Karl Rankl
Karl Rankl (1 October 1898 – 6 September 1968) was a British conductor and composer who was of Austrian birth. A pupil of the composers
Rankl was appointed musical director of the newly formed
In his last years, Rankl concentrated on composing. Throughout his career he had written a series of symphonies and other works, including an opera. His symphonies were politely received, but did not enter the regular orchestral repertoire. The opera has never been performed.
Life and career
Early years
Rankl was born in
Rankl's first professional post was as chorus master and répétiteur under
In wartime Britain Rankl was unable to obtain a permit to work as a conductor until 1944, and he devoted much of his time to composition.[10] His widow later recalled that Rankl also played the viola in a string quartet during this period.[11] When he was eventually given the necessary work permit to resume his conducting career, Rankl conducted the Liverpool Philharmonic,[8] BBC Northern[12] and London Philharmonic Orchestras.[13] He made a favourable impression; The Times praised his "boundless energy … clear-cut performance and with a strong feeling for the shapely line of a melody."[13] William Glock in The Observer praised the "natural firmness" of his "splendid" and "authoritative" conducting of Beethoven.[12] Among those whom Rankl impressed was David Webster, chairman of the Liverpool Philharmonic.[8] In 1944, Webster was invited to set up a new opera company at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London. He turned to Rankl for advice and soon decided to appoint him musical director of the fledgling company.[10]
Covent Garden
Since 1939 there had been no opera or ballet at the Royal Opera House. Until the war, Covent Garden opera had consisted of privately sponsored seasons, principally in the summer months, with international stars, lavish productions, and a major symphony orchestra brought in to play in the orchestra pit.
Rankl was on the verge of going to Australia in response to an invitation from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation to conduct a 13-week season of 20 concerts.[16] He and the corporation were unable to agree terms, and in April 1946, he accepted the Covent Garden post. His appointment immediately caused controversy in musical circles. To those who hankered after the glamour of the pre-war seasons he was a minor figure among international maestros.[17] Among those outraged by Rankl's appointment was Sir Thomas Beecham, who had been in control of Covent Garden for much of the period from 1910 to 1939, and was furious at being excluded under the new regime. He publicly stated that the appointment of an alien, especially one bearing a German name was the "mystery of mysteries", and called the Covent Garden trustees a "hapless set of ignoramuses and nitwits".[18] Webster, however, realised that what the new Covent Garden company needed at this stage in its existence was not a star conductor but one of those who, in the words of the critic Desmond Shawe-Taylor "know the whole complex business of opera inside out, and retain in their blood the pre-war standards of a good continental opera house."[19] A biographer of Webster has written that under Rankl, "amazing progress" was made. He assembled and trained an orchestra and a chorus. He recruited and trained musical assistants.[20]
Having recruited and trained a largely British company of singers, Rankl, with Webster's strong support, persuaded international singers including Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Ljuba Welitsch, Hans Hotter and Paolo Silveri to appear with the company, singing in English. The company performed a wide repertory of German, Italian, Russian and English opera. It made its debut in January 1947 with Carmen, in a performance greeted by The Times as "worthy of the stage on which it appeared ... It revealed in Mr. Karl Rankl a musical director who knew how to conduct opera."[21] The company, headed by Edith Coates and including Dennis Noble, Grahame Clifford, David Franklin and Constance Shacklock, was warmly praised.[21] In the next two operas presented by the company, Rankl was thought a little stolid in The Magic Flute, but was praised for "weaving Strauss's flexible rhythms" in Der Rosenkavalier.[22] Rankl tackled the Italian repertoire, and new English works, winning praise for his Rigoletto, though with Peter Grimes he was compared to his disadvantage with the original conductor, Reginald Goodall.[23] A production of The Masteringers with Hotter as Sachs was judged "a further stage in the consolidation of the Covent Garden company".[24] Despite the good notices for his early seasons, Rankl had to cope with a vociferous public campaign by Beecham against the very idea of establishing a company of British artists; Beecham maintained that the British could not sing opera, and had produced only half a dozen first rate operatic artists in the past 60 years.[25]
In the next three years, Rankl built the company up, reluctantly casting foreign stars when no suitable British singer could be found, and resisting attempts by Webster to invite eminent guest conductors.
Later years
In 1952, Rankl was appointed conductor of the
In December 1957, Rankl was appointed musical director of the Elizabethan Trust Opera Company in Australia.[38] In his first season, he conducted Carmen, Peter Grimes, Fidelio, Lohengrin and The Barber of Seville.[39] He conducted the company at the inaugural Adelaide Festival in 1960, in Richard Strauss's Salome and Puccini's Il trittico.[40]
Towards the end of his life, Rankl retired to St. Gilgen, near Salzburg in Austria. He died there at the age of 69.[41]
Compositions and recordings
As a composer, Rankl wrote eight symphonies (1938, 1941, 1944, 1953, 1954, 1961, 1962, 1963), a string quartet, and 60 songs.[41] He also wrote an opera, Deirdre of the Sorrows (based on J.M. Synge's play), which won one of the prizes offered by the Arts Council for the Festival of Britain in 1951.[42] The opera has never been performed (other than the broadcast of short extracts).[43] Rankl extracted a suite for large orchestra from the score in 1956.[44] His reputation today lies almost entirely on his work as a conductor, and little of his music has ever been published.[7] The few recordings (broadcast and commercial) of his own music include:
- Deirdre of the Sorrows. Extracts broadcast in 'The Quest for Deidrie', BBC Radio 3, 31 October 1995[43]
- Seven Songs for Baritone, op 6 (1939–42). One song: No 6 'The Whim', on Continental Britons - The Émigré Composers, Nimbus NI5730 (2004)
- Sonata Concertante for double bass and piano (1957), on 'The Music of Bosch, Rankl, Sprongl, Hindemith', Meridien CDE 84626 (2015)
- Suite for Strings (1953). Recorded by the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Broadcast 14 November 1953.[45]
- Symphony No 1 (1938). First broadcast performance by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Karl Rankl, on 18 March 1953.[46]
- Symphony No 5 (1954). First broadcast performance by the Scottish National Orchestra under Karl Rankl, on 10 May 1957.[47]
- War: Eleven Songs for Baritone, op 10 (1939–42). Two songs: No 4, 'They' and No 5, 'Bohmisches Rekrutenlied' on Continental Britons - The Émigré Composers, Nimbus NI5730 (2004)
- (with Hans Eisler and Erwin Stein): arrangement of Bruckner's Symphony No 7 for chamber ensemble. Capriccio C10864 (2002)
Rankl made few recordings for the gramophone. In the late 1940s, for Decca he conducted Beethoven's First Symphony, Schubert's Fourth Symphony, Brahms's Fourth Symphony and Dvořák's New World Symphony; Dvořák's Cello Concerto (with Maurice Gendron) and Violin Concerto (with Ida Haendel); a Bach Cantata (Schlage Doch, BWV 53) and overtures and other shorter pieces by Beethoven, Cimarosa, Dvořák, Rossini, Smetana, Richard Strauss, Wagner and Weber.[48]
Rankl recorded excerpts from the operatic repertory with the
Notes
- ^ a b c d Obituary, The Times, 7 September 1968, p. 10
- ^ Jackson, T, and Hawkshaw, P. Bruckner Studies (1997), p 206
- ^ Thomas Christian Ensemble, MDG CD 603 1313-2 (2004), reviewed at MusicWeb International
- ^ Heyworth, Peter. "The Fragments of a Giant", The Observer, 25 June 1961, p. 23
- ^ The Times obituarist identified the unfinished Schoenberg piece in question as the opera Moses und Aron.
- ^ Tolansky, Jon. "Karl Rankl," The Oxford Companion to Music, Oxford Music Online, accessed 3 April 2011 (subscription required)
- ^ a b c d Howes, Frank. "Rankl, Karl,"Grove Music Online Oxford Music Online, accessed 3 April 2011 (subscription required)
- ^ a b c Haltrecht, p. 80
- ^ "Austrian Conductor – A.B.C. Engagement", The West Australian, 18 October 1945 p. 3
- ^ a b Harewood, p. 68
- ^ Conway, Paul. "Karl Rankl (1898–1968)", Music Web International, accessed 3 April 2011
- ^ a b Glock, William, "Music", The Observer, 21 January 1945, p. 2
- ^ a b "The Coliseum Concerts", The Times, 6 April 1945, p. 6
- ^ Haltrecht, pp. 51–52
- ^ Haltrecht pp. 60 and 67–79
- ^ "A.B.C. Concerts – Change Announced", The West Australian 11 March 1946, p. 6
- ^ Haltrecht, p. 79
- ^ "Sir T. Beecham Hits at Opera Plan", The Mercury, 7 January 1949, p. 3
- ^ Haltrecht, p. 81
- ^ Haltrecht pp.81–82
- ^ a b "The Royal Opera", The Times, 15 January 1947, p. 6
- ^ "Covent Garden Opera", The Times, 21 March 1947, p. 6, and 23 April 1947, p/ 7
- ^ "The Royal Opera", The Times, 1 November 1947, p. 6, and "Covent Garden Opera", The Times, 29 November 1947, p. 6
- ^ "Covent Garden", The Times, 22 January 1948, p. 6
- ^ "Opera Trust Criticized. Sir T. Beecham Calls for Inquiry", The Times, 6 January 1949, p. 2
- ^ Haltrecht, p. 133
- ^ Haltrecht, pp. 145 and 150
- ^ Haltrecht, pp. 137–138
- ^ Haltrecht, p. 146
- ^ In fact Flagstad sang her last Isolde, with the Covent Garden company on tour in Liverpool the following month with Rankl conducting. See "Mme Flagstad's last Isolde", The Manchester Guardian, 25 July 1951, p. 5
- ^ Haltrecht, p. 150
- ^ "Mme Flagstad's last Isolde", The Manchester Guardian, 25 July 1951, p. 5
- ^ "Conductorship for Dr Karl Rankl", The Manchester Guardian, 6 June 1952, p. 5
- ^ Cardus, Neville. "A great conductor", The Manchester Guardian, 9 September 1953, p. 4
- ^ "Schoenberg's 'Gurrelieder'," The Manchester Guardian, 27 August 1954, p. 5
- ^ Cardus, Neville. "Berlioz and Mahler at Edinburgh", The Manchester Guardian, 9 September 1954, p. 5
- ^ Cardus, Neville. "Edinburgh Festival", The Manchester Guardian, 4 September 1956, p. 5
- ^ "Dr Karl Rankl's new appointment", The Times, 12 December 1957, p. 3
- ^ "Musician's wife loves life", The Australian Women's Weekly, 4 June 1958, p. 29
- ^ "Adelaide's first festival", The Guardian, 22 October 1959, p. 8
- ^ a b "Dr. Karl Rankl", The Guardian, 7 September 1968, p. 2
- ^ Nathaniel G. Lew Tonic to the Nation: Making English Music in the Festival of Britain p.154
- ^ a b 'The Quest for Deidrie', BBC Genome listing
- ^ Karl Rankl: Chronology and List of Works
- ^ Radio Times issue 1565, 8 November 1953, p 49
- ^ Radio Times, issue 1531, 15 March 1953
- ^ Radio Times issue 1756, 7 July 1957, p 39
- ^ a b Stuart, Philip. " Decca Classical, 1929–2009". Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music, July 2009, accessed 11 May 2011
References
- Haltrecht, Montague (1975). The Quiet Showman: Sir David Webster and the Royal Opera House. London: Collins. ISBN 0-00-211163-2.
- OCLC 559698782.
- Lucas, John (2008). Thomas Beecham – An Obsession with Music. Woodbridge: Boydell Press. ISBN 978-1-84383-402-1.
External links
- Interview with Mrs Christine Rankl
- List of émigré composers in Britain