Koessler, Hans

Hans Koessler

(b. Waldeck [Fichtelgebirge], 1 January 1853 – d. Ansbach, 23 May 1926)

Symphonic Variations in C-sharp minor for large orchestra
”Dedicated to the Manes of Johannes Brahms” (1899)

Introduction. Maestoso (very broad) (p. 3) – Thema. Andante (p. 6) – I. Variation (p. 11) – II. Variation. Adagio (p. 18) – III. Variation. Allegretto (p. 29) – Vivace (p. 30) – Allegretto (p. 31) – Vivace (p. 33) – IV. Variation. Andante assai (p. 40) – V. Variation. Andante (p. 47) – VI. Variation. Largo (p. 54) – Allegretto (p. 55) – Allegro vivo (p. 58) – Allegretto (p. 59) – Allegro vivo (p. 61) – Allegretto (p. 62) – Allegro vivo (p. 64) – Finale. Allegro agitato (p. 66) – Maestoso, grandioso (p. 84) – Slightly becoming slower and weaker (p. 86)

Preface
The incredible rise of Hungarian music life since the turn of the century is unthinkable without the activities of Hans Koessler at the Budapest Music Academy. Ernö von Dohnányi (1877-1960), Béla Bartók (1881-1945), Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967), and Leo Weiner (1885-1960) – the stylistically formative composers and superior teachers of the next generation – have learnt their compositional craft from Koessler. Of course, nationalists and progressive thinkers were not happy with the fact that a German composer of conservative attitude who stood next to the ideals of Johannes Brahms had such a enormous merits for the future of Hungarian music.

Born in the Fichtelgebirge near Marktredwitz, Koessler studied composition from 1874 to 1877 with Joseph Rheinberger, a decidedly academic master, at the Royal Music Academy in Munich. After engagements in Dresden and Cologne Koessler went to Budapest where he became head of the composition department at the Music Academy after Robert Volkmann’s death in 1883. In 1908 he left Budapest and settled in Germany but returned regularly to Budapest. From 1920 to 1925 he re-established himself as composition professor in Budapest. After his retirement he went back to Germany and died in his Franconian homeland.

Koessler wrote a lot of choral and chamber music. He also composed a three-act popular opera ”Der Münzenfranz” (The Coins-Franz) and several orchestral works, among them two symphonies in F major and in B minor, a Violin Concerto in A minor (premièred by Jenö Hubay [1858-1937] in January 1898 in Budapest), the present ”Symphonic Variations”, a ”Passacaglia Concerto” for violin and orchestra (published in 1914 by Simrock), the ’secular Requiem’ ”Sylvesterglocken” (Bells of New Year’s Eve) for soli, choir and orchestra, the funeral ode ”To the Transfigured” for mixed choir and orchestra, the ”Hymne an die Schönheit” (Hymn to Beauty) for male chorus and orchestra, and the ’German Chant of Combat and Victory’ psalm settings ”Dem Vaterlande” (To the Homeland).

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