Raimund Leo Pechotsch (June 1864 – 20 January 1941) was a composer of romantic and incidental musical theatre pieces. He was a Roman Catholic who also conducted liturgical music.

Life

Pechotsch was born in

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to parents of Czechoslavakian origin, his father Adalbert Pechotsch being a composer of some note. He studied at the Vienna Conservatoire and privately under Eduard Remenyi. He was one of three brothers who were members of the Austrian Strauss Band in 1880: Raimund on first violin; Adolf and Rupert both on contra-bass and trumpet. The band had been contracted to perform at the Melbourne Exhibition of 1881. He remained in Australia, but moved to Sydney. He was in Brisbane then left for New Zealand 1889. Pechotsch was musical director for Australian stage producer

Oscar Asche John Stange(r) Heiss Oscar Asche (24 January 1871 – 23 March 1936), better known as Oscar Asche, was an Australian actor, director, and writer, best known for having written, directed, and acted in the record-breaking musical ''Chu Chin C ...

. Raimund also worked for music publisher Palings and taught violin and piano in Sydney for many years. Pechotsch wrote incidental music for Walter Howard's 1910 play ''

The Prince and the Beggarmaid ''The Prince and the Beggarmaid'' is a 1921 British silent drama film directed by A. V. Bramble and starring Henry Ainley, Kathleen Vaughan and Harvey Braban. It was based on a play by Walter Howard. Cast * Henry Ainley - Prince Olaf * Kat ...

'' which was very successful in London and Australia. He also wrote music (orchestrated for ensemble of twenty) to accompany ''"Pete"'' a Lewis Parker stage adaptation of

Hall Caine Sir Thomas Henry Hall Caine (14 May 1853 – 31 August 1931), usually known as Hall Caine, was a British novelist, dramatist, short story writer, poet and critic of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Caine's popularity during ...

's novel '' The Manxman''. Later in life he remarried Alice McCarthy, the daughter of fellow Australian composer Dr William Charles MacCarthy.

Works

* The cycling schottische * ''A lost love'' with words by

Frederick Augustus Packer Frederick Augustus Packer (1839–1902) was an Australian composer of Anglican spiritual and romantic music. He was born in Reading, Berkshire, in the United Kingdom He worked as a parliamentary civil servant and music teacher. He was a nephew to ...

* Emu waltz (1896) * For thee : song with violin obligato with words by Ernest Glanville-Hicks (father of

Peggy Glanville-Hicks Peggy Winsome Glanville-Hicks (29 December 191225 June 1990) was an Australian composer and music critic. Biography Peggy Glanville Hicks, born in Melbourne, first studied composition with Fritz Hart at the Albert Street Conservatorium in M ...

) * ''Fire a shot for the Empire'' with foreign journalist Dulcie Deamer * ''To a butterfly'' with Australian poet

Agnes Littlejohn Agnes Littlejohn (25 September 1865 – 27 December 1944) was an Australian writer. Life Agnes Littlejohn was born in Paddington, New South Wales on 25 September 1865. Her Scottish father, Thomas Littlejohn (d.1906) and his wife Ann Austin L ...

(1865-1944) * Sympathy Waltz * Gem Waltz * Cradle song : ''Chant du berceau'', written for Hall Caine's ''Pete'' * Romance, for violin with piano accompaniment * Liebslied (1915), written after the death of his son * ''My love and I'' (boat song) with lyrics by Marie Van Brakkel * ''Tears and pearls'' with lyrics by Henry C. de Witt * ''Monsieur Beaucaire'' waltz

Family

On 17 September 1885 Pechotsch married Mary Elizabeth Curtis (born 1858 – 23 December), née Dolman, widow of Peter Campbell Curtis and mother of William John Curtis, KC.(1 September 1881 – 24 May 1940) *Raimund Adalbert Pechotsch, aka Jan Rudenyi, (born 1 August 1886 – February 1915) was feted as a violin prodigy, having received his entire musical training from his father. :He had ten years education in Europe and returned to Australia in his twenties. *Eric Joachim Pechotsch, aka Eric Mareo (30 September 1891 – 1958), as a boy was a charming singer of humorous songs and later as musical director of the Ernest Rolls Revue and in 1935 of his own orchestra, a

dandy A dandy is a man who places particular importance upon physical appearance, refined language, and leisurely hobbies, pursued with the appearance of nonchalance. A dandy could be a self-made man who strove to imitate an aristocratic lifestyle des ...

who affected a long white

cigarette holder A cigarette holder is a fashion accessory, a slender tube in which a cigarette is held for smoking. Most frequently made of silver, jade or bakelite (popular in the past but now wholly replaced by modern plastics), cigarette holders were consid ...

and conducted with a

tinsel Tinsel is a type of decorative material that mimics the effect of ice, consisting of thin strips of sparkling material attached to a thread. When in long narrow strips not attached to thread, it is called "lametta", and emulates icicles. It was o ...

-covered ''baton''. He was convicted in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

, New Zealand, of the murder of his second wife Thelma née Trott, who died 15 April 1935 by

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poisoning. Thelma's lesbian lover Freda Stark was a key witness at the trial. Around 1938 he married again, to the widow O'Hara, née MacCarthy, daughter of Dr Charles MacCarthy, an Irish Home Rule activist. MacCarthy was frequently written M'Carthy. He had two brothers in Australia: *Rupert Joseph Pechotsch ( –1941) married Ada Euphemia Norris (c. 1863 – 15 March 1944) on 28 February 1882 lived Numurkah, Victoria, later

Highett, Victoria Highett is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 16 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Bayside and Kingston local government areas. Highett recorded a population of 12,016 at the ...

insolvent 1916 *Adolf Pechotsch (c. 1856 – October 1902) married Matilda Eppin (c. 1861 – 13 March 1885); and a second time to the widow Waldock c. 1896.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pechotsch, Raimund Austrian emigrants to Australia Australian composers 1864 births 1941 deaths