Paul Graener

Paul Graener (b. Berlin, January 11, 1872 – d. Salzburg, November 13, 1944) was a German composer and conductor.

Biography

Graener was orphaned as a young child, and was a boy soprano in Berlin. He taught himself composition and moved to London in 1896, serving briefly as conductor at the Haymarket Theatre and gave private lessons. In London he married Marie; they had three children together. Around 1910 Graener moved to Vienna, teaching at the New Conservatory. He moved several times in the 1910s, living in Salzburg, Dresden, and Munich, eventually accepting the position of professor of composition at the Leipzig Conservatory previously held by Max Reger. In 1925 he quit the post to focus on composition.

Returning to Berlin in 1930, he directed the "Stern'sches Konservatorium" and, from 1935 to 1941, served as professor of composition at the "Reichsmusikkammer". This position, previously held by Wilhelm Furtwängler, was a Nazi organization, though the extent to which Graener sympathized with Nazi ideals is a subject of debate. During World War II, Graener's Berlin apartment was bombed and he moved with his family to Wiesbaden, Munich, Vienna, and Salzburg successively. Graener died in Salzburg at the age of seventy-two in 1944.

Stylistically, Graener was heavily indebted to the late Romanticism of Richard Strauss and Max Weber.

Works

Operas

*"The Faithful Sentry" op. 1 (premiered 1899)cite web|title=Klassika Page for Paul Graener|url=http://www.klassika.info/Komponisten/Graener_Paul/wv_gattung.html|accessdate=2007-12-08]
*"Das Narrengericht" op. 38 (1913)
*"Don Juans letztes Abenteuer" op. 42 (1914)
*"Theophano" op. 48 (premiered 1918, Munich)
*"Schirin und Gertraude" op. 51 (1920)
*"Hanneles Himmelfahrt" W/o Op. (1927)
*"Friedemann Bach" op. 90 (1931) (after Albert Emil Brachvogel's novel)
*"Der Prinz von Homburg" op. 100 (1935)

Orchestral

*Sinfonietta for Strings and Harp, op. 27 (1910)
*Symphony in D Minor "Schmied Schmerz" (1912, op. 39)
*"Aus dem Reiche des Pan" (1920)
*"Variationen über ein russisches Volkslied" op. 55 (from 1926)
*"Concerto for Cello and Chamber Orchestra" op. 78 (published in 1927)
*"Die Flöte von Sanssouci" (1930)
*"Comedietta" op. 82
*"Variationen über Prinz Eugen" (1939)
*"Turmwächterlied" (1938)
*"Wiener Sinfonie" (1941, First Performance: Hans Knappertsbusch, Berlin Philharmonic)
*Flute Concerto op. 116

Chamber music

*4 String Quartets (incl. opp. 54, 65 and 80 published 1920-8 )
*Suite op. 63 for flute and piano (published in 1924 )

Other

*ca. 130 songs

References

*Don Randel, "The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music". Harvard, 1996, p. 327.

External links

* [http://www.paul-graener.de/en/welcome.html Site dedicated to Graener]