Michael Raucheisen (10 February 1889, Rain, Swabia - 27 May 1984, Beatenberg) was a German

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

and song

accompanist Accompaniment is the part (music), musical part which provides the rhythmic and/or harmony (music), harmonic support for the melody or main themes of a song or instrumental piece. There are many different styles and types of accompaniment in di ...

Life and career

Music was inherited, for the young Michael. His father, by vocation a master-glazier, was organist, church choir leader and musical pedagogue. The musical development of his only son was so important to the family that they left the small town in which they lived. From 1902 Raucheisen lived in Munich, and from 1920 until the end of his pianistic activity in 1958, in Berlin. He studied at the Munich High School for Music. Around 1906 he played first violin at the Prinzregententheater and was organist in St. Michael. In 1912 he founded the musical Matinees which have become famous. From the beginning of the 1920s until the end of the Second World War he was song accompanist for many singers, including Frida Leider, Erna Berger, Hans Hotter,

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf Dame Olga Maria Elisabeth Friederike Schwarzkopf, (; 9 December 1915 – 3 August 2006) was a German-born Austro-British lyric soprano. She was among the foremost singers of lieder, and is renowned for her performances of Viennese operetta, as w ...

, Karl Schmitt-Walter, Karl Erb, Heinrich Schlusnus and

Helge Rosvaenge Helge Rosvaenge (born Helge Anton Rosenvinge Hansen, 29 August 189717 June 1972) was a Danish-born operatic tenor whose career was centred on Germany and Austria, before, during and after World War II. His last name is sometimes spelled Roswaenge ...

, to mention only a few of the most prominent figures. As an innovation he played his accompaniments with the piano lid open, in order to obtain a better tonal balance between the voice and the instrument. In 1933 he married the soprano Maria Ivogün, following her divorce from Erb. From 1933 he strove to create a complete catalogue of German language songs on gramophone recordings, for which, from 1940, he became head of the department of Song and Chamber-music at the Berlin Rundfunk, for the organization of the studios there. After the War he was banned from his work for some years on account of his collaboration with the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

regime, and afterwards he appeared only occasionally in public.Michael Wersin: Rezension zur Raucheisen-Edition. In: Rondomagazin (3.12.2005) und Dieter Kranz: König der Liedbegleiter (King of the accompanists) - Michael Raucheisen (Rezension zur selben Edition). NDR-Kultur (25.11.2005). In 1958 after a very successful tour with Schwarzkopf, he returned to private life and moved with Ivogün to Switzerland. On the occasion of his 95th birthday he was granted the Free Citizenship of the town of Rain. He and his wife (who survived him by three years) are buried in the municipal cemetery of Rain.

Notes

Literature

* Harald Mann: ''Biografie Michael Raucheisen''. In: Sieh auf: Beiträge zu Geschichte und Kultur der Stadt Rain und ihrer Umgebung. Nr. 7 (April 1984) {{DEFAULTSORT:Rauchaeisen, Michael 1889 births 1984 deaths Classical accompanists People from Rain, Swabia Musicians from the Kingdom of Bavaria German pianists University of Music and Theatre Munich alumni 20th-century pianists