Augustinus Franz Kropfreiter (9 September 1936 – 26 September 2003) was member of the Austrian , composer and

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

Life

Born in

Hargelsberg Hargelsberg is a municipality in the district Linz-Land in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. Geography Hargelsberg lies 324 meters above sea level. The municipality is about 4.5 kilometers from north to south, and about 6.3 ...

, Kropfreiter spent his school years from 1948 at the Catholic Bischöfliches Gymnasium Petrinum, where he received his first basic musical education. Immediately after the

Matura or its translated terms (''Mature'', ''Matur'', , , , , , ) is a Latin name for the secondary school exit exam or "maturity diploma" in various European countries, including Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech ...

he entered the Augustiner-Chorherrenstift St. Florian in 1953, where he was initially taught

music theory Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the "rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (ke ...

by Johann Krichbaum. From 1955 to 1960 he studied composition and organ at the Linz

Anton Bruckner Private University The Anton Bruckner Private University (in German ''Anton Bruckner Privatuniversität'', common short form is ''Bruckner University'') is one of five Austrian Universities for Music, Drama and Dance, and one of four universities in Linz, the Euro ...

and at the

University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna The University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (german: link=no, Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, abbreviated MDW) is an Austrian university located in Vienna, established in 1817. With a student body of over three thousa ...

. After completing his studies, he worked as an organist in

Sankt Florian Sankt Florian (also ''Florian'' or ''St.Florian'') is a town in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. It is 10 miles (16 km) from Linz. Sankt Florian is the home of St Florian's Priory, a community of Canons Regular named after Saint Flori ...

. Along the way he was also a teacher of the St. Florian Boys' Choir and, from 1966, director of the monastery choir (Regens Chori). Kropfreiter died in 2003 in Sankt Florian at the age of 68.

Works

Kropfreiter created an extensive organ oeuvre and is thus one of the most important Austrian organ composers of the 20th century. He helped The St. Florian Monastery to even greater fame. He composed several orchestral works (among others organ concertos, 3 symphonies), masses,

church music Church music is Christian music written for performance in church, or any musical setting of ecclesiastical liturgy, or music set to words expressing propositions of a sacred nature, such as a hymn. History Early Christian music The onl ...

, choral music,

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

and organ pieces (among others ''Toccata francese'', ''Signum'', Numerous chorale arrangements of varying degrees of difficulty), with which he achieved fame not only in Austria. In his compositions, he attached great importance to

polytonality Polytonality (also polyharmony) is the musical use of more than one key simultaneously. Bitonality is the use of only two different keys at the same time. Polyvalence or polyvalency is the use of more than one harmonic function, from the same key, a ...

and hindemithian

counterpoint In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...

Awards

* 1962:

Kulturpreis des Landes Oberösterreich The Kulturpreis des Landes Oberösterreich (Culture Prize of the Province of Upper Austria) is awarded as a prize by the Province of Upper Austria. The prize is endowed with 7,500 euros and is awarded annually in several categories. References

* 1964: Staatspreis für Musik * 1993:

Anton Bruckner Prize The Anton Bruckner Prize is the main Culture Prize of the Province of Upper Austria (Kulturpreis des Landes Oberösterreich) for music. The prize, which is awarded by the Upper Austria, Land of Upper Austria, is named after the composer Anton Bruc ...

* 2001:

Austrian Decoration for Science and Art The Austrian Decoration for Science and Art (german: Österreichisches Ehrenzeichen für Wissenschaft und Kunst) is a state decoration of the Republic of Austria and forms part of the Austrian national honours system. History The "Austrian D ...

I. Klasse.Aufstellung aller durch den Bundespräsidenten verliehenen Ehrenzeichen für Verdienste um die Republik Österreich ab 1952,
(PDF; 6,9 MB) * 2002: . * 2002:

Heinrich Gleißner Prize The Heinrich Gleißner Prize is an upper Austrian Cultural Award named after . Prize The main prize honours an artist's previous work and life's work in various fields (music, literature, architecture, painting...). The prize, which has been aw ...

References

External links

*
aeiou – Kropfreiter, Augustinus Franz

Bibliografie zu Augustinus Franz Kropfreiter

Kropfreiter spielt Orgelwerke von Anton Bruckner
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kropfreiter, Augustinus Franz 20th-century Austrian composers 20th-century Austrian male musicians Austrian organists 20th-century classical composers Recipients of the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class 1936 births category:2003 deaths category:People from Linz-Land District Anton Bruckner Private University alumni

Life

Works

Awards

References

Further reading

External links