Max Paul Eugen Bekker (11 September 1882 – 7 March 1937) was a German

music critic ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of mus ...

and author. Described as having "brilliant style and ..extensive theoretical and practical knowledge," Bekker was chief music critic for both the ''

Frankfurter Zeitung The ''Frankfurter Zeitung'' () was a German-language newspaper that appeared from 1856 to 1943. It emerged from a market letter that was published in Frankfurt. In Nazi Germany, it was considered the only mass publication not completely controlle ...

'' (1911–1923), and later the ''

New Yorker Staats-Zeitung The ''New Yorker Staats-Zeitung'', nicknamed ''"The Staats"'', claims to be the leading German language, German-language weekly newspaper in the United States and is one of the oldest, having been published since the mid-1830s. In the late 19th c ...

'' (1934–1937).

Life and career

Max Paul Eugen Bekker was born in Berlin on 11 September 1882 as the only child of Hirsch Nachmann Michel Bekker and Olga Elsner. He studied piano with Alfred Sormann, theory with Benno Horwitz, and violin with Fabian Rehfeld. He began his career as a violinist in 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 ...

, before employment as a conductor between 1902 and 1905. He ceased playing violin professionally in 1906, although continued to give lessons privately. After Bekker stopped professional performance he began music criticism, publishing monographs on

Oskar Fried Oskar Fried (1 August 1871 – 5 July 1941) was a German conductor and composer. He was known as a great admirer of Gustav Mahler, whose works he performed many times throughout his life. Fried was also the first conductor to record a Mahler symph ...

(1906/7) and

Jacques Offenbach Jacques Offenbach (, also , , ; 20 June 18195 October 1880) was a German-born French composer, cellist and impresario of the Romantic period. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s to the 1870s, and his uncompleted opera '' ...

(1909), as well as a successful book on

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

in 1911. The work on Beethoven brought him to national prominence and earned him a position at the ''

''. In 1916 he published ''Das deutsche Musikleben,'' considered by

Carl Dahlhaus Carl Dahlhaus (10 June 1928 – 13 March 1989) was a German musicologist who was among the leading postwar musicologists of the mid to late 20th-century. A prolific scholar, he had broad interests though his research focused on 19th- and 20th- ...

to be a seminal work in music sociology. Two concepts introduced in that work are the idea of "form" and of music as a "socially formative force" (''gesellschaftbildende Kraft''). In his 1918 work ''Die Sinfonie von Beethoven bis Mahler'', Bekker developed the idea that symphony had a "community-building force" (''gemeinschaftbildende Kraft''). This concept was influential in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

via

Boris Asafyev Boris Vladimirovich Asafyev (russian: link=no, Бори́с Влади́мирович Аса́фьев; 27 January 1949) was a Russian and Soviet composer, writer, musicologist, musical critic and one of founders of Soviet musicology. He is the ...

, and was drawn on by

Theodor Adorno Theodor is a masculine given name. It is a German form of Theodore. It is also a variant of Teodor. List of people with the given name Theodor * Theodor Adorno, (1903–1969), German philosopher * Theodor Aman, Romanian painter * Theodor Blueger, ...

in his essay "Radio Physiognomics". Bekker fled Germany for

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

after

Hitler's rise to power Adolf Hitler's rise to power began in the newly established Weimar Republic in September 1919 when Hitler joined the '' Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (DAP; German Workers' Party). He rose to a place of prominence in the early years of the party. Be ...

, and emigrated to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

in 1934, becoming chief music critic of the ''

''. He died in New York on 7 March 1937. Bekker married three times: to Dora Zelle between 1909 and 1920, to Hanna vom Rath between 1920 and 1930, and to Margit Reinhard from 1935 until his death. He had one child with Zelle and three with Rath. The music library of

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

houses the ''Paul Bekker Collection'', which contains Bekker's correspondence, documents, photographs, printed scores, and manuscripts, given to Yale by the wife of Bekker's eldest son, Konrad.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bekker, Paul 1882 births 1937 deaths German music critics Beethoven scholars German emigrants to the United States 20th-century musicologists Classical music critics