Kauffmann, Fritz (1855-1934)

[Ilja]

Thanks for clearing that up!

[Wheesht]

I have now had a look at the relevant files, it was not Kauffmann's death entry but the marriage record from 1889 that gives his religion as Protestant (Evangelisch in German).

[Alan Howe]

This, at least, is a relief. It seems that Franke was merely an opportunistic plagiarist rather than an antisemitic one. His association with a conductor who was a Nazi Party member may well have been simple opportunism too. Maybe he was intelligent enough not to plagiarise compositions by Jewish composers as, if discovered, it may have put him in danger.

Anyway, back to Kauffmann - who becomes more interesting with every post!

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks, Thomas. Good to get it confirmed.

[Alan Howe]

What this whole saga has done for me is to re-evaluate Kauffmann's superb symphony.

[Ilja]

That mirrors my own experience. I find it remarkable how much – for me, at least – the change of context from Franke's work to Kauffmann's, from pastiche to artistic earnestness (if that is the word), and from the Nazi years to the Imperial period makes the same music more enjoyable for me, and also more meaningful. I gave the work another spin from beginning to end this morning and my experience was very different from previous ones.

[Alan Howe]

Kauffmann now has a Wikipedia article in English all to himself, including mention of the Franke plagiarism:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Kauffmann

[eschiss1]

the sort key needed fixing, as it placed the composer under Fesca rather than Kauffmann for some heckknows reason.

[Alan Howe]

That's all 'Greek' to me. Let's hope someone can put it right.

[Mark Thomas]

Looks like you fixed it Eric, thank you, and thank you Ilja for posting it.

[Alan Howe]

Thanks, Eric. And thanks to Ilja for posting about Kauffmann.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Yes. It's a really splendid work (and nice to know it is by a real composer, not a Nazi stooge - well, we don't know he was that exactly, but he was certainly a charlatan). Now I would like to hear some of those Kauffmann concertos which Fleisher has.

[terry martyn]

The Symphony is a fine work, and I too am glad that this Wikipedia article gives him his due.

[Alan Howe]

Yes: it is indeed right and proper that, thanks to Reverie's work on synthesising Kauffmann's Symphony, we are now in a position to accord the composer some (albeit belated) recognition. And I agree with Gareth: we also need to hear some of his other compositions.

And at least the recording of the Symphony is a good one. It could certainly do with being re-issued with the correct attribution.

[Ilja]

Eric, thanks for the sorting correction. I had used the Fesca entry as a template since he shared quite a few categories with Kauffmann and thought I'd removed all the residue, but apparently not.