August Reuß (6 March 1871 – 18 June 1935) was a German composer.

Life

Reuß was born in Liliendorf,

Moravia Moravia ( ; ) is a historical region in the eastern Czech Republic, roughly encompassing its territory within the Danube River's drainage basin. It is one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The medieval and early ...

. His father ran a railway construction company, and his grandfather had worked as a teacher and organist in

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the Franconia#Towns and cities, third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It sp ...

Lower Franconia Lower Franconia (, ) is one of seven districts of Bavaria, Germany. The districts of Lower, Middle and Upper Franconia make up the region of Franconia. It consists of nine districts and 308 municipalities (including three cities). History After ...

. He joined his father's company after his secondary school years in

Ingolstadt Ingolstadt (; Austro-Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an Independent city#Germany, independent city on the Danube, in Upper Bavaria, with 142,308 inhabitants (as of 31 December 2023). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan ...

. Due to his father's early death, Reuß had to wait until 1899, before he could finally start studying music with

Ludwig Thuille Ludwig Wilhelm Andreas Maria Thuille (30 November 1861 – 5 February 1907) was an Austrian composer and teacher, numbered for a while among the leading operatic composers of the so-called Munich School of composers, whose most famous representa ...

in Munich after a long period of self-taught activity. Reuß worked as

Kapellmeister ( , , ), from German (chapel) and (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 has evolved considerably in i ...

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; ) is the Capital city, capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is on the Elbe river. Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archbishopric of Mag ...

and

Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...

, but had to interrupt due to illness. In 1909, he settled in Munich as a freelance musician. He became co-founder of the Trapp School of Music (1927), the forerunner of today's , and worked there as a teacher of composition. In 1929, he was appointed to the Akademie der Tonkünste, of which he remained a member and teacher until his death. Autobiographical notes, reports critical of culture, and a manuscript of a theory of function (''Funktionslehre'') have survived. A high conception of the ethos of art determined his thinking and work. The main focus of his compositional work was

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

and song, supplemented by

symphonic poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ( ...

s and two stage works. His often austere, sensitive tonal language is similar to his contemporaries

Max Reger Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger (19 March 187311 May 1916) was a German composer, pianist, organist, conductor, and academic teacher. He worked as a concert pianist, a musical director at the Paulinerkirche, Leipzig, Leipzig University Chu ...

and

Hans Pfitzner Hans Erich Pfitzner (5 May 1869 – 22 May 1949) was a German composer, conductor and polemicist who was a self-described anti-modernist. His best known work is the post-Romantic opera ''Palestrina'' (1917), loosely based on the life of the ...

, in clearly thought-out forms, idiosyncratic voice leading and pithy

harmony In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...

. Reuß died in Munich at the age of 64.

Work

In the years after the First World War, Reuß turned away from new musical trends. Since then, he wrote in a simple, transparent style. Especially in pieces for smaller instrumentations he realised his tonal language, which differed greatly from his early expansive late romantic works, which were strongly based on altered harmonies.

Reuß broke away from the voluptuous, pathetic romanticism of the
turn of the century The turn of the century is the transition from one century to another, or the time period before or after that change in centuries. Usage The phrase "turn of the century" is generally understood to mean the change (whether upcoming or past) clo ...
and achieved an independent tonal language of subtle differentiation of means of expression, often overpowering by strong ideas. In the works of the mature period, he also achieved
diatonic Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are used to characterize scales. The terms are also applied to musical instruments, intervals, chords, notes, musical styles, and kinds of harmony. They are very often used as a pair ...
relaxation of harmony and melody and genuine
polyphony Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice ( monophony) or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chord ...
. ( MGG)

Source for the list of works:

Stage music

* ''Herzog Philipps Brautfahrt'' (after Hanns von Gumppenberg), Opernlustspiel 3 acts (1909 Graz). * ''Glasbläser und Dogaressa'' (after Robert Laurency), ''Romantische Ballettpantomime'' op. 46 (1926 Munich). * ''Laterne und Mantel'', Pantomime op. 47 (1924).

Orchestral work

* ''Johannisnacht. Tondichtung für Orchester'', op. 19 * ''Judith. Tondichtung für Orchester nach Hebbels gleichnamiger Tragödie'', op. 20 * ''Sommer-Idylle'', op. 39 * ''Serenade für Violine und kleines Orchester''. op. 41 * Piano Concerto, op. 48

Music for piano

* Piano Sonata, op. 27 * ''Fantasie'' in A minor for two pianos, op. 42 * ''Goldammer. Ein Stimmungsbild für Klavier.'', op. 43,1 * ''Kleine Sonate für Klavier'', op. 55

Chamber music

* Quintet in F minor, op. 12 * Strin Quartet in D minor, op. 25 * Piano Trio, op. 30 * String Quartet in E major (''Frühlings-Quartett'')' op. 31 * ''Romantische Sonate für Violine und Klavier'', op. 35 * Oktet for 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 horns and 2 bassoons in B major, op. 37

Vocal music

* ''Gotenzug'' (after

Felix Dahn Felix Ludwig Julius Dahn (9 February 1834 – 3 January 1912) was a German law professor and nationalist author, poet and historian. Biography Felix Ludwig Julius Dahn was born in Hamburg as the oldest son of Friedrich (1811–1889) and Constan ...

) op. 5 * ''Tag & Nachtgesänge'' from

Gottfried Keller Gottfried Keller (19 July 1819 – 15 July 1890) was a Swiss poet and writer of German literature. Best known for his novel '' Green Henry'' (German: ''Der grüne Heinrich'') and his cycle of novellas called '' Seldwyla Folks'' (''Die Leute von Se ...

's Buch der Natur (5 songs) op. 7 * ''7 Gedichte'' on texts by and

Franz Evers Franz Evers (10 July 1871 – 14 September 1947) was first a bookseller and from 1889, editor of the monthly journal ''Litterarische Blätter''. Life Evers was born in Winsen (Luhe), Winsen an der Luhe. In 1892, together with Carl Hermann Bus ...

, op. 17 * ''Zwei Melodramen'' after

Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; ; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was an outstanding poet, writer, and literary criticism, literary critic of 19th-century German Romanticism. He is best known outside Germany for his ...

, op. 21 * ''Sechs Gedichte'' on texts by Hanns von Gumppenberg, Franz Evers,

Conrad Ferdinand Meyer Conrad Ferdinand Meyer (11 October 1825 – 28 November 1898) was a Swiss poet and historical novelist, a master of literary realism who is mainly remembered for stirring narrative ballads like "Die Füße im Feuer" (The Feet in the Fire). Biog ...

and Ludwig Jacobowski, op. 23 * ''3 Gedichte'' on texts by Franz Evers, Hans Probst and

Gustav Falke Gustav Falke (11 January 1853 – 8 February 1916) was a German writer. Life Falke was born in Lübeck to merchant Johann Friedrich Christian Falke and his wife Elisabeth Franziska Hoyer. The historians Johannes and were his uncles, and the t ...

, op. 28 * ''4 Gedichte'' on texts by Marie Itzerott and Ludwig Jacobowski, op. 29 * ''Vier Gesänge'', op. 32 * ''Fünf Gedichte'', op. 34 * ''Acht Lieder'', op. 36 * ''Sechs Lieder'', op. 44 * ''Mehrstimmige Kinderlieder'', op. 49 * ''Haec dies'', op. 50 * ''Weihnachtslieder für Jugendchor'', op. 58

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Reuss, August German composers Moravian-German people 1871 births 1935 deaths People from Znojmo District Emigrants from Austria-Hungary to Germany