Karl Panzner
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Karl Panzner (2 March 1866 – 7 December 1923) was a German conductor and musikdirektor in Düsseldorf.


Life

Born in
Teplice Teplice (, until 1948 Teplice-Šanov; , ''Teplitz-Schönau'') is a city in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 51,000 inhabitants. It is the most populous Czech spa town, followed by Karlovy Vary. The historic city cen ...
, Panzner was the son of a merchant, who lived in
Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...
since 1869. Panzner received private piano lessons in his youth. After attending grammar school, he graduated from the Dresdner Konservatorium with an education as a conductor. After that, he took over a position as a conductor at the
Wuppertaler Bühnen Wuppertaler Bühnen is the municipal theatre company in Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It serves opera and plays. The opera house Opernhaus Wuppertal has served from 1956 as a venue for opera and performances of the separate dance ...
, which was newly built in 1888, around 1890. Three years later he moved to Leipzig, where he became first
Kapellmeister ( , , ), from German (chapel) and (master), literally "master of the chapel choir", designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term has evolved considerably in i ...
at the Neue Theater and later also conducted the
Gewandhaus Gewandhaus () is a concert hall in Leipzig, the home of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Today's hall is the third to bear this name; like the second, it is noted for its fine acoustics. History The first Gewandhaus (''Altes Gewandhaus'') The ...
orchestra at the
Leipzig Opera The Leipzig Opera () is an opera house and opera company located at the Augustusplatz and the Inner City Ring Road at its east side in Leipzig's district Mitte, Germany. History Performances of opera in Leipzig trace back to Singspiel perfo ...
. His performance of the opera ''
Der Ring des Nibelungen (''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the . The compo ...
'' by Richard Wagner was successful in 1899 In 1899, Panzner moved to
Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...
, where he became director of the concerts of the
Bremer Philharmoniker The Bremer Philharmoniker is the official orchestra of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. In addition to the music theatre in the Theater Bremen they organise 28 Philharmonic concerts per season, various special, benefit and chamber concerts a ...
, the philharmonic choir and in 1904 also of the ''Lehrergesangverein''. From 1907, he was also conductor of the Berlin Mozart Orchestra. In 1902, he got the title of a professor in Bremen. From 1904 he made guest appearances with the Lehrergesangverein.
Herbert Schwarzwälder Herbert Schwarzwälder (14 October 1919 – 11 September 2011) was a German historian. With his decades of work and his extensive publications, he has had a major influence on the research and communication of the . Life Schwarzwälder was born ...
: ''
Das Große Bremen-Lexikon ''Das Große Bremen-Lexikon'' is an 18th-century encyclopaedia by the Freie Hansestadt Bremen, written by Herbert Schwarzwälder about * the region, as Territory of Bremen, as Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen (Bremen Archbishopric), as Bremen-Verd ...
.'' 2nd, updated, revised and extended edition. Edition Temmen, Bremen 2003, }.
On 1 October 1908 he was called to Düsseldorf, where he succeeded Julius Buths, who had left the orchestra at short notice. He conducted the first concerts with the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra and was appointed municipal music director for the 1909 season. Panzner spent a successful time here and was counted by several
music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...
among the ten best conductors of his time. Panzner drew attention above all as a lover of the works of
Hector Berlioz Louis-Hector Berlioz (11 December 1803 – 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer and conductor. His output includes orchestral works such as the ''Symphonie fantastique'' and ''Harold en Italie, Harold in Italy'' ...
and as a Mahler interpreter, especially with the first performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 8 in Düsseldorf in December 1912. This was called ''Symphony of a Thousand'' because of the 125-member orchestra, the participation of the philharmonic choirs from Düsseldorf and
Elberfeld Elberfeld is a municipal subdivision of the Germany, German city of Wuppertal; it was an independent town until 1929. History The first official mentioning of the geographic area on the banks of today's Wupper River as "''elverfelde''" was ...
as well as the Düsseldorf Children's Choir and thus a total of over 1000 active musicians. Before the beginning of the First World War, he was twice able to direct the Niederrheinisches Musikfest, which, due to the war, could only be held again in Düsseldorf in 1926. During his tenure, several Düsseldorf
premiere A premiere, also spelled première, (from , ) is the debut (first public presentation) of a work, i.e. play, film, dance, musical composition, or even a performer in that work. History Raymond F. Betts attributes the introduction of the ...
s were given, including the orchestral cantata ''Macht hoch die Tür'' by
Julius Weismann Julius Weismann (26 December 1879 – 22 December 1950) was a German pianist, conductor, and composer.See LCCN. Biography Weismann was born in Freiburg im Breisgau. He studied with Josef Rheinberger and Ludwig Thuille. As a composer, he left ov ...
, the violin concerto op. 28 by
Karl Goldmark Karl Goldmark (born Károly Goldmark, Keszthely, 18 May 1830 – Vienna, 2 January 1915) was a Hungarian-born Viennese composer. Peter Revers, Michael Cherlin, Halina Filipowicz, Richard L. Rudolph The Great Tradition and Its Legacy 2004; , p ...
and the choral work ' by
Hans Pfitzner Hans Erich Pfitzner (5 May 1869 – 22 May 1949) was a German composer, conductor and polemicist who was a self-described anti-modernist. His best known work is the post-Romantic opera ''Palestrina'' (1917), loosely based on the life of the ...
. But Panzner was particularly attracted by premieres of contemporary
Neue Musik Neue Musik (English ''new music'', French ''nouvelle musique'') is the collective term for a wealth of different currents in composed Western art music from around 1910 to the present. Its focus is on compositions of 20th century music. It is char ...
, as he performed them together with
Erich Kleiber Erich Kleiber (5 August 1890 – 27 January 1956) was an Austrian, later Argentine, conductor, known for his interpretations of the classics and as an advocate of Neue Musik. Kleiber was born in Vienna, and after studying at the Prague Conser ...
as part of a complete concert series. Under his direction, the following works, among others, were premiered: the ''Symphonic Overture for Large Orchestra'' by Karl Horwitz, the ''Symphonic Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra'' by
Alois Hába Alois Hába (21 June 1893 – 18 November 1973) was a Czech composer, music theorist and teacher. He belongs to the important discoverers in modern classical music, and to the major composers of microtonal music, especially using the quarter-to ...
, the ''Symphony No. 5 G-Major'' by Ewald Straesser, the ''Sonata for piano and violin'' by
Paul Pisk Paul Amadeus Pisk (May 16, 1893, Vienna – January 12, 1990, Los Angeles) was an Austrian-born composer and musicologist. A prize named in his honor is the highest award for a graduate student paper at the annual meeting of the American Musicolo ...
, the ''Lieder für Bariton'' by Wolfgang Bartesl, the opera ''Anneliese'' by Carl Ehrenberg, the ''Symphony No. 2'' by
Georg Gräner Georg Gräner (20 November 1876 – 30 April 1945) was a German composer and music critic. Life Born in Berlin, Gräner studied composition and horn. From 1899 until 1906, he was a performing musician and music correspondent of the ''Vossische ...
, the
string quartet The term string quartet refers to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two Violin, violini ...
s by Wilhelm Knöchel, the ''Sonatina for flute and piano'' by
Philipp Jarnach Philipp Jarnach (26 July 1892 17 December 1982 in Börnsen) was a German composer of contemporary music ("Neue Musik"), pianist, teacher, and conductor. Jarnach was born in Noisy-le-Sec, France, the son of a Spanish sculptor and a Flemish mothe ...
, the ''Lieder für Bass'' by
Sándor Jemnitz Sándor Jemnitz, also known as Alexander Jemnitz (9 August 1890 in Budapest – 8 August 1963 in Balatonföldvár), was a Hungarian people, Hungarian composer, Conducting, conductor, Music journalism, music critic and author. Biography Jemnitz ...
, the piano quintets, op. 21 (posthumous work) by
Max Reger Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger (19 March 187311 May 1916) was a German composer, pianist, organist, conductor, and academic teacher. He worked as a concert pianist, a musical director at the Paulinerkirche, Leipzig, Leipzig University Chu ...
, the hymn ''Natur'' for four solos,
mixed choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...
and large orchestra by Victor Merz, the choral and orchestral work ''Geister der Windstille'' by
Rudolph Bergh Rudolph Bergh (15 October 1824 – 20 July 1909), full name Ludvig Sophus Rudolph Bergh, was a Danish physician and malacologist. He worked in Copenhagen. As a doctor his speciality was sexually transmitted diseases. In Copenhagen a hospital a ...
and especially the ''2nd Symphony op. 60 II.'' by
Felix Woyrsch Felix Woyrsch (8 October 1860 – 20 March 1944) was a German composer and choir director. Life Woyrsch was born in Troppau, just over the Prussian border in Austrian Silesia (now Opava in the Czech Republic). He was raised in Dresden and later ...
, which the latter had personally dedicated to him and which was performed triumphantly. In addition, Panzner succeeded in attracting the soloists
Edwin Fischer Edwin Fischer (6 October 1886 – 24 January 1960) was a Swiss classical pianist and conductor. He is regarded as one of the great interpreters of J.S. Bach and Mozart in the twentieth century. Biography Fischer was born in Basel and studied m ...
(piano),
Elly Ney Elly Ney (27 September 1882 – 31 March 1968) was a German romantic pianist who specialized in Beethoven, and was especially popular in Germany. Career She was born in Düsseldorf, where her mother was a music instructor and her father was a r ...
(piano),
Walter Gieseking Walter Wilhelm Gieseking (5 November 1895 – 26 October 1956) was a French-born German pianist and composer. Gieseking was renowned for his subtle touch, pedaling, and dynamic control—particularly in the music of Debussy and Ravel; he made inte ...
(piano),
Eugène Ysaÿe Eugène-Auguste Ysaÿe (; 16 July 185812 May 1931) was a Belgian virtuoso violinist, composer, and conductor. He was regarded as "The King of the Violin", or, as Nathan Milstein put it, the "tsar". Early years Born in Liège, Ysaÿe began ...
(violin),
Bronisław Huberman Bronisław Huberman (19 December 1882 – 16 June 1947) was a Polish violinist. He was known for his individualistic interpretations and was praised for his tone color, expressiveness, and flexibility. The '' Gibson ex-Huberman Stradivariu ...
(violin) and
Eugen d'Albert Eugen (originally Eugène) Francis Charles d'Albert (10 April 1864 – 3 March 1932) was a Scottish-born pianist and composer who immigrated to Germany. Educated in Britain, d'Albert showed early musical talent and, at the age of seventeen, h ...
(piano). Panzner died in
Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...
at the age of 57. A street in Düsseldorf-Urdenbach was renamed Karl-Panzner-Weg in his honour.


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Panzner, Karl 1866 births 1923 deaths German conductors (music) 19th-century German people 20th-century German people 20th-century Czech people People from Teplice People from the Kingdom of Bohemia German Bohemian people