became the director of the Mannheimer Musikverein and Dresdner Liedertafel choirs between 1891 and 1903 . In 1903 he was appointed to the conservatory in Cologne and from 1909 he was director of the Grand Ducal Music School in Weimar . In 1910 his professorship took place . In 1916 he became director at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt am Main and from 1923 second secretary at the Berlin Academy of the Arts .

In 1926, as part of the Baußnern year, the Transylvanian Baußnern Festival took place in seven cities in Transylvania on the occasion of his 60th birthday . In 1929 Baußnern represented Germany at the Premier Salon International de la Symphonie in Paris , and he also appeared on Berlin radio with two of his 1928 trio sonatas. In 1931 Baußnern died of cancer in Potsdam-Sanssouci.

The Academy of Arts in Berlin took over the extensive estate of Baußnern in 2014 and set up the Waldemar von Baußnern Archive. Correspondence from Baußners is also in holdings 21081 Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig, in the Saxon State Archives, State Archives Leipzig.

Audio language

Waldemar von Baußnern's extensive catalog raisonné includes almost all musical genres, with the main emphasis on choral symphonies and orchestral works. The composer was strongly influenced not only in vocal but also in instrumental music by poetic suggestions, in particular by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , which is reflected in numerous work titles, which, however, cannot be understood in terms of program music . Stylistically, Baußnern was already regarded by contemporaries as a loner who was difficult to assign to a particular direction. In general, his music is rooted in the traditions of the 19th century, but often goes its own way in terms of formal design and extends the traditional tonality to its limits through often polyphonically bound chromatics without, however, turning into atonality .

He completed the only sketchy opera Gunlöd by Peter Cornelius and was the editor of the other operas of Cornelius in the complete edition.

Baußnern failed to achieve long-term success during his lifetime and many of the composer's works were never published (e.g. all of the symphonies). Research into his artistic work is still in its infancy. The composer Dietrich von Bausznern (1928–1980), a grandson of Waldemar, suggested the establishment of a Baußnern Society , which has been promoting the dissemination of his work since 1981.

Works (selection)

Operas

  • Poets and the world , music drama (Libretto: Julius Petri; 1894, WP Weimar 1897)
  • Dürer in Venice (Libretto: Adolf Bartels based on a novella by Adolf Stern ; 1897, WP Weimar 1901)
  • Herbort and Hilde , cheerful heroic opera (Libretto: Eduard König; 1901, premier Mannheim 1902)
  • Der Bundschuh (Libretto: Otto Erler ; 1903, premier Frankfurt am Main 1904, only preserved in the piano reduction)
  • Satyros (Libretto: Waldemar von Baußnern based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ; 1922, WP Basel 1923)

Choral works

  • The Birth of Jesus , Christ motet for soprano, alto, chamber choir, chamber orchestra and organ (1911)
  • The High Song of Life and Death , oratorio for solos, choir and orchestra (1913, only preserved in the piano reduction)
  • Out of our need , cantata for baritone, choir and organ (after Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock , 1923)
  • I want to praise the Lord for choir and organ (according to Psalm 34 1925)
  • The Divine for choir and orchestra (after Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1927)
  • Hafis , symphonic cantata for solos, choir, orchestra and organ (after Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1929)
  • numerous smaller choral works a cappella, including:

Orchestral works

  • Overture Champagne for large orchestra (1899)
  • Symphony No. 1 in A major Youth (1899)
  • Symphony No. 2 in B minor In memory of Johannes Brahms (1899)
  • Symphony No. 3 Leben (with final chorus "Ganymed" after Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1911)
  • Symphony No. 4 in C minor (1914)
  • Chamber Symphony Heavenly Idylls for 10 strings and organ (1916)
  • Symphony No. 5 It's a reaper is called death (with final chorus based on the folk song of the same name, 1922)
  • Symphony No. 6 Psalm of Love (with soprano solo after Elizabeth Barrett-Browning in the adaptation by Rainer Maria Rilke , 1921)
  • Hymn Hours , three pieces for string orchestra (1925)
  • Symphony No. 7 The Hungarian (1926)
  • Suite The Land of My Childhood (1929)
  • Symphony No. 8 (1930)
  • Passacaglia and Fugue for large orchestra (1931)

Chamber music

  • String Quartet No. 1 (1893)
  • Piano Quintet in E flat major (1896)
  • Quintet for piano, violin, clarinet, horn and violoncello in F major (1898)
  • Serenade for violin, clarinet and piano in E flat major (1898)
  • String Sextet (1910)
  • Hungarian Theme with Variations, Passacaglia and Fugue for Violin and Piano (1916)
  • Sonata for violin and piano (1916)
  • String Quartet No. 2 (1918)
  • Piano trio in A major Weimar Trio (1921)
  • String Quartet No. 3 (1923)
  • Hungarian Sonata for Violin and Piano (1923)
  • Four instrumental suites for violin or flute or clarinet or cello and piano (1924)
  • Piano trio in G major O bellissima Italia (1925)
  • Three trio sonatas for two violins and piano (1928)
  • Three serious pieces for violin or viola or cello and organ (1928)

Piano music

  • Sonata eroica in c sharp minor (1906)
  • Prelude, Fugue and Finale for Two Pianos (1914)
  • Three Little Sonatas (1916)
  • Two Preludes and Fugues In Memory of the Dead - The Living (1916)
  • Suite Night Visions (1926)

Organ music

  • Choral fantasy about "Out of Deep Need" (1912)
  • Passacaglia in C minor (1927)
  • Sonata in A minor (1927)
  • Three Preludes and Fugues (1928)
  • Prelude and Triple Fugue in A minor (1930)
  • Chorale preludes

Songs

Edits

  • Gunlöd (supplement, arrangement and instrumentation of the opera by Peter Cornelius, left in a sketch fragment , 1906)
  • numerous folk song arrangements, including:
    • Old folk songs, three-part set (1913)

literature

  • Vera Grützner: Waldemar von Baußnern - life and work . (= Studies of music history; 2). Gehann-Musik-Verlag, Kludenbach 1999.
  • Karl Teutsch, Monica Vlaicu: Waldemar von Baußnern, biography - letters - reports - pictures (= music history studies; 6). 2 volumes, Gehann-Musik-Verlag, Kludenbach 2003.
  • Gerhard F. Wehle:  Baußnern, Waldemar Edler von. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1953, ISBN 3-428-00182-6 , p. 675 f. ( Digitized version ).

Exhibitions

Discography

(without claim of completeness)

  • Serenade for violin, clarinet & piano; Elegy for violin & piano; Octet for piano, 3 violins, flute, clarinet, cello & double bass. Berolina Ensemble. MDG 2013 (Scientific advice and booklet: M. Wittmann )

Web links

Commons : Waldemar von Baußnern  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ audio samples
personal data
SURNAME Baußnern, Waldemar von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bausznern, Waldemar von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German composer and music teacher
DATE OF BIRTH November 29, 1866
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH August 20, 1931
Place of death Potsdam