- Walter Kraft
Walter Kraft (
Cologne ,9 June 1905 -Amsterdam ,9 May 1977 ) was a Germanorganist and composer, best known for his remarkably long tenure (almost half a century, 1926-1972) at theMarienkirche, Lübeck .During this tenure, Kraft, who had been a student of
Paul Hindemith inBerlin , revived the practice of evening concerts of sacred works. Such concerts, collectively called "Abendmusik ", had been regularly given by his predecessors at the church, notablyDietrich Buxtehude andFranz Tunder ; but they had ceased in 1810, mainly due to the dislocation caused to northern Germany by the Napoleonic wars.Kraft made numerous records, usually for American labels, during the LP era — some of these have now re-emerged on CD — and as well as recording
Handel 's 12 organ concertos, he was the first person to commit to disc the entire solo organ output (or what was thought to be at the time the entire solo organ output) ofBach and Buxtehude. His discography also included pieces by more obscure German baroque musicians such asNikolaus Bruhns .Like his younger contemporary
Anton Heiller , Kraft also composed a fair amount (mostly organ music but also an oratorio called "Christus"), though as with Heiller, his fame as a performer completely upstaged his hopes of lasting renown as a creator. Once he retired in 1972 from the Marienkirche post, he apparently planned to write an opera, [ [http://www.christophorus-records.de/chr_v2/public/catalogue.php?action=select&cdNumber=77171 Christophorus Records 2005 ] ] but never finished any such work. He died along with 32 others when Amsterdam's Hotel Poland caught fire.References
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