Julius Prüwer (20 February 1874 – 8 July 1943) was an Austrian conductor, pianist and academic teacher.

Life

Born in Vienna, Prüwer studied piano at the Vienna Conservatory from 1886 to 1891 with

Arthur Friedheim Arthur Friedheim (russian: Артур Фридхайм, 14/26 October 1859 – 19 October 1932) was a Russian-born concert pianist and composer who was one of Franz Liszt's foremost pupils. One of Friedheim's students was Rildia Bee O'Bryan ...

and

Moriz Rosenthal Moriz Rosenthal (17 December 18623 September 1946) was a Polish pianist and composer. He was an outstanding pupil of Franz Liszt and a friend and colleague of some of the greatest musicians of his age, including Johannes Brahms, Johann Strauss, A ...

and

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 ...

with

Robert Fuchs Robert Fuchs (15 February 1847 – 19 February 1927) was an Austrian composer and music teacher. As Professor of music theory at the Vienna Conservatory, Fuchs taught many notable composers, while he was himself a highly regarded composer in hi ...

Franz Krenn Franz Krenn (26 February 1816 – 18 June 1897) was an Austrian composer and composition teacher born in Droß. He studied under Ignaz von Seyfried in Vienna, and served as organist in a number of Viennese churches, becoming Kapellmeister of St. M ...

, and (privately) with

Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...

. As a conductor, he was trained by Hans Richter and worked first at the

Bielitz Bielsko (german: Bielitz, cs, Bílsko) was until 1950 an independent town situated in Cieszyn Silesia, Poland. In 1951 it was joined with Biała Krakowska to form the new town of Bielsko-Biała. Bielsko constitutes the western part of that tow ...

Municipal Theater in 1892/93, at the

Esseg Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

Municipal Theater in 1893/94, and at the

Cologne Opera The Cologne Opera (German: Oper der Stadt Köln or Oper Köln) refers both to the main opera house in Cologne, Germany and to its resident opera company. History of the company From the mid 18th century, opera was performed in the city's court th ...

in 1894/95. From 1895 to 1923, he was ''

Kapellmeister (, also , ) from German ''Kapelle'' (chapel) and ''Meister'' (master)'','' literally "master of the chapel choir" designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term ha ...

'' at the Stadttheater Breslau, and from 1913 to 1923, he was also director of the opera there. Among other things, he conducted the German premiere of Mussorgsky's ''

Boris Godunov Borís Fyodorovich Godunóv (; russian: Борис Фёдорович Годунов; 1552 ) ruled the Tsardom of Russia as ''de facto'' regent from c. 1585 to 1598 and then as the first non-Rurikid tsar from 1598 to 1605. After the end of his ...

'' there and in 1898 made a tour to St. Petersburg, where he arranged the Russian premiere of Wagner's ''

Tristan und Isolde ''Tristan und Isolde'' (''Tristan and Isolde''), WWV 90, is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the 12th-century romance Tristan and Iseult by Gottfried von Strassburg. It was compose ...

''. In 1902, 1904, and 1906, he assisted Hans Richter at the

Bayreuth Festival The Bayreuth Festival (german: link=no, Bayreuther Festspiele) is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of operas by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner are presented. Wagner himself conceived ...

. In 1909, he published a music guide to '' Elektra'' by Richard Strauss. In 1923/24 Prüwer was

General Music Director A music(al) director or director of music is the person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert band, the di ...

at the

Deutsches Nationaltheater und Staatskapelle Weimar The (DNT) is a German theatre and musical organisation based in Weimar. It is a twin institution, consisting of the theatrical (German National Theatre, now solely based in Weimar) and the symphony orchestra known as the . It has a total of s ...

, then full professor at the

Berlin University of the Arts The Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK; also known in English as the Berlin University of the Arts), situated in Berlin, Germany, is the largest art school in Europe. It is a public art and design school, and one of the four research universiti ...

from 1924 to 1933. Here he was responsible for the training of kapellmeisters and directed the . In 1925, the

Berlin Philharmonic The Berlin Philharmonic (german: Berliner Philharmoniker, links=no, italic=no) is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world. History The Berlin Philharmonic was fo ...

chose him to conduct their popular concerts, and he conducted on more than 700 evenings until 1933. In 1933, he lost his posts because of his Jewish origins. In 1936, he took over the symphony orchestra of the

Kulturbund Deutscher Juden The Cultural Association of the GDR (german: Kulturbund der DDR, KB) was a federation of local clubs in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). It formed part of the Socialist Unity Party-led National Front, and sent representatives to the Volksk ...

in Frankfurt and taught at the Hollaender Jewish Private Music School in Berlin. In 1939, he emigrated to New York City, where he later taught at the College of Music and conducted the New York City Symphony Orchestra. He was married with the opera singer Fanchette Verhunc. Prüwer died in New York City at the age of 69.Otto Röse: Brief von Julius Prüwer
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Recordings

From 1928 to 1930, Prüwer made numerous recordings for the

Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...

. He accompanied well-known singers in vocal recordings as well as the pianist

Alexander Brailowsky Alexander Brailowsky (16 February 1896 – 25 April 1976) was a Russian-born French pianist who specialised in the works of Frédéric Chopin. He was a leading concert pianist in the years between the two World Wars. Early life Brailowsky was bor ...

in piano concertos by

Frédéric Chopin Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period, who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leadin ...

and

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

, and recorded orchestral works by

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...

(''Unvollendete''),

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sy ...

(''Akademische Festouvertüre''),

Johann Strauss II Johann Baptist Strauss II (25 October 1825 – 3 June 1899), also known as Johann Strauss Jr., the Younger or the Son (german: links=no, Sohn), was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed ov ...

and others.

References

External links

*
Lexikon verfolgter Musiker und Musikerinnen der NS-Zeit

Tonaufnahme des ''Kaiser-Walzer'' von Johann Strauss (Sohn) - Julius Pruwer dirigiert die Berliner Philharmoniker 1928 auf Archive.org (english)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pruwer, Julius Austrian conductors (music) Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin faculty Players of the Berlin Philharmonic Emigrants from Austria after the Anschluss 1874 births 1943 deaths Musicians from Vienna

Life

Recordings

Further reading

References

External links