Julius Kapp (1 October 1883 – 18 March 1962) was a German

dramaturge A dramaturge or dramaturg is a literary adviser or editor in a theatre, opera, or film company who researches, selects, adapts, edits, and interprets scripts, libretti, texts, and printed programmes (or helps others with these tasks), consults auth ...

and writer.

Life

Kapp was born in Steinbach (today a district of

Baden-Baden Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the Rhine, the border with Fra ...

). After his doctorate Kapp published several books on Hector Berlioz, Franz Liszt,

Carl Maria von Weber Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber (18 or 19 November 17865 June 1826) was a German composer, conductor, virtuoso pianist, guitarist, and critic who was one of the first significant composers of the Romantic era. Best known for his operas, ...

and Giacomo Meyerbeer (1920). He became known above all as editor of the writings of Richard Wagner. In the years 1921 to 1945 Kapp worked as dramaturge of the Berlin

Staatsoper Unter den Linden The (), also known as the Berlin State Opera (german: Staatsoper Berlin), is a listed building on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic center of Berlin, Germany. The opera house was built by order of Prussian king Frederick the Great from ...

and editor of the in-house papers of the Staatsoper. As a music writer he also made himself known with his great

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

biography. Since 1933 Kapp was a member of

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

. In 1937 he published a ''Geschichte der Berliner Oper'', to which

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...

wrote a preface. Knapp also created adaptations. In

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

the opera ''

Nabucco ''Nabucco'' (, short for Nabucodonosor ; en, "Nebuchadnezzar") is an Italian-language opera in four acts composed in 1841 by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera. The libretto is based on the biblical books of 2 Kings, J ...

'' was undesirable because of the theme from the

history of Israel Israel, also known as the Holy Land or Palestine, is the birthplace of the Jewish people, the place where the final form of the Hebrew Bible is thought to have been compiled, and the birthplace of Judaism and Christianity. In the course of ...

. In 1940 Knapp created an

Aryanized Aryanization (german: Arisierung) was the Nazi term for the seizure of property from Jews and its transfer to non-Jews, and the forced expulsion of Jews from economic life in Nazi Germany, Axis-aligned states, and their occupied territories. I ...

version in which he replaced the Israelites with Egyptians. In the choir ''

Va, pensiero "" (), also known as the "Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves", is a chorus from the opera ''Nabucco'' (1842) by Giuseppe Verdi. It recollects the period of Babylonian captivity after the loss of the First Temple in Jerusalem in 586 BCE. The libretto i ...

'' he replaced the ''Jordan'' with the ''Nile'' and ''Zion'' with ''Memphis''. This NS version ''Flieg, Gedanke, getragen von Sehnsucht'' with the text line ''Teure Heimat, wann seh ich dich wieder'' is still widespread today in sound recordings and on the Internet. After the Second World War, from 1948 to 1954, Kapp was dramaturge at the

Deutsche Oper Berlin The Deutsche Oper Berlin is a German opera company located in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin. The resident building is the country's second largest opera house (after Munich's) and also home to the Berlin State Ballet. Since 2004, the D ...

.Ernst Klee: ''Das Kulturlexikon zum Dritten Reich. Wer war was vor und nach 1945.'' S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, . Kapp died in

Sonthofen Sonthofen is the southernmost town of Germany, located in the Oberallgäu region of the Bavarian Alps. Neighbouring Oberstdorf is situated 14 km farther south but is not classified as a town. In 2005, Sonthofen was awarded "Alpenstadt des ...

at the age of 78.

Publications

*''Richard Wagner und Franz Liszt. Eine Freundschaft'', 1908 *''Liszt. Eine Biographie'', 1909 *''Frank Wedekind. Seine Eigenart und seine Werke'', 1909 *''Richard Wagner. Eine Biographie'', 1910 *''Richard Wagner und die Frauen. Eine erotische Biographie'', 1912 *''Paganini. Eine Biographie'', 1913 *''Berlioz. Eine Biographie'', 1917 *''Meyerbeer'', 1920 (later under the title ''Giacomo Meyerbeer. Eine Biographie'') *''Franz Schreker. Der Mann und sein Werk'', 1921 *''Weber'', 1922 (später unter dem Titel ''Carl Maria von Weber. eine Biographie'') *''Die Oper der Gegenwart'', 1922 *''Das Opernbuch. Eine Geschichte der Oper und ein musikalisch-dramatischer Führer durch die Repertoireopern'', 1923 *''Geschichte der Staatsoper Berlin'', 1937 *''Aus dem Reiche der Oper : ein Blick hinter die Kulissen'', 1949 *''Richard Wagners Gesammelte Schriften und Briefe'' (Herausgeberschaft)

External links

*
Literaturliste im Online-Catalog
of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kapp, Julius Musicologists from Berlin 20th-century German musicologists German male dramatists and playwrights Nazi Party members 1883 births 1962 deaths People from Baden-Baden