Hans Krása

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Hans Krása
Krása before 1935
Born(1899-11-30)30 November 1899
Died17 October 1944(1944-10-17) (aged 44)
OccupationComposer

Hans Krása (30 November 1899 – 17 October 1944) was a

Theresienstadt concentration camp
.

Life

Hans Krása was born in Prague, the son of Anna (Steiner) and Karl Krása, a lawyer.

Neues Deutsches Theater, where he met the composer and conductor Alexander von Zemlinsky
, who had a major influence on Krása's career.

In 1927 he followed Zemlinsky to Berlin, where he was introduced to

Georg Szell and was awarded the Czechoslovak State Prize.[citation needed
]

Red Cross in 1944. While he was interned in the ghetto, Krása was at his most productive, producing a number of chamber works including Tans, Theme with Variations, and Pascaglia and Fugue, [2] although, due to the circumstances, some of these have not survived.[citation needed] He also contributed to the musical culture of Theresienstadt as a pianist, accompanist, and conductor.[2]

Death

Along with fellow composers Viktor Ullmann, Pavel Haas and Gideon Klein, Krása was taken to Auschwitz. He was murdered on 17 October 1944; he was not yet 45 years old.

Works

  • 4 Orchesterlieder, Op. 1 (1920) (text by Christian Morgenstern)
  • String Quartet, Op. 2 (1921)
  • Symphonie für kleines Orchester (1923)
  • 5 Lieder, Op. 4, for voice and piano (1925) (text by Rainer Maria Rilke, Catullus, Christian Morgenstern)
  • Feodor Dostoyevsky
  • Die Erde ist des Herrn (The Earth is the Lord's) (1931), cantata for soloists, chorus and orchestra.
  • Kammermusik for harpsichord and seven instruments (1936)
  • Theme and Variations for string quartet (1936)
  • Brundibár (1938–43), symbolic anti-Nazi opera
  • Three Songs for baritone, clarinet, viola and cello (1943) (text by Arthur Rimbaud)
  • Overture for small orchestra (1943)
  • Tanec, dance for string trio (1944)
  • Passacaglia and Fugue for string trio (1944)[3]

Recordings

His Three Songs after poems by Arthur Rimbaud, Čtyřverší, Vzrušení and Přátelé, sung by Christian Gerhaher, appear on the CD Terezín - Theresienstadt initiated by Anne Sofie von Otter, Deutsche Grammophon, 2007.[4]

His String Quartet appears on Pavel Haas and Hans Krása: String Quartets, performed by the Hawthorne String Quartet as part of the Decca series, Entartete Musik, label: Decca 440 853–2.[5] As part of the same series his opera Verlobung im Traum (Betrothal in a Dream) and Symphonie appeared in recordings by the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin conducted by Lothar Zagrosek and Vladimir Ashkenazy respectively, label: Decca 455 587–2.[6]

References

  1. ^ Taylor, Stephen (1935). Who's who in Central and East-Europe. Central European Times Publishing Company, Limited.
  2. ^ .
  3. ^ Universal Edition, Boosey & Hawkes, Bote & Bock (music publishers)
  4. ^ "Terezín - Theresienstadt". cduniverse.com. 2010. Retrieved 9 December 2010.
  5. New York Magazine
    (June 9, 1997) pp. 82-83. Retrieved 7 December 2010.
  6. ^ Bates, Peter "Krása - Verlobung im Traum, Symphonie". Classical Net Review Retrieved 1 March 2014.

Further reading

External links