Description
Book SynopsisThe first thorough examination of the most renowned and influential organist in early twentieth-century Germany and of his complex relationship to his country's tumultuous and shifting sociopolitical landscape. In the course of a multifaceted career, Karl Straube (1873-1950) rose to positions of immense cultural authority in a German musical world caught in unprecedented artistic and sociopolitical upheaval. Son of a German harmonium-builder and an intellectually inclined English mother, Straube established himself as Germany's iconic organ virtuoso by the turn of the century. His upbringing in Bismarck's Berlin encouraged him to develop intensive interests in world history and politics. He quickly became a sought-after teacher, editor, and confidante to composers and intellectuals, whose work he often significantly influenced. As the eleventh successor to J. S. Bach in the cantorate of St. Thomas School, Leipzig, he focused the choir's mission as curator of Bach's works and, in the unstable political climate of the interwar years, as international emissary for German art. His fraught exit from the cantorate in 1939 bore the scars of his Nazi affiliations and issued in a final decade of struggle and disillusionment as German society collapsed. Christopher Anderson's book presents the first richly detailed examination of Karl Straube's remarkable life, situated against the background of the dynamic and sometimes sinister nationalism that informed it. Through extensive examination of primary sources, Anderson reveals a brilliant yet deeply conflicted musician whose influence until now has been recognized, even hailed, but little understood.
Trade ReviewThe definitive work in any language. The research is impeccable. More than just a biography of an organist, this book puts the reader in the world of German culture and church music from the 1880s to the middle of the 20th century. Highest recommendation. * AMERICAN ORGANIST *
Written with sensitivity, [Anderson's book] goes into factual matters in fine detail but also gives a satisfying sense of [Straube as a] person. Straube's activities during the Third Reich are laid out with care, avoiding both hagiography and [negative] polemics. * MUSIC UND KIRCHE *
[This book's] utterly stunning quantity of information from primary sources... makes it an outstanding reference point not merely in debates around [Straube's] life and work ..., but also for interpreting Reger or for understanding Leipzig's musical history. * ARS ORGANI *
A thorough exploration of the life and work of Karl Straube,...a musician of the highest order [whose] solo organ playing was considered revolutionary. If you want to know a lot more about the life of this extraordinary musician...I would wholeheartedly recommend this book. * ORGANISTS' REVIEW *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements List of Abbreviations Introduction Part I. Berlin 1873-1897 1. Headwaters 2. Mentors 3. Liftoff Part II. Wesel 1897-1902 4. New beginnings 5. Reger 6. "I'd like finally to get on with it!" Part III. Leipzig 1903-1918 7. A Berliner in (little) Paris 8. Off the organ bench 9. Trouble in paradise 10. "In my naïveté" 11. Emmi Leisner 12. Deaths and transfigurations Part IV. Intermezzo: Leipzig 1918-1920 13. Decision point 14. Portraits in ambivalence Part V. Leipzig 1920-1929 15. On the road and at the negotiating table 16. Politics I 17. "When the days of darkness come" 18. Colleagues 19. The treadmill 20. Movements in time 21. "God preserve Karl Straube" Part VI. Leipzig 1930-1939 22. Bach on air 23. Politics II 24. Praeceptor Germaniae 25. The spring of our discontent 26. Beyond the Rhine 27. Deceptive cadence 28. Tempelreinigung Part VII. Leipzig 1940-1950 29. The Franciscan way 30. Perils 31. Götterdämmerung 1943 32. Gone with the wind 33. Reckonings 34. "Like sand through the fingers" Epilogue: Musical Offering Bibliography Index
