Gerhard von Keussler

[Wheesht]

Gerhard von Keussler was born in what is today Gulbene in Latvia (then also called Schwanenburg in German) on 23 June 1874 and died at Niederwartha, Dresden on 21 August 1949. As a youth, he was encouraged by Anton Rubinstein to pursue a musical career, and went to Leipzig to study until 1902 – composition with Reinecke, the cello with Klengel and counterpoint with Jadassohn. From 1906 he was in Prague as a conductor and composer and lecturer on music history and music aesthetics. His Symphony in A major, the symphonic drama 'Gefängnisse' (prisons) and the oratorio Jesus of Nazareth were all first performed there. From 1922 to 1933 he lived in Stuttgart and Breslau (Wroclaw) where more works were performed – as in Prague, they were mostly conducted by himself: 'Das große Bündnis', Symphony in d-minor. In 1926 the Gerhard von Keussler Gesllschaft was founded to promote his works. He himself dissolved it in 1933 when he was told by the Nazi regime to exclude Jewish members. From 1933 to 1935 he lived in Australia, but returned to Germany where working conditions for non-Jewish musicians had improved somewhat. because of his protests against national  socialist anti-Jewis policies, he was excluded from the Reichsmusikkammer and tried to return to Australia, but in vain. On 10 May 1939 his symphonic fantasy 'Australia' for large orchestra was premiered in Berlin. Erwin Kroll in 'Ein deutscher Musiker (on Gerhard Keussler's 65th birthday), in: Allgemeine Musikzeitung 30. Juni 1939 and also in his biographical entry in the 1951 edition of MGG (Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart) describes him as being a very special late example of German late romantic music, stylistically close to Draeseke, Pfitzner, Wetz and Kaminski. He has an entry in German wikipedia.
His literary and musical estate is held at the Goethe and Schiller archives in Weimar.

[Alan Howe]

Any idea what the music is like?

[Wheesht]

Not really - all I have is a description saying that his music is deeply serious and that his works were often hard to understand, difficult to perform and challenging because of the large forces involved. Apparently, his (sacred) oratorios are to be counted as his most important works.

[Rainolf]

Good news for everybody who wants to explore the works of Gerhard von Keußler! 2019 was the 70th anniversary of the composer's death, which made that his works are now in public domain in Germany. The first results of this are new printings of some of his works. Keußler had the misfortune that only one of his orchestral pieces, the "Symphonic Fresco" Auferstehung und Jüngstes Gericht (Resurrection and Final Judgement) for melodramatic speaker and orchestra, was published in his lifetime. All his other symphonies and symphonic poems remained in manuscript until now. The musicologist Denis Lomtev has now edited this works from the original manuscripts, stored in the Goethe-Schiller-Archiv Weimar, and started an edition in the Laurentius-Musikverlag. At the moment four pieces are published in full score:

-Juninacht am Meer (A Night in June at the Seashore), a short impressionistic tone poem
-Praeludium Solemne for organ and orchestra, a processional piece written for the clergy of Melbourne Cathedral
-Die Burg (The Castle), a patriotic tone poem (really a cantata, praising Wartburg Castle in Eisenach, Thuringia)
-Morgenländische Fantasie (Oriental Fantasia), tone poem

Here is the website:

https://www.laurentius-musikverlag.de/musik-des-20-21-jahrhunderts/gerhard-von-keu%C3%9Fler/

Musikproduktion Höflich has reprinted the first edition of Keußler's oratorio Zebaoth. Herewith this piece is for the first time available in full score. On the website of the publisher you can read the informative preface by the great discoverer of unsung music, Christoph Schlüren, too:

https://repertoire-explorer.musikmph.de/de/produkt/keussler-gerhard-von/

It is to be hoped that this publications will interest recording companies for this highly original composer, whose works had to long remained in obscurity!

[Wheesht]

Interesting, thank you. I'd almost forgotten about him.

[Alan Howe]

Here's Mr Schlüren's preface:

Gerhard von Keußler - Zebaoth
Biblical Oratorio for mixed choir, two single voices, large boys' choir, orchestra and organ (1908/23)

(b. 23 June 1874, Schwanenburg [Gulbene, Latvia] – d. 21 August 1949, Niederwartha near Dresden)

Erster Teil: ,Vor der hohen Stadt'
Tranquillo (p. 3) – ,Die Nacht ist um' (p. 7) – ,Führe uns nicht in Versuchung!' (p. 36) – Nicht bin ich der, von dem ihr redet' (p. 77) – ,Herr, wer im Geist festhält Deinen Bund' (p. 113)
   
Zweiter Teil: ,In den Gefilden des Herrn'
Mosso leggiero (p. 127) – ,Wie ein Hirte seine Schafe suchet' (p. 135) – ,Ich hebe meine Augen auf' (p. 145) – ,Habt ihr nicht gesehn' (p. 157) – ,Der Herr ist dein Hirte' (p. 176) – ,In der Zeit meiner Not suche ich den Herrn' (p. 190) – Mosso risoluto (p. 203) – ,Gott ist unsre Burg' (p. 216) – ,Seid friedlich' (p. 227)

    Gerhard von Keußler is a special case in music history: he was one of the greatest composers of his generation, and at the same time the last performances of his major works took place during his lifetime, and to this day not a single recording of even one of Keußler's works was done. As a sacred composer, he is one of the greatest masters of the first half of the 20th century and is a worthy successor to Bruckner, Brahms and Draeseke in his contrapuntal mastery, poignant harmonies and unorthodox, broad, compelling forms. His three symphonies and other orchestral works, which, with one early exception, have so far only been available in manuscript, are, if competent contemporary witnesses are to be believed, presumably not of lesser quality. Keußler also contributed significantly as a theorist and essayist until he refused to join the national-socialist Reichsschrifttumkammer in 1935 and therefore was no longer allowed to publish any literary works. The rapid forgetting of his musical work probably has to do with the fact that he almost always conducted his music, which was not easy to perform, himself and thus at the time of his death no other conductor had it in his repertoire.

    Gerhard von Keußler grew up in a Baltic-German pastoral family in Latvia, which moved to St. Petersburg in 1885. At his father's insistence, he first studied botany from 1894 in Dorpat (Tartu) in today's Estonia, but at that time his vocation became clear. From 1900-02 he studied composition with Carl Reinecke at the Leipzig Conservatory, as well as counterpoint with Salomon Jadassohn and cello with Julius Klengel. Klengel also promoted him as a composer and through his recommendation Keußler's symphonic fresco ,Resurrection and Last Judgement' was published by Breitkopf & Härtel. Reinecke was also well-disposed towards the young Keußler, but generally the lessons were so unsatisfactory for him artistically that he broke off his studies without a degree and moved to Dresden. From 1906-18 he worked as choir director of the Deutscher Singverein (German Singing Society) in Prague, from 1918-22 as director of the Deutsche Sing-Akademie and initially also of the Philharmonic concerts in Hamburg. Then he lived in Stuttgart. As early as 1926 his followers founded a Keußler Society in Prague with a branch in Stuttgart. In 1932, Keußler went to Australia, where he enjoyed an enormous reputation and was appointed music director of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne in 1934. After his return to Germany in 1935, he refused the covetousness of the Nazis, never became a party member and led a secluded life, which was made possible thanks to the protection of his old friend Peter Raabe, president of the Reichsmusikkammer, who assigned him a master class in composition at the Prussian Academy of Arts. There were hardly any performances of his music anymore. When in 1939 he was asked to expel the Jewish members from the Keußler Society, he dissolved the Society without further ado. He was expelled from the Reichsmusikkammer and in 1943 moved to Niederwartha near Dresden on the banks of the Elbe, where he spent the last years of his life under difficult daily-life circumstances and largely unnoticed.

    With the exception of a few pieces for educational purposes, Keußler wrote hardly any occasional works, but almost exclusively ,major works'. Due to a lack of records, the dating of his compositions is only approximately possible. In chronological order his most important works are:

    ,Wandlungen' (Transformations), symphonic drama in three parts on an original text
    'Der Einsiedler' (The Hermit), symphonic poem (fp 1904)
    'Job and Us, His Comforters', symphonic fantasy (fp 1904)
    'Resurrection and Last Judgement', symphonic fresco with recitation on an original text (fp 1905)
    ,Oriental Fantasy' for large orchestra (fp 1909)
    Psalm XXIII for choir, tenor solo and orchestra (fp 1911)
    'Todesvisionen' (Visions of Death), Symphony in A (fp 1911)
    1st Symphony in A major (new version of ,Todesvisionen') (fp 1916)
    'Gefängnisse' (Prisons), symphonic drama in three parts on an original text (fp 1914)
    ,,June Night by the Sea", symphonic poem
    'Das große Bündnis' (The Great Alliance), tone poem for contralto solo and large orchestra
    on an original text (fp 1928)
    The 46th Psalm for 5-part choir, contralto solo and ensemble (fp 1917)
    'Jesus of Nazareth', biblical oratorio in two parts (fp 1917)
    'The Mother', Oratorio of Mary (fp 1919)
    'An den Tod' (To Death), melodramatic symphony with recitation on an original text (fp 1922)
    'Die Geißelfahrt', symphonic drama in two parts on an original text (fp 1923)
    ,Zebaoth', biblical oratorio in two parts (fp 1924)
    2nd Symphony in D minor (fp 1925)
    3rd Symphony in C major (fp 1928)
    'In jungen Tagen' (In Early Days), folk oratorio after old German songs (fp 1928)
    'Die Burg' (The Fortress), tone poem for boys' choir, contralto solo and orchestra (fp 1929)
    ,Asma', symphonic poem with contralto solo (fp 1931)
    Praeludium solemne' for orchestra and organ (fp 1934)
    ,Xenion', symphonic scene with children's choir on a free translation of Hesiod
    Australia', symphonic fantasy in three movements (fp 1939)

    Also worth mentioning are his several cycles of songs with piano accompaniment. Keußler called his operas ,symphonic dramas', the last of which, ,Der Bruder' (The Brother), was his last work, completed only in text and musically only handed down in sketches.

    The decisive groundwork for research into the work of Gerhard von Keußler was done by Egon Siemens, who discussed all the works in detail, collected a large number of reviews of them and interviewed witnesses. After more than 60 years of silence around Keußler, Manuel Krönung's dissertation ,Die Oratorien des Gerhard von Keußler. Musik mit Ethos' (Are Musik Verlag, Mainz) appeared in print. All of Keußler's important works have been preserved in full score and parts and are kept in the Goethe and Schiller Archive in Weimar. In 2020, the Laurentius-Musikverlag (www.laurentius-musikverlag.de) in Frankfurt began a series of selected works by Keußler, edited by Denis Lomtev, which will also include his three symphonies. Until then only the early symphonic fresco ,Resurrection and Last Judgement' (Breitkopf & Härtel) and the present ,Zebaoth' (Peters) have been published in printed full score. Of the other successful oratorios ,Jesus aus Nazareth', Die Mutter' and ,In jungen Tagen' only the piano scores were printed.

    Zebaoth

    During his early years in Prague, Gerhard von Keußler first composed ,Vor der Hohen Stadt' (the first part of the later ,Zebaoth' oratorio) which was premiered on 18 December 1908 by the German Singverein and the Men's Choral Society of Prague, the Orchestra of the German State Theatre and tenor soloist Alfred Borrutau (1877-1940) under Keußler's direction in Prague's Rudolfinum. On this occasion he had his debut as a composer in Prague (a repeat performance took place on 5 February 1909). Keußler composed the second part, ,In den Gefilden des Herrn', in the summer of 1923, and the oratorio ,Zebaoth' was completed in this way after an interval of more than 15 years. It was premiered in Frankfurt on 13 June 1924 at the Tonkuenstlerfest of the Allgemeiner Deutscher Musik-Verein under Keußler's direction with the soloists Emmi Leisner (1885-1958) and Anton Kohmann (1879-1944) and a large choir made up of four local choirs (Rühl'scher Verein, Offenbacher Sängerverein, Frankfurter Liederkranz and Cäcilienverein). Full score, piano score, choral and orchestral parts were published in print by Peters in Leipzig in the same year. Three further performances of ,Zebaoth' took place: on 14 December 1924 in Essen, on 3 February 1925 in Hamburg and on 1 February 1926 in Prague. The Essen premiere was conducted by General Music Director Max Fiedler (1859-1939), the other performances by Keußlers himself. Now it is almost a century ago since ,Zebaoth' was performed for the last time, and it is precisely in view of this poor yield that it is understandable that the Peters publishing house did not publish any further works by Keußler.

    A peculiarity of Keußler's style which makes it considerably more difficult for the listener to comprehend is the habit of having different passages of the text performed at the same time, i.e. to stage not only a musical but also a verbal polyphony. Concerning the tonal language, which is removed from all normality, the important composer colleague and critic Ferdinand Pfohl (1862-1949) is quoted, who summed it up in the Hamburger Nachrichten in February 1925: ,,His music finds a peculiarly moving tone, a transfigured, almost otherworldly expression of feeling, an immaterial, transparent lyricism, which Keußler, the mystic, carries up to the summit of mystical inspiration, at heights to which he was the first to find his way. In this context, I am thinking above all of the incredibly deep and ingenious final movement of the first part [...] With a tremendous increase towards fortissimo [...] this movement achieves a power of expression that is unparalleled in all literature, which is then even surpassed by the poignant effect of a gradual dynamic decay to the most delicate pianissimo and the breathy fading of extinguishing harmonies of the organ and high strings, which dissolve somewhere in the ether, in infinity - that is, in God. This is of incomparable poetry.

    In the final movement of the second part, the work rises once again to such peak height: how peculiar and beautiful are the artfully intertwined contradictions between Sulamith and the choir! [...] In form and style, the work deliberately turns away from the historical tradition of the oratorio: it completely avoids the traditional forms of recitative and aria, fugal choirs and the like. [...] The impression and success of the work were profound: at the end, endless homage to the composer and minutes of applause: the extraordinary, deeply inward, ethical content of this creation had conquered those who received it."

    Pfohl's review was no special case. The numerous reviews collected by Egon Siemens are remarkably congruent in their appreciation of the spiritual power and artistic uniqueness of Keußler's work, not only in ,Zebaoth'.
    Keußler's friend and first biographer Egon Siemens writes about the textual basis of the ,Zebaoth' (in ,Gerhard von Keußler. Musikalische Werke und Dichtungen'; self-published in Stuttgart, 1957): ,,Both parts are textually based on the Bible and are completely filled with the sublimity of the Bible word. The first part takes its thoughts (single words and whole sentences) almost exclusively from the prophet Isaiah, and to a small extent - in the beginning with the description of the ,High City' - also from the Revelation of St. John. - The second part takes them mainly from the ,Song of Solomon', but the choruses of this second part are mostly based on the Psalms, with the exception of the introductory boys' chorus (,As a shepherd seeks his sheep'), which is mainly based on passages from the prophet Ezekiel (chap. 34, verses 12, 14, 15, 16). - In the large choirs of this second part, the whole 121st Psalm (,I lift up my eyes'), then the whole 23rd Psalm (,The Lord is my shepherd'), further (with the exception of some passages sung by Sulamith alone) verses 3 to 7 and 11 of the 77th Psalm ('Assaph') are set to music (,In the time of my distress I seek the Lord' - in part also textually transformed by the composer into a dialogue between Sulamith and the women who comfort her), while Sulamith alone is entrusted with a setting of verse 6 of the 143rd Psalm (,I stretch out both hands to him'; ,my soul thirsts for him as a dry land'). - The second part, and thus the whole work, is then concluded and crowned by a setting of the freely translated 46th Psalm (,God is our fortress and defence, a help in the greatest needs').

    Only someone as completely and intimately united with Holy Scripture as Keußler could dare to string together these biblical passages with introductory and connecting words in such a way that they form a continuous plot".
    This study score is a faithful reprint of the first edition by Peters. May it help the work and its composer to achieve an urgently overdue renaissance.

    Christoph Schlüren, Januar 2020

    Performance material is available from Goethe- und Schiller-Archiv, Weimar (www.klassik-stiftung.de): GSA 53/80 (choral parts) & GSA 53/81 (orchestral parts).