Hugo Kauder

Hugo Kauder (9 June 188822 July 1972) was an Austrian-Jewish composer, music theorist, and teacher. He composed in a relatively traditional, Brahmsian contrapuntal–harmonic manner with substantial modal mixture. Kauder sought a synthesis of sound and word in his vocal music and was attentive to texts, praising the word painting of Schoenberg’s Op. 15 Stefan George settings. He was close to Rudolph Pannwitz, who wrote aphorisms and was influenced by George and Friedrich Nietzsche. He wrote over 300 works. A society (2002) and performance competition (2003) were founded in his name. Biography Kauder was born in Tovačov. His father Ignaz was Oberlehrer (principal) of the local German language primary school. The local violin teacher gave the boy Kauder lessons. This was his only formal training in music. In 1905, Kauder moved to Vienna to study engineering. He often skipped school with to study scores in the Imperial Court Library. Several volumes of Guido Adler’s Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich, a compendium of music including that of the Franco-Flemish School, especially interested him. He cited Josquin des Prez as a “teacher”. From 1911 to 1917, Kauder played violin in the Wie