Hugo Kauder

Hugo Kauder (9 June 1888 – 22 July 1972) was an Austrian-Jewish composer, music theorist, and teacher. He composed in a relatively traditional, Brahmsian contrapuntal–harmonic manner with substantial modal mixture. Kauder sought a synthesis of sound and word in his vocal music and was attentive to texts, praising the word painting of Schoenberg's Op. 15 Stefan George settings. He was close to Rudolph Pannwitz, who wrote aphorisms and was influenced by George and Friedrich Nietzsche. He wrote over 300 works. A society (2002) and performance competition (2003) were founded in his name. Biography Kauder was born in Tovačov. His father Ignaz was Oberlehrer (principal) of the local German language primary school. The local violin teacher gave the boy Kauder lessons. This was his only formal training in music. In 1905, Kauder moved to Vienna to study engineering. He often skipped school with Egon Lustgarten to study scores in the Imperial Court Library. Several volumes of Guido Adler's Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich, a compendium of music including that of the Franco-Flemish School, especially interested him. He cited Josquin des Prez as a "teacher". From 1911 to 1917, Kauder played violin in the Wiener Tonkünstler-Orchester under Ferdinand Loewe, Franz Schalk, Arthur Nikisch, and Richard Strauss. So began a lifelong friendship with Dutch hornist Willem Valkenier (1887–1986), which inspired many horn compositions. From 1917 to 1922, Kauder was the violist of the Gottesmann Quartet. He was a member of Arnold Schoenberg's Society for Private Musical Performances, to which he referred (perhaps skeptically) as "our club" in a 1918 letter to Alban Berg. He mentioned practicing Karl Weigl's String Quartet No. 1 on viola d'amore for a Feb. 1919 concert. At a Nov. 1919 concert, he played in Igor Stravinsky's Pribaoutki, Schoenberg conducting. Kauder met poet and philosopher Rudolph Pannwitz at Bad Gastein in Dec. 1919, who he came to regard as a mentor.