Krechmar, Herman

The son of a local organist. He studied in Dresden , then at the University of Leipzig as a philologist and at the same time at the Leipzig Conservatory as a musicologist. From 1871 he taught music theory and other disciplines at the Leipzig Conservatory. In 1876 , for a short time, he headed the theater orchestra in Metz , undertook trips to England and Italy for musicological research, and then settled for a whole decade ( 1877–1887 ) in Rostock , where he led the city orchestra. In 1887 - 1904 Krechmar again worked in Leipzig as a university music director , since 1890 an extraordinary professor; at the same time in 1888 - 1898 . He headed one of the city choirs, and in 1890 - 1895 . and one of the city bands. In 1904 , Krechmar moved to the University of Friedrich Wilhelm as a full professor; in 1907 - 1922 He headed the Institute for Church Music. At the same time in 1909 - 1920 Krechmar was the director of the Berlin High School of Music , succeeding Joseph Joachim in this position; in this post, he, in particular, invited Vanda Landovsky to open a school of harpsichord and early music at school, which was done in 1913. ^[5]

The three main musicological works of Krechmar are “The History of Opera ” ( German: Geschichte der Oper ; 1919 , Russian translation - L .: Academia, 1925), “Introduction to the history of music” ( German: Einführung in die Musikgeschichte ; 1920 ) and the first volume “ Stories of the new German song "( Geschichte des neuen deutschen Liedes ; 1911 ) with the subtitle" From Albert to Zelter ", which was not continued, but partly supplemented by earlier works" German song after Schumann "( Das deutsche Lied seit Schumann ) and "German song after the death of Richard Wagner " ( it. Das deutsche Lied seit dem Tode Rich. Wagners ). Until today, Krechmar enjoys the prestige of the “patriarch of German musicology” ^[6] , the “famous opera historian” ^[7] , whose aphorism “Opera is good if the music only serves, the opera is bad if the music becomes independent” requires the attention of today's musicians. In addition to many other books and articles, Krechmar owns original organ music, choirs and songs.

The opinion was expressed that Krechmar to some extent served as the prototype of the musical teacher Vendel Krechmar in the novel by Thomas Mann “ Doctor Faustus ”.