Lafite, Karl (musician)

Carl Lafite ( German: Carl Lafite ; October 31, 1872 , Vienna - November 19, 1944 , St. Wolfgang im Salzkammergut ) - Austrian composer, pianist, organist, choral conductor and music teacher. The son of the artist Karl Lafite .

At the age of eight he began to compose an opera. In school, he studied music privately under the direction of Edward Strauss , then in 1889-1893. studied at the Vienna Conservatory with Anton Door (piano), Anton Bruckner and Johann Nepomuk Fuchs (composition). In 1894-1896 taught harmony and organ playing at the city music school in Olmütz , in 1895 and 1897. made two tours as an accompanist to the violinist František Ondříček - in Austria-Hungary and the Russian Empire.

In 1898 he returned to Vienna. He worked as an organist in the PR church (until 1910), at the same time was the musical director of the Imperial Institute of the Blind (1898–1901), conducted by the Vienna Singing Academy (1901–1906) and other choral groups. From 1906 he taught music theory at the Augustus Duesberg Conservatory, in 1909 he became one of the co-founders of the New Vienna Conservatory. In the years 1911-1921. served as general secretary of the Vienna Society of Friends of Music, then prepared and published a chronicle of the Society's work over 25 years ( German: Geschichte der KK Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien. 1912–1937 ). In 1928, together with Otto Deutsch, he organized a series of events in Vienna on the occasion of the centenary of the death of Franz Schubert , in his jubilee year he also published the book Schubert's Songs and Their Performers ( German: Das Schubertlied und seine Sänger ). In 1928-1938 He led the pianist-accompanist courses he founded at the Vienna Academy of Music.

The author of dozens of comic operas and many choral and vocal compositions. In 1932, he wrote the script and music for the film about Joseph Haydn . An extensive autobiography and a book about popular Austrian music (dance and stage works of such composers as Franz Lehar and Franz von Zuppe , remained unreleased.

In 1908-1937 performed as a music critic on various Vienna newspapers, including the Wiener Allgemeine Zeitung and Neue Freie Presse .

Honorary Citizen of Vienna (1932). Lafite is named after a street ( German: Lafitegasse ) in the Vienna district of Hitzing .

Wife (since 1915) - journalist and critic Helena Tuschak ( German: Helene Tuschak ; 1879-1971). Son - music critic, editor and publisher Peter Lafite (1908-1951).