Richard Trunk (born

Tauberbischofsheim Tauberbischofsheim () is a German town in the north-east of Baden-Württemberg on the river Tauber with a population of about 13,200. It is the capital of the Main-Tauber (district), Main-Tauber district. It is a popular tourist destination due t ...

, 10 February 1879 - died

Herrsching Herrsching am Ammersee is a municipality in Upper Bavaria, Germany, on the east shore of the Ammersee, southwest of Munich. The population is around 8,000 in winter, increasing to 13,000 in summer. Situated at one terminus of the Munich S-Bahn li ...

, 2 June 1968) was a German composer, pianist, conductor, and critic.

Life

He studied in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

with

Iwan Knorr Iwan Otto Armand Knorr (3 January 1853 – 22 January 1916) was a German composer and music teacher. Life A native of Gniew, Knorr was taken to southern Russia at the age of four, where he was surrounded by Russian folk music. His mother taught ...

before traveling to

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

for further studies with

Josef Rheinberger Josef Gabriel Rheinberger (17 March 1839 – 25 November 1901) was an organist and composer from Liechtenstein, residing in Kingdom of Bavaria, Bavaria for most of his life. As court conductor in Munich, he was responsible for the music in the ...

. He accompanied numerous singers (including

Eugen Gura Eugen Gura (8 November 184226 August 1906) was a German operatic baritone. Life Gura was born in Nové Sedlo, Louny District, Bohemia (now in the Czech Republic). He was at first educated for the career of a painter at Vienna and Munich; bu ...

), taught singing for a time, and served as music critic for the ''

Münchener Post The ''Münchener Post'' (Engl. ''Munich Post'') was a socialist newspaper published in Munich, Germany, from 1888 to 1933. The paper was known for its decade-long campaign against Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party before their accession to power. ...

'' from 1907. He was invited to New York City and

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

to conduct the

Arion Society The Arion Society was a German-American musical society. It was founded in January 1854 to promote "the perpetuation of love for some of the characteristic elements of German civilization". It was disbanded because of Anti-German sentiment follow ...

in 1912; he returned home with the outbreak of World War I. He later became music critic for the '' Bayrische Staatszeitung'', and taught singing in Cologne from 1920 until 1934. In 1925 he married the singer Maria Delbran. In 1934 he returned to Munich as the president of the Akademie der Tonkunst. He retired to the

Ammersee Ammersee (; English: Lake Ammer) is a '' Zungenbecken'' lake in Upper Bavaria, Germany, southwest of Munich between the towns of Herrsching and Dießen am Ammersee. With a surface area of approximately , it is the sixth largest lake in Germany ...

after World War II. Trunk was an early member of the Nazi Party. His songs Op. 65 set to music texts by

Baldur von Schirach Baldur Benedikt von Schirach (; 9 May 1907 – 8 August 1974) was a German politician who was the leader of the Hitler Youth from 1931 to 1940. From 1940 to 1945, he was the '' Gauleiter'' (district leader) and '' Reichsstatthalter'' (Reich gov ...

and

Hanns Johst Hanns Johst (8 July 1890 – 23 November 1978) was a German poet and playwright, directly aligned with Nazi philosophy, as a member of the officially approved writers’ organisations in the Third Reich. The statement “When I hear the word cult ...

Works

Most of Trunk's musical works were choral pieces or songs with piano accompaniment, though he also composed an

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs and including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...

(''Herzdame'', 1916) and some instrumental works and chamber music.

External links

References

*"Richard Trunk". In David Mason Greene, ''Biographical Dictionary of Composers''. Garden City, New York; Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1985. 1879 births 1968 deaths People from Tauberbischofsheim German composers German music critics German music educators German conductors (music) German male conductors (music) German male non-fiction writers {{Germany-composer-stub