Max Reger | |
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 Reger at the piano,c. 1910 | |
| Born | (1873-03-19)19 March 1873 Brand, Bavaria, German Empire |
| Died | 11 May 1916(1916-05-11) (aged 43) Leipzig, Kingdom of Saxony, German Empire |
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| Organizations |
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| Works | List of compositions |
| Spouse | Elsa Reger |
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Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger (19 March 1873 – 11 May 1916) was a German composer, pianist, organist, conductor, and academic teacher. He worked as a concert pianist, a musical director at theLeipzig University Church, a professor at theRoyal Conservatory in Leipzig, and a music director at the court ofGeorge II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen.
Reger first composed mainlyLieder, chamber music, choral music and works for piano and organ. He later turned to orchestral compositions, such as the popularVariations and Fugue on a Theme by Mozart (1914), and to works for choir and orchestra such asGesang der Verklärten (1903),Der 100. Psalm (1909),Der Einsiedler and theHebbel Requiem (both 1915).
Born inBrand, Bavaria, Reger was the first child of Josef Reger, a school teacher and amateur musician, and his wife Katharina Philomena. The devout Catholic family moved toWeiden in 1874. Max had only one sister, Emma, after three other siblings died in childhood. When he turned five, Reger learned organ, violin and cello from his father and piano from his mother.[1][2] From 1884 to 1889, Reger took piano and organ lessons from Adalbert Lindner, one of his father's students. During this time, he frequently acted as substitute organist for Lindner in the parish church of the city.[1] In 1886, Reger entered into the Royal Preparatory School according to his parents' wishes to prepare for a teaching profession.
In 1888, Reger was invited by his uncle Johann Baptist Ulrich to visit theBayreuth Festival, where he heardRichard Wagner's operasDie Meistersinger von Nürnberg andParsifal. This left a deep impression and made Reger decide to pursue a music career. In late summer of that year, Reger wrote his first major composition, the Overture in B minor, an unpublished work for orchestra with 120 pages. Lindner sent the score toHugo Riemann, who replied positively but warned him against Wagner's influence and to write melodies instead of motifs.[1][3] Reger finished the preparatory school in June 1889. Also that year, he composed a Scherzo for string quartet and flute in G minor, a three movement string quartet in D minor, and a Largo for violin and piano. At his father's request, he sent the latter two works to composerJosef Rheinberger, a professor at theUniversity of Music and Performing Arts Munich, who recognized his talents. Reger eventually sought a career in music despite his father's concerns.[1][4]
In 1890, Reger began studying music theory with Riemann inSondershausen, then piano and theory inWiesbaden.[5] Thefirst compositions to which he assignedopus numbers werechamber music andLieder. A concert pianist himself, he composed works for both piano and organ.[5] His first work for choir and piano to which he assigned an opus number wasDrei Chöre (1892).
Reger returned to his parental home in Weiden due to illness in 1898, where he composed his first work for choir and orchestra,Hymne an den Gesang (Hymn to singing),Op. 21.[5] From 1899, he courtedElsa von Bercken who at first rejected him.[6] He composed many songs including the love poemsSechs Lieder, Op. 35.[7] Reger moved to Munich in September 1901, where he obtained concert offers and where his rapid rise to fame began. During his first Munich season, Reger appeared in ten concerts as an organist, chamber pianist and accompanist. Income from publishers, concerts and private teaching enabled him to marry in 1902. Because his wife Elsa was adivorcedProtestant, he wasexcommunicated from the Catholic Church. He continued to compose without interruption, for exampleGesang der Verklärten,Op. 71.[5]
In 1907, Reger was appointed musical director at theLeipzig University Church, a position he held until 1908, and professor at theRoyal Conservatory in Leipzig.[5][8] In 1908 he began to composeDer 100. Psalm (The 100th Psalm), Op. 106, a setting of Psalm 100 for mixed choir and orchestra, for the 350th anniversary ofJena University. Part I was premiered on 31 July that year. Reger completed the composition in 1909, premiered in 1910 simultaneously inChemnitz andBreslau.[9]
In 1911 Reger was appointedHofkapellmeister (music director) at the court of DukeGeorg II of Saxe-Meiningen, also taking charge of music at theMeiningen Court Theatre. He continued with his master class at the Leipzig conservatory.[5] In 1913 he composed fourtone poems on paintings byArnold Böcklin (Vier Tongedichte nach Arnold Böcklin), includingDie Toteninsel (Isle of the Dead), as hisOp. 128.
He gave up the court position in 1914 for health reasons. In response toWorld War I, already in 1914 he was planning to compose a choral work, commemorating those lost in the war. He began to set the LatinRequiem but abandoned the work as a fragment.[5] He composed eight motets as hisAcht geistliche Gesänge für gemischten Chor (Eight Sacred Songs, Op. 138), embodying "a new simplicity".[10] In 1915 he moved toJena, commuting once a week to teach in Leipzig. In Jena he composed theHebbel Requiem for soloist, choir and orchestra.[5]
Reger died of a heart attack while staying at a hotel in Leipzig on 11 May 1916.[5][8] Theproofs ofAcht geistliche Gesänge, including "Der Mensch lebt und bestehet nur eine kleine Zeit", were found next to his bed.[11][12] Six years after Reger's death, his funeral urn was transferred from his home in Jena to a cemetery in Weimar. In 1930, on the wishes of Reger's widow Elsa, his remains were moved to a grave of honour inMunich Waldfriedhof.
Reger had also been active internationally as a conductor and pianist. Among his students wereJoseph Haas,Sándor Jemnitz,Jaroslav Kvapil,Ruben Liljefors,Aarre Merikanto,Sofie Rohnstock,George Szell andCristòfor Taltabull. He was the cousin ofHans von Koessler.
Reger produced an enormous output in just over 25 years, nearly always in abstract forms. His work was well known in Germany during his lifetime. Many of his works arefugues or invariation form, including theVariations and Fugue on a Theme by Mozart based on the opening theme ofMozart'sPiano Sonata in A major, K. 331.
Reger wrote a large amount of music fororgan, the most popular being theBenedictus from the collectionOp. 59[13] and hisFantasy and Fugue onBACH,Op. 46. While a student underHugo Riemann inWiesbaden, Reger had already met the German organist,Karl Straube; their association as colleagues and friends began in 1898, with Straube premiering many of Reger's organ works, such as theThree chorale fantasias, Op. 52.
Reger recorded some of his works on theWelte Philharmonic organ, including excerpts from52 Chorale Preludes, Op. 67. He also composed various secular organ works, including theIntroduction, Passacaglia and Fugue, Op. 127. It was dedicated to Straube, who gave its first performance in 1913 to inaugurate theWilhelm Sauer organ at the opening of theBreslau Centennial Hall.[14][15]
Reger was particularly attracted to the fugal form and created music in almost every genre, save foropera and thesymphony (he did, however, compose aSinfonietta, his Op. 90). A similarly firm supporter ofabsolute music, he saw himself as being part of the tradition ofBeethoven andBrahms. His work often combined the classical structures of these composers with the extended harmonies ofLiszt andWagner, to which he added the complexcounterpoint ofBach. Reger's organ music, though also influenced by Liszt, was provoked by that tradition.
Some of the works for solo string instruments turn up often on recordings, though less regularly in recitals. His solo piano and two-piano music places him as a successor to Brahms in the central German tradition. He intensively pursued Brahms's continuous development and freemodulation, whilst being rooted in Bach-influenced polyphony.
Reger was a prolific writer of vocal works,Lieder, works for mixed chorus,men's chorus and female chorus, and extended choral works with orchestra such asDer 100. Psalm andRequiem, a setting of a poem byFriedrich Hebbel, which Reger dedicated to the soldiers of World War I. He composed music to texts by poets such asGabriele D'Annunzio,Otto Julius Bierbaum,Adelbert von Chamisso,Joseph von Eichendorff,Emanuel Geibel,Friedrich Hebbel,Nikolaus Lenau,Detlev von Liliencron,Friedrich Rückert andLudwig Uhland. Reger assigned opus numbers to major works himself.[5]
His works could be considered retrospective as they followed classical and baroque compositional techniques such as fugue andcontinuo. The influence of the latter can be heard in his chamber works which are deeply reflective and unconventional.
In 1898Caesar Hochstetter, an arranger, composer and critic, published an article entitled "Noch einmal Max Reger" ("Max Reger once again") in a music magazine (Die redenden Künste 5 no. 49, pp. 943 f). Caesar recommended Reger as "a highly talented young composer" to the publishers. Reger thanked Hochstetter with the dedications of his piano piecesAquarellen,Op. 25, andCinq Pièces pittoresques,Op. 34.[5]
Reger had an acrimonious relationship withRudolf Louis, the music critic of theMünchener Neueste Nachrichten, who usually had negative opinions of his compositions. After the first performance of the Sinfonietta in A major,Op. 90, on 2 February 1906, Louis wrote a typically negative review on 7 February. Reger wrote back to him: "Ich sitze in dem kleinsten Zimmer in meinem Hause. Ich habe Ihre Kritik vor mir. Im nächsten Augenblick wird sie hinter mir sein!" ("I am sitting in the smallest room of my house. I have your review before me. In a moment it will be behind me!").[16][17] Another source has the German composerSigfrid Karg-Elert as the targeted critic of this letter.[18]
Arnold Schoenberg was an admirer of Reger's. A letter he sent toAlexander von Zemlinsky in 1922 states: "Reger...must in my view be done often; 1, because he has written a lot; 2, because he is already dead and people are still not clear about him. (I consider him a genius.)"[18]
The documentaryMax Reger – Music as a perpetual state, byAndreas Pichler [de] and Ewald Kontschieder, Miramonte Film, was released in 2002. It was the first factually based film documentation about Max Reger. It was produced in cooperation with theMax-Reger-Institute.[19]
Max Reger: The Last Giant, a documentary film about the life and works of Max Reger, is included on a 6 DVD set entitledMaximum Reger released in December 2016 to mark the 100th anniversary of Reger's death. The set was produced by Fugue State Films and in addition to the documentary includes excerpts from Reger's most important works for orchestra, piano, chamber ensemble and organ, with performances by Frauke May,Bernhard Haas, Bernhard Buttmann and theBrandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt.[20]
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