Hans Krása: Difference between revisions

Hans Krása was born in [[Prague]], the son of Anna (Steiner) and Karl KrasaKrása, a lawyer.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Taylor|first=Stephen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8CMfAQAAMAAJ&q=anna+steiner+Krasa|title=Who's who in Central and East-Europe|date=1935|publisher=Central European Times Publishing Company, Limited|language=en}}</ref> His father was a Czech Jew and his mother was German [[Jewish]].{{citation needed|date=May 2012}} He studied both the [[piano]] and [[violin]] as a child and went on to study composition at the German Music Academy in Prague. After graduating, he went on to become a [[répétiteur]] at the [[Prague State Opera|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 [[Albert Roussel]]. Krása, whose primary influences were [[Gustav Mahler|Mahler]], [[Arnold Schoenberg|Schoenberg]] and Zemlinsky, also felt an affinity with French music, especially the group of composers known as ''[[Les Six]]'' and made a number of trips to [[France]] to study under Roussel while he lived in Berlin. Krása eventually returned, homesick, to Prague to resume his old job as a répétiteur at the Neues Deutsches Theater. His debut as a composer came with his ''[[Four Orchestral Songs (Krasa)|Four Orchestral Songs]]'', Op. 1, based on the ''Galgenlieder'' (Gallows Songs) of [[Christian Morgenstern]]. The work was first performed under Zemlinsky's direction in Prague in May 1921 and was widely acclaimed. There followed a string quartet, a set of five songs for voice and piano and his ''Symphonie für kleines Orchester'', which was performed in [[ZurichZürich]], [[Paris]] and [[Boston]]. His major achievement, however, was the opera ''[[Verlobung im Traum]]'' (''Betrothal in a Dream'') after the novel ''Uncle's Dream'' by [[Feodor Dostoyevsky|Dostoyevsky]]. This work was first performed at the Neues Deutsches Theater in Prague in 1933 under [[Georg Szell]] and was awarded the Czechoslovak State Prize. {{Citation needed|date=July 2013}}

''[[Brundibár]]'', a children's opera based on a play by [[Aristophanes]], was the last work Krása completed before he was arrested by the [[National Socialist German Workers Party|Nazis]] on 10 August 1942. Krása was sent to the [[Theresienstadt concentration camp|Theresienstadt ghetto]] where he reworked ''Brundibár'' with the available cast “and scattered salt of staging”, who then performed it 55 times in the camp, with excerpts featured in the [[Theresienstadt (film)|infamous propaganda film]] made for the [[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,'' <ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Kellie D. |title=The sound of hope: Music as solace, resistance and salvation during the holocaust and world war II |publisher=McFarland |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-4766-7056-0 |pages=103}}</ref> although, due to the circumstances, some of these have not survived.{{Citation needed|date=July 2013}} He also contributed to the musical culture of Theresienstadt as a pianist, accompanist, and conductor.<ref name=":0" />

* [[Four Orchestral Songs (Krasa)|4 Orchesterlieder]], Op. 1 (1920) (text by [[Christian Morgenstern]])

His String Quartet appears on ''[[Pavel Haas]] and Hans Krása: String Quartets'', performed by the [[Hawthorne String Quartet]] as part of the [[Decca Records|Decca]] series, ''Entartete Musik'', label: Decca 440 853–2.<ref>Davis, Peter G. [https://books.google.com/books?id=yegCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA82&dq=%22Hawthorne+string+quartet%22&hlpg=en&ei=RUP-TJK3FobNhAeqvrndCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CEMQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=%22Hawthorne%20string%20quartet%22&f=falsePA82 "Hear No Evil"]. ''[[New York Magazine]]'' (June 9, 1997) pp. 82-83. Retrieved 7 December 2010.</ref> 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.<ref>Bates, Peter [http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/l/lon55587a.php "Krása - Verlobung im Traum, Symphonie"]. ''Classical Net Review'' Retrieved 1 March 2014.</ref>

[[Category:JewishComposers classicalfrom musiciansPrague]]

[[Category:Musicians20th-century fromCzech PragueJews]]