Tovačov, 1888 – 1972, Bussum
Hugo Kauder was born in Austrian Tobitschau (today´s Tovačov in the Czech Republic) where his father was the headmaster of the local middle school. He acquired his preliminary musical training locally before moving to Vienna in 1905. He studied at the city´s Technical University, while giving up his technical education in order to do research on Early Music together with his friend and young composer Egon Lustgarten. From 1907 to 1911, he successively played the violin then the viola in Wiener Tonkünstler-Orchester, one of the orchestras that would eventually merge to become the Vienna Symphony. Kauder became a musical authority gaining prominence as a composer, teacher and writer. With Austria´s annexation by Nazi Germany, Kauder escaped first to the Netherlands, where he edited the papers of poet Albert Verwey, then to Great Britain. In 1940 he arrived in New York where he taught composition and music theory at Hermann Grab´s music school, The Music House, and wrote reviews for the Austro-American Tribune. Kauder composed over 200 works including five symphonies, nineteen string quartets, plus plenty of vocal music including a large opera, Merlin, based on a libretto by the philosopher Rudolf Pannwitz. His extensive body of lieder includes poems by Joyce, Goethe and Nietzsche set to music. In 1928, he won the Art Prize of the City of Vienna. His early work was published with Universal Edition. In addition, he is the author of Entwurf einer neuen Melodie- und Harmonielehre (1932)and of Counterpoint, An Introduction to Polyphonic Composition (MacMillan, 1960); also, he edited the works of the philosopher Ernst Fuhrmann.
Further Links: Hugo Kauder Society
