Bruckner, Strauss and Hausegger

These were two composers with whom Hausegger had an especially close connection, the former as a historical ideal, the latter as an esteemed contemporary. His acquaintance with Anton Bruckner began in 1886, when he was 14, at a performance under Karl Muck of the Seventh Symphony. After the performance, he heard Bruckner improvise on the organ before a select audience after which his father toasted Bruckner, Muck and the evening’s performance.

That summer, on the way to the Bayreuth Festival with his father, he renewed the acquaintance when he and his father sat with Bruckner during lunch at the Regensburg train station. Hausegger was at the world premier of Bruckner’s Fifth Symphony in Graz, under Franz Schalk, April 8^th, 1894.

When he led his first concert in Germany, with the Kaim Orchestra in 1899, in addition to Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture and his own Dionysian Fantasia, the lion’s share of the evening went to the Bruckner Seventh. On Dec. 17, 1900, he led the Munich premier of Bruckner’s mighty Eighth at one of his Modern Evenings’ concerts with the Kaim Orchestra, as well as leading Bruckner performances in Berlin, Frankfurt and Hamburg. In 1929 in Munich, he helped found the local chapter of the Bruckner Society, gave lectures to the group and there, in 1931, conducted a complete Bruckner cycle.

The pinnacle of his relationship with Bruckner came on April 2^nd, 1932, when, before an invited audience in Munich, he conducted first the Löwe, then the original version, of Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony. His most well-known performance, it was an internationally acclaimed triumph. Bruckner’s original thoughts were, of course, a revelation, adding impetus to the cause of hearing his symphonies as he’d really intended. During these times, he worked with Robert Haas and Elsa Krüger, editing the original versions of Bruckner’s scores.

His devotion included participation in international Bruckner Festivals in Munich in 1933 and in the 1934 Bruckner Festivals in Linz and Mannheim. On Oct. 28^th, 1935, he continued his pioneering efforts with the world premier in Munich of Bruckner’s Fifth Symphony. Less fortunate, in its political context, was his directing the finale of Bruckner’s Fifth at the cultural congress within the 1937 Nürnberg party rally and in the same year, at the dedication of Bruckner’s bust in the Valhalla, Regensburg. Additionally, he conducted the 1938 Bruckner Fest in Mannheim and in 1939, the Greater German Brucknerfest in Linz and Vienna.

In 1938, he came out of retirement to record the original version of the Bruckner Ninth with his beloved Munich Philharmonic. In addition to being an honorary member of the International Bruckner Society, he was president of Munich local chapter and the recipient of the Bruckner Medal from the city of Linz.

“Of all modern German artists, Richard Strauss was the first who actively interested himself in me and my work, and ever since, he has done his utmost to forward me in my career by his active friendship.” Even as an adolescent, Hausegger heard performances in Graz of Strauss’ early tone poems. Given his household’s zeal for Liszt and Wagner, a friendly reception to Strauss was guaranteed. In January 1895, when Hausegger finished his opera Zinnober, he and his father went to Berlin and played it for some powers that were, including Oscar Bie, Karl Muck, Strauss and Weingartner.

Strauss, favorably impressed, recommended he submit it to the Munich theater for performance. There, in 1898, Strauss himself conducted the premier. The performance was “all an artist could wish for” and Hausegger had hopes of the work entering the repertoire. Sadly, Strauss left for a position in Berlin and without his patronage, the score became “a resident of the library”. When Hausegger wrote the Dionysian Fantasia, his first published symphonic work, one of its prime influences was the sense of artistic liberation he got from hearing the early tone poems of Strauss.

The two were also active in the Allgemeine Deutsche Musikverein and the Genoßenschaft Deutschen Tonsetzer. The first organization promoted performances of modern German music; the latter fought for composers’ performing rights and royalties.

Both men had summer homes nearby one another in the Alps; Strauss in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Hausegger at Obergrainau. Thus, in the off-season, they’d visit. In 1941, Strauss gave Hausegger two opera fragments; from Semiramide after Calderón and Beloved Nausicaa, to a Josef Gregor text, saying “I’m too old for these, and worn out by fifteen operas, but you still have time. Courage and faith!” At that time, of course, Strauss was 77; Hausegger 69. One warms to the picture of these two veteran Post-Romantic warriors, recollecting in tranquility, both no doubt dismayed at some of the paths music – and their world generally – had taken.

On one of Hausegger’s last visits, the conversation turned to a discussion of the important factors in the artistic life. Beaming, Strauss turned to Hella von Hausegger, to lighten the subject and asked “Do you know the difference between Siegi and me? Siegi wants the stars and I want 20 marks!” While some of Strauss’ ribbing has a touch of patronization, his statement upon hearing of Hausegger’s death reflects a more enduring belief:

“With Siegmund von Hausegger departed one of the last and best

true Germans from this wretched earth. The cultural world has lost

a great artist of high caliber, with a character of rare honesty, idealistic

conviction and the noblest of aspirations. I only regret that I myself am

no longer able to lay on his coffin the laurel crown of which he was

so worthy.”