Paul Büttner (10 December 1870 – 15 October 1943) was a German choir director, music critic, music educator and composer of the late Romantic period.

Biography

Born in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

, Paul Büttner's parents originally came from the Eastern Ore Mountains. The father worked in a glass factory in

Löbtau Löbtau is a quarter or ''Stadtteil'' in south-west Dresden, Germany. It is part of the ''Stadtbezirk'' Cotta. It borders the quarters of Friedrichstadt, Cotta, Gorbitz Gorbitz is an area in south-west Dresden, Germany. It is part of the '' Stad ...

. Büttner wrote his first smaller compositions at the age of eight. After school he was given a place at the

Dresden Conservatory Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the List ...

. He first studied oboe and then took composition lessons from

Felix Draeseke Felix August Bernhard Draeseke (7 October 1835 – 26 February 1913) was a composer of the "New German School" admiring Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner. He wrote compositions in most forms including eight operas and stage works, four symphonies, ...

, whose most prominent pupil he became. His father's death made him responsible for the upkeep of his family. Büttner earned the money he needed by playing as an oboist in various smaller dance orchestras. After Paul Büttner became head of various workers' choirs, he worked from 1896 to 1907 as a choir conductor at the Dresden Conservatory. From 1905 he was given the post of federal conductor of the Dresden Workers' Association. In 1909, he married the journalist Eva Malzmann. He worked for 21 years from 1912 as a music critic for the social democratic ''Dresdner Volkszeitung''. In 1917 he received the title of professor, and was finally appointed artistic director of the Dresden Conservatory in 1924. When the

National Socialists Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

came to power in 1933, Paul Büttner was relieved of all his offices. He was ostracized, and the performance of his works prohibited, because of his political activity in previous years and because of his Jewish wife. He died in poverty on 15 October 1943 in Dresden. His grave is on the Neuer Annenfriedhof in Dresden.

Style

Büttner is one of the last symphonic composers in the direct succession of

Anton Bruckner Josef Anton Bruckner (; 4 September 182411 October 1896) was an Austrian composer, organist, and music theorist best known for his symphonies, masses, Te Deum and motets. The first are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-Germ ...

, along with such colleagues as

Richard Wetz Richard Wetz (26 February 1875 – 16 January 1935) was a German late Romantic composer best known for his three symphonies. In these works, he "seems to have aimed to be an immediate continuation of Bruckner, as a result of which he actually ...

. Other important influences include

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 ...

and his teacher Draeseke. He wrote vocal works, chamber music and symphonic works. The influence of

Richard 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 ...

can also be heard in his music. His most important compositions are his four

symphonies A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...

Legacy and recordings

Paul Büttner's estate was looked after by his wife Eva until her death in 1969. Afterwards it was administered by Büttner's daughter, who in 1982 transferred it to the

Saxon State and University Library Dresden The Saxon State and University Library Dresden (full name in german: Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden), abbreviated SLUB Dresden, is located in Dresden, Germany. It is both the regional library (german: ...

(SLUB). It contains compositions by Büttner with 48 catalog numbers and 12 volumes of music reviews, which Büttner wrote for the ''Sächsische Volkszeitung Dresden''. Büttner was largely forgotten after his death; although politically "reliable" for the

GDR East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

régime, his music was too anachronistic to be adopted by its artistic élites. Consequently, there are few commercial recordings of Büttner's work. The Fourth Symphony and the ''Heroic Overture'' received a recording by the Swedish Sterling label in 1996; his other symphonies, although never released on CD, can be heard on YouTube.Paul Büttner – Symphony No. 3 in D flat Major (1915)
Played by the Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Heinz Rögner

Selected works

Opera

* ''Menasche – Das Wunder der Isis'' * ''Anka'' * ''Rumpelstilzchen''

Orchestral

* Symphony No. 1 in F major (1898) * Symphony No. 2 in G major (1908) * Symphony No. 3 in D flat major (1915) * Symphony No. 4 in B minor (1918) * Prelude, Fugue and Epilogue ''Eine Vision'' (1920) * Heroic

Overture Overture (from French ''ouverture'', "opening") in music was originally the instrumental introduction to a ballet, opera, or oratorio in the 17th century. During the early Romantic era, composers such as Beethoven and Mendelssohn composed overt ...

in C major (1925) * Overture in B minor (1929) * Slavic dance, idyll and fugue (1932) * Concert piece for violin and orchestra in G major (1937; Score) * Overture to ''Napoleon oder die hundert Tage'' (

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

, or the

Hundred Days The Hundred Days (french: les Cent-Jours ), also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition, marked the period between Napoleon's return from eleven months of exile on the island of Elba to Paris on20 March 1815 and the second restoration ...

) by

Christian Dietrich Grabbe Christian Dietrich Grabbe (11 December 1801 – 12 September 1836) was a German dramatist of the ''Vormärz'' era. He wrote many historical plays conceiving a disillusioned and pessimistic world view, with some shrill scenes. Heinrich Heine ...

* ''Das Wunder der Isis'', burleske * ''Der Krieg'' (The War), Fantasy for Orchestra * ''Elegy'' for small orchestra * ''Über ein Deutsches Volkslied'' (On a German Folk Song), Fantasy for Orchestra

Choral

* ''Heut' und Ewig'' (from: ''

Des Knaben Wunderhorn ''Des Knaben Wunderhorn: Alte deutsche Lieder'' (German language, German; "The boy's magic horn: old German songs") is a collection of German folk poems and songs edited by Ludwig Achim von Arnim, Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano, and publi ...

'') for children's choir, soloists and orchestra (1919)

For brass band

* ''Saturnalia'', for brass and percussion

Chamber music

String Quartet The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists ...

in G minor (1914; Score) * Violin Sonata in C minor (1917; Score) * String Trio in the form of a Canon (1919) * 2 further

Violin Sonata A violin sonata is a musical composition for violin, often accompanied by a keyboard instrument and in earlier periods with a bass instrument doubling the keyboard bass line. The violin sonata developed from a simple baroque form with no fixed form ...

s * Six Argentinean Tangos
Trio sonate
Trio sonata for violin, viola and violoncello (canons with inversions in double counterpoint of the duodecime)

Discography

* Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Hans Peter Frank en Gerhard Pflüger, Symphony No. 4 in B minor, ''Heroic Overture'', Sterling CDS 1048-2, ADD, Originally recorded 1965 (Symphony) and 1974 (Overture).

Writings

* Paul Büttner: ''Musikgrundlehre. Ein Lehr- und Lernbuch'' (Berlin: Springer, 1908).

References

External links

*
Papers of Paul Büttner
in the Sächsischen Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Büttner, Paul 1870 births 1943 deaths People from Dresden Musicians from the Kingdom of Saxony German opera composers German male classical composers German Romantic composers 19th-century classical composers 19th-century German composers 19th-century German male musicians 20th-century classical composers 20th-century German composers 20th-century German male musicians