Puchat, Max

Max Puchat – Leben und Ideal (Life and Ideal), Symphonic Poem after Words by Schiller

The Silesian composer Max Puchat, who died in a mountaineering accident in 1919, worked as a conductor,
pianist and teacher in Germany, Austria and the United States. He began his public career in 1884 by winning
the Mendelssohn Prize, and at the time of his death was held in high esteem as director of the Silesian
Conservatory in his hometown of Breslau. His compositions, which cannot easily be classified as belonging
to a special „school“, were respected by experts and met with the approval of prominent fellow musicians.
Nevertheless, Puchat must be called today (2023) a poorly researched composer. No scholarly studies on his
life and work exist. Those who want to find out more about him have to rely for the time being on meagre
encyclopaedia articles and old music journals.
Max Puchat was born in Breslau in 1859. After high school graduation, he began to study philology, but
finally decided on a career as a musician and studied from 1880 at the Royal Academic School of Music
in Berlin, where Friedrich Kiel (1821–1885) was his composition teacher. On 31 October 1884 he was
awarded the Mendelssohn Prize, endowed by the Prussian state and linked with a scholarship, for a symphony.
After completing his studies in Berlin, he studied for a short time in 1885 with Franz Liszt …

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