Karol Rathaus (Karl Leonhard Bruno Rathaus; also Leonhard Bruno; 16 September 1895 — 21 November 1954) was a German-Austrian Jewish composer who immigrated to the United States via Berlin, Paris, and London, escaping the rise of Nazism in Germany.

Life

Born in the Ukrainian city of

Ternopil Ternópil ( uk, Тернопіль, Ternopil' ; pl, Tarnopol; yi, טאַרנאָפּל, Tarnopl, or ; he, טארנופול (טַרְנוֹפּוֹל), Tarnopol; german: Tarnopol) is a city in the west of Ukraine. Administratively, Ternopi ...

(part of

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

in 1895), Rathaus began composing at an early age, beginning his studies in 1913/1914 at the Academy of Performing Arts and Music in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. His studies were interrupted by military service during the First World War. As one of the favorite pupils of

Franz Schreker Franz Schreker (originally ''Schrecker''; 23 March 1878 – 21 March 1934) was an Austrian composer, conductor, teacher and administrator. Primarily a composer of operas, Schreker developed a style characterized by aesthetic plurality (a mixture ...

, Rathaus followed him to the Academy of Music in Berlin, where he continued to study music and composition. After graduation, Rathaus accepted the position of a teacher of composition and music theory 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 ...

. Rathaus lived in Berlin from 1922 to 1932, during which time his first compositions caused a sensation and achieved great success. After his 1930 opera ''Fremde Erde'', Rathaus created film music and was among the artistically outstanding film composers in Germany before 1933. He wrote the music for three films by

Fyodor Otsep Fedor Ozep or Fyodor Otsep (russian: Фёдор Алекса́ндрович О́цеп, ''Fyodor Aleksandrovich Otsep''; February 9, 1895 – June 20, 1949) was a Russian-American film director and screenwriter, born in Moscow. An important earl ...

. In 1933 he went to Paris and lived in London from 1934 to 1938, before he finally settled in New York. In 1940 he became a professor of composition at

Queens College Queens College (QC) is a public college in the Queens borough of New York City. It is part of the City University of New York system. Its 80-acre campus is primarily located in Flushing, Queens. It has a student body representing more than 170 ...

. In this position he achieved prestige and popularity. In addition, he was also successful as a composer, writing many commissioned works and several film scores. He died at the age of 59 in the Flushing neighborhood of New York City's borough of Queens. Handwritten manuscripts, published works, and correspondence to and from Rathaus are available for research at the Queens College Special Collections and Archives. His compositional output includes mostly instrumental works: symphonies, orchestral works, serenades, sonatas and ballets. He saw his compositions in the tradition of

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...

Gustav Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...

and his teacher Franz Schreker. 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 ...

, his compositions were classified as " degenerate art" and assigned a performance ban. He is now considered one of the many great 'composers in exile'. Rathaus was married to Gerta and had a son named Bernt. As of 2016,
documentary film
is being made about Rathaus in exile.

Musical Compositions

Opera: * Fremde Erde (1930) Ballet: * Der letzte Pierrot (1926) * Le Lion amoureux (1937) Orchestra: * Symphony No. 1 (1922) * Symphony No. 2 (1923) * Symphony No. 3 (1943) * 4 Dance Pieces (1924) * Piano Concertino (1925) * Overture (1927) * Suite for Violin and Orchestra (1929) * Incidental music to Uriel Acosta (1930) * Allegro concertante for Piano and Strings and Trumpet (1930) * Serenade (1932) * Symphonic Movement (1933) * Contrapuntal Triptych (1934) * Nocturne: Jacob's Dream (1938) * Piano Concerto (1939) * Prelude and Gigue (1939) * Music for Strings (1941) * Polonaise symphonique (1943) * Vision dramatique (1945) * Salisbury Cove Overture (1949) * Sinfonia concertante (1951) * Prelude (1953) Chamber: * String Quartet No. 1 (1921) * String Quartet No. 2 (1925) * String Quartet No. 3 (1936) * String Quartet No. 4 (1946) * String Quartet No. 5 (1954) * Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano (1924) * Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano (1938) * Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (1927) * Trio for Violin, Clarinet, and Piano (1944) Solo Music: * Piano Sonata No. 1 (1920) * Piano Sonata No. 2 (1924) * Piano Sonata No. 3 (1927) * Piano Sonata No. 4 (1946)

Selected filmography

* ''

The Trunks of Mr. O.F. ''The Trunks of Mr. O.F.'' (German: ''Die Koffer des Herrn O.F.'') is a 1931 German comedy film directed by Alexis Granowsky and starring Alfred Abel, Peter Lorre, and Harald Paulsen. Produced by Tobis Film, it was made at the Johannisthal Studio ...

'' (1931) * '' The Brothers Karamazov'' (1931) * '' Here's Berlin'' (1932) * '' The Dictator'' (1935) * '' Let Us Live'' (1939)

External links

Karol Rathaus Collection Finding Aid, Queens College Special Collections and Archives
(Polish Music Journal, Vol. 6, No. 1, Summer 2003, article by Martin Schüssler)
Catalog Record at the German National Library (D-NB)
*

Sources

Schwarz, Boris. “Karol Rathaus.” The Musical Quarterly, vol. 41, no. 4, 1955, pp. 481–495.
www.jstor.org/stable/739972.
Guzy-Pasiak, Jolanta. "Karol Rathaus, the Transplanted Composer." Musicology Today: Émigré Composers 8 (2011): 163-77.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rathaus, Karol 1895 births 1954 deaths 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century German musicians Austrian film score composers Austrian male composers Austrian Jews German male composers German film score composers German military personnel of World War I Jewish American film score composers Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States Male film score composers Musicians from Ternopil Pupils of Franz Schreker Queens College, City University of New York faculty University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna alumni 20th-century American Jews