Hermann Graedener [jnr.]
born Vienna, April 29, 1878; died Vienna, [unknown]
Documents associated with this person:
Son of the composer and music theorist Hermann Graedener and Irene Graedener (née Mayerhofer). Possible early pupil of Schenker’s.
Life
Hermann, who was a serving officer in the Austrian army during World War I, was a poet, writer, and dramatist; his first collection, appearing after the war, was Weltweihe, ein Weg in Versen. After a series of further publications his volume Ein Volk geht zu Gott, a mixture of prose pieces and poems, was released in 1939, drawing high praise from the Nazi authorities. He had already been fêted at his 60th birthday on April 29, 1938, the following being reported in several newspapers: Dr. Seyß-Inquart in the presence of the Education Minister university professor Dr. Manghin and the national cultural director Stuppäck [presented] to poet Hermann Graedener in celebratory fashion the Goethe Medal, which was awarded to him in recognition of his preeminent creative artistry on the occasion of his 60th birthday by the Führer and Reich Chancellor with a handwritten letter. A congratulatory telegram was received from Reich Minister Dr. Goebbels.
Also in 1939 his play Sickingen: ein Kampf ins Künftige was performed at the Burgtheater in Vienna. On April 20, 1942, Hermann wrote a poem, "Herr überm Heer" in celebration of Hitler’s 53rd birthday. And after a public poetry reading by him in Bad Ischl, when his wife, Magda von Rattingberg-Graedener performed Bach and Liszt at the piano, he was awarded the Prinz-Eugen Medal by the City of Vienna.
Hermann Graedener and Schenker
In a eulogy to his former piano teacher Ernst Ludwig in his diary for March 24, 1915, Schenker stated that Ludwig had provided him [in the late 1880s] with his first “better-paying pupils,” and goes on: He […] introduced me many years later also to Graedener, whose son I was to teach (zu unterrichten hatte).
Not only is the chronology vague, but whether Schenker did actually teach Hermann is itself not wholly clear. If so, it was certainly before the beginning of Schenker’s first lessonbook in January 1912. Hermann appears in an entry in Schenker's diary for April 27–28, 1909: I dream bad things about Irene Mayerhofer, and ‒ suddenly in the morning her son turns up, to the utmost astonishment even of the mother herself.
Contributor
- Ian Bent