Joseph Martin Kraus

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Joseph Martin Kraus (June 20, 1756 -December 15, 1792), was a composer, sometimes referred to as "the Swedish Mozart".

Joseph Martin Kraus was born on 20. Juni 1756 in the central German town of Miltenberg on the river Main, as a son of the civil clerc Joseph Bernhard Kraus and Anna Dorothea (Schmidt). His father's familly had a small restaurant in Weilbach near Amorbach, while his mother was a daughter of master-builder. Joseph had 13 more brothers and sisters, but seven of them died during their childhood.

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Childhood

Already in 1761, Kraus familly moved to Buchen, after a short stay in Osterburken. His father, Joseph Bernhard Kraus got in Buchen a position of a clerc. In Buchen (Odenwald), Kraus started his earliest formal education. His first music teachers were rektor Georg Pfister (1730-1807) and cantor Bernhard Franz Wendler (1702-1782), giving him mainly piano and violin lessons. Kraus show his musical talent were early. At the age of 12, Kraus joined the Jesuit Gymnasium and Music Seminar in Mannheim, where he studied German and Latin literature and music. He got a good music education, especially violin lessons, from P. Alexander Keck (1724-1804) and P. Anton Klein (1748-1810).

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Studies

It was the wish of his parents that Joseph Martin Kraus should matriculate as a student of Law at the University of Mainz, in the year 1773. However, Kraus was not satisfied with the situation at that university, and later he even published a satire about it. After just one year, he moved to the University of Erfurt, where he could attend music lessons too. Both catholic and evangelistic music was flourishing in Efrurt, whith a rich musical tradition. Very soon, Kraus neglected his studies of Law and focused fully on Music and Literature.


One defamation trial against his father, forced Joseph Martin to break his studies for one year and to move back to Buchen. He spent his time in Buchen writing his tragedy "Tolon", a drama in three acts and several music peaces for the town-church St. Oswald. Among others, Kraus wrote Te Deum D-Major, the Motette Fracto Demum Sacramento D-Major. After this one year break, Joseph Martin Kraus continued his studies of Law in Goettingen. Kraus became a member of the writer's group 'Goettinger Hainbund' and wrote a book of poetry "Versuch von Schaefersgedichte". More and more, he became involved into "Sturm und Drang" movement, which influenced both his writing and his music.

In year 1775, Kraus wrote his Requiem, one of his earliest compositions, written at the age of nineteen. There is no way to know for sure whether young Kraus was induced to compose this genre of church music by some personal reasons, or his choice may be influenced by his attraction to "Sturm und Drang" movement. Although the signs of the composer's obvious inexperience are easily seen, the work is full of dramatic force and original, bold ideas.


The Requiem was followed by two Kraus' oratorios: "Tod Jesu" (Jesus Death) and "Geburt Jesu" (Jesus Birth), and with a musical treatise "Etwas von und über Musik fürs Jahr 1777" ("Something about the Musik for the year 1777").

The work "Tod Jesu" is distint comparing with the oratorios of other composers, because Kraus wrote both the music and the text of his work. As text writer, Kraus showed a series of scenes that covered the full spectra of human emotions, from sorrow and fear to joy. The work corresponds fully to a rethoric question already raised in Kraus' treatise "Etwas von und über Musik fürs Jahr 1777":


"Should not the church music mostly be for the Hearth ?" ("Soll die Musik in den Kirchen nicht am meisten fuers Herz sein ?")


During his stay in Goettingen, Kraus had become friendly with a fellow student Carl Stridsberg. He convinced Kraus to accompany him to Stockholm to apply for a position in the court orchestra of Gustav III.

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At the Swedish Court


Joseph Martin Kraus moved to Stockholm in 1778, at the age of 22. His first years there were not easy and more than once Kraus considered going back home. The King Gustav III love of music had quickly become known in the rest of Europe and attacted many musicians from a lot of countries. It took Kraus three bitter years, often spent in extreme poverty, before the King took any notice of him at all. His opera Azire was rejected by the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, but the Academy decided to give him a second chance. King Gustav III of Sweden himself drafted the opera libretto Proserpina and Johan Kellgren versified it. Kraus’ music to this libretto was successfully premiered at Ulriksdal Palace in June 1781, before the King and his royal household. Kraus was appointed a conductor of the Royal Swedish Opera and director of the Royal Academy of Music.

It was the long-awaited breakthrough. Dizzy with the success, Kraus wrote to his parents:

"Immediatelly after the music ended, the King talked to me for more than a quarter of an hour ... it had simply given him so much satisfaction. Yesterday I was engaged by him. Of course I was not granted any great title, but quite simple that of Kapellmeister. What is much more worth to me than 600 guilders is the favour I have been granted, which is that I am to undertake a journey to Germany, France and Italy at the King expense."

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Grand Tour

Gustavus III sent Kraus on a 5-year Grand Tour of Europe to learn all he could about music abroad. On this trip, Kraus met Christoph Willibald Gluck and Joseph Haydn, for whom he wrote a Symphony in D major, VB 143 for Haydn to play at Esterhaza, and it was first published under Haydn's name. Kraus' Symphony in E minor, VB 141 was first published in Paris in 1787, under the name of Giuseppe Cambini, a very popular composer at the time. During this time, Kraus became a member of the same masonic lodge as Mozart.


A lot of Kraus' symphonies have been lost, or attributed to other composers. Only about a dozen remain of which scholars are certain of Kraus' authorship. Most of Kraus' extant symphonies are in three movements, without a Minuet. Most are scored for two horns and strings, many include two flutes and two oboes, while the later ones also include two bassoons, and two additional horns. The musicologist Bertil van Boer identifies Kraus' Symphony in C# minor as "one of only two symphonies in this key written during the eighteenth century." It was later reworked in a more 'manageable' key as Symphony in C minor, VB 142.


It is still a controversal topic if the symphony dedicated to Haydn was Symphony in D major VB 143 or Symphony in C minor VB 142. The minor key and the mood of Symphony VB 142 seem to be a reminiscent of Haydn's "Sturm und Drang" period around 1770, comparable with his earlier minor key works. In any case, Haydn had a very high opinion about the work. Many years after Kraus' death, Haydn remarked to a common friend, Swedish diplomat Fredrik Silfverstolpe:


"The symphony he wrote here in Vienna especially for me will be regarded as a masterpiece for centuries to come; believe me, there are few people who can compose something like that."


During his journey, Kraus also wrote his famous Flute Quintet in D Major, that broke with all the erstwhile conventions that governed such peaces. The outer and inner form of that work were groundbreaking comparing with everything previously composed at the time, with the astoundingly long first movement of 306 bars.


After Vienna, his journey also took him throughout Italy, France, and England, where he witnessed the Handel Centenary celebrations in 1785. While in Paris, he experienced difficulty with cabals back in Stockholm that sought to prevent his return, but their resolution in 1786 made it possible for him to become the leading figure in Gustavian musical life.

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Back to Sweden

When Kraus returned from his Grand Tour in 1787, he was appointed as director of curriculum at the Royal Academy of Music, and the next year he succeeded Francesco Antonio Uttini as Kapellmästare, eventually attaining a reputation as an innovative conductor, progressive pedagogue, and multi-talented composer. He also became a member of the Palmstedt literary circle, a group that discussed intellectual and cultural life in the Swedish capital.


For the convening of the Riksdag of the Estates in 1789, Gustavus III wanted to convince the parliament to go along with his plans of going to war with Russia, where he was opposed by the noble estate but supported by the burghers and the peasantry. In order to further his aims, Gustavus III intended to secure parliamentary approval of the Act of Union and Security that would give him a broad powers over the administration of the government. The king had Kraus write Riksdagsmusiken for the opening ceremonies in St Nicolai Church on 9th March 1789. The music consists of a march based on the March of the Priests from Mozart's Idomeneo, and a symphony (Sinfonia per la chiesa). The legislature approved the king's measures.


For the staging in January 1792 of Voltaire's Olympie, Kraus wrote an overture, a march and interludes. Although he was considered as a composer of stage music, his principal opera, "Aeneas i Cartago", remained unperformed during his lifetime.


On March 1792, Gustavus III attended a masked ball where he was assassinated, and he died shortly after. (Giuseppe Verdi started to write an opera on this event, Gustavus Terzo, but later changed the names of the characters, the setting, and the title of the opera, to Un Ballo in Maschera). The death of Gustavus III caused considerable turmoil in the cultural establishment that the monarch had nurtured. Kraus wrote a funeral cantata and the Symphonie funèbre which were played at the burial ceremony on April 13.


Kraus own health deteriorated shortly thereafter, and he died only a few months later in December of 1792 from tuberculosis. He was buried in the Stockholm suburb of Tivoli following a ceremony where his coffin was carried across the ice of the Brunsviken by torchlight. His tomb has the inscription:


"Here the earthly of Kraus; the heavenly lives in his music"

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Legacy

Bertil van Boer divides Kraus’ sacred music into two periods. The first, from 1768 to 1777, comprises Kraus’ music written as a Roman Catholic for Catholic services. For the second, from 1778 to 1790, Kraus was still Catholic, but wrote music for Lutheran services. Aside from short hymns and chorales, there was not much use for sacred music in Sweden at that time. There was also a debate going on regarding the role music should play in the church, and Kraus participated in that debate by writing three articles on the subject in the newspaper Stockholms Post.

Two different catalogs exist of Kraus’ music, one by Karl Scheiber, Verzeichnis der Musikalischen Werke von Jos. Kraus, which gives each composition an A number, and Bertil van Boer's Die Werke von Joseph Martin Kraus: Systematisch-thematisches Werkverzeichnis, which gives each composition a VB number.


vb 1 \ requiem in d minor

vb 2 \ jubileum mass for pater alexander keck (lost)

vb 3 \ requiem for joseph ii (lost)

vb 4 \ miserere in c minor

vb 5 \ parvum quando in d major

vb 6 \ te deum in d major

vb 7 \ fracto demum sacramento in d major

vb 8 \ proh parvule in c major

vb 9 \ mot en alsvoedig magt in e flat major

vb 10 \ stella coeli in c major

vb 11 \ in te speravi domine in e flat major

vb 12 \ miserere (with roman hoffstetter) (lost)

vb 13 \ miserere nostri domine in c minor

vb 14 \ fragments of a motet in d major

vb 15 \ cantata for the installation of magnus lehnberg in d major

vb 16 \ der geburt jesu (lost)

vb 17 \ der tod jesu

vb 18 \ azire (lost)

vb 19 \ proserpin

vb 20 \ zoelia, ou l'origine de la foelicitoe (lost)

vb 21 \ oedipe (destroyed)

vb 22 \ soliman ii, eller de tre sultaninnorna

vb 23 \ aeneas i cartago, eller dido och aeneas

vb 24 \ half of a "musik spiel" (lost)

vb 25 \ le bon seigneur

vb 26 \ hoer mina oemna suckar in a major

vb 27 \ 4 intermezzos to molioere's amphitryon

vb 28 \ couplets to fintbergs broellop

vb 29 \ couplets to fri-corpsen, eller dalkarkarne (lost)

vb 30 \ du i hvars oskuldfulla in g major

vb 31 \ couplets to foedelsedagen (lost)

vb 32 \ oefventyraren, eller resan till moenens oe

vb 33 \ olympie

vb 34 \ moe sveafolk din tacksamhet in c major

vb 35 \ choruses to oedipe

vb 36 \ marknaden (lost)

vb 37 \ pantomime in d major

vb 38 \ pantomime in g major

vb 39 \ ballet movements for gluck's armide

vb 40 \ fiskarena

vb 41 \ zum geburtstage des koenigs

vb 42 \ funeral cantata for gustav iii

vb 43 \ la scusa

vb 44 \ la pesca

vb 45 \ den frid ett menloest hjerta njuter

vb 46 \ la gelosia

vb 47 \ la primavera

vb 48 \ non pioe fra sassi algosi in e major

vb 49 \ in te spero o sposa amata in b flat major

vb 50 \ t'intendo, si mio cor in e flat major

vb 51 \ conservati fedele in g major

vb 52 \ duet in g major (lost)

vb 53 \ aria in a flat major (lost)

vb 54 \ misero pargoletto in f minor

vb 55 \ sentimi non partir...al mio boene in e flat major

vb 56 \ innocente donzelletta in b flat major

vb 57 \ aure belle che spirate in c major

vb 58 \ du temps qui doetruit tout in g major

vb 59 \ ch'io mai vi possa in c major

vb 60 \ del destin non vi lagnate in a major

vb 61 \ ch'io parta? m'accheto in f major

vb 62 \ se non ti moro al lato in e flat major

vb 63 \ ma tu tremi in e flat major

vb 64 \ non temer non son pioe amante in b flat major

vb 65 \ fermati!...se tutti i mali miei in e flat major

vb 66 \ son pietosa e sono amante in f major

vb 67 \ fra l'ombre un lampo solo in f major

vb 68 \ carmen biblicum

vb 69 \ meine mutter hat goense in f major

vb 70 \ chorus and canon

vb 71 \ aandes sagte, vestenvinde in f major

vb 72 \ schweizerrundgesang in f major

vb 73 \ rheinweinlied in g major

vb 74 \ an - als ihm die - starb in e flat major

vb 75 \ an die quelle in e flat major

vb 76 \ die welt nach rousseau in g minor

vb 77 \ die henne in g minor

vb 78 \ hans und hanne in c major

vb 79 \ an den wind in b flat major

vb 80 \ an den wind in f major

vb 81 \ ich bin ein deutscher joengling in c major

vb 82 \ ich bin vergnoegt in c major

vb 83 \ daphne am bach in g major

vb 84 \ phidile in c major

vb 85 \ das rosenband in a major

vb 86 \ anselmuccio in a major

vb 87 \ an mein moedchen in b flat major

vb 88 \ das schwarze lischen aus kastillien in g major

vb 89 \ der nordische witmer in a major

vb 90 \ ein lied um regen in d major

vb 91 \ der mann im lehnstuhl in g major

vb 92 \ die mutter bei der wiege in b flat major

vb 93 \ ein wiegenlied in e minor

vb 94 \ an das klavier in e major

vb 95 \ der abschied in f minor

vb 96 \ ein wiegenlied in g major

vb 97 \ gesundheit in f major

vb 98 \ depuis longtemps in g major

vb 99 \ dors mon enfant in e flat major

vb 100 \ est on sage in a major

vb 101 \ point de tristesse in a major

vb 102 \ sans venus in f major

vb 103 \ aan de lente in g major

vb 104 \ conservati fedele in f major

vb 105 \ notturno in g major

vb 106 \ si mio ben in e flat major

vb 107 \ l'istessa canzonetta alla calabrese in c major

vb 108 \ ti sento sospiri in g major

vb 109 \ broeder se boelen in g major

vb 110 \ charon poe en doktor soeg (lost)

vb 111 \ elegie in f major

vb 112 \ hvart hastar du in c major

vb 113 \ stancer till elias martin in g major

vb 114 \ mina herrar in a major

vb 115 \ oefver mozarts doed in e flat major

vb 116 \ posten riktigt oeppnad blef in f major

vb 117 \ se koellan, se lunden in d major

vb 118 \ ynglingarne in d minor

vb 119 \ atis och camilla in g major

vb 120 \ den 9 januarii 1793 (lost)

vb 121 \ gracernas besoek vid professoren herr tobias sergel (lost)

vb 122 \ cantate till en voerdig voen (lost)

vb 123 \ fiskarstugan

vb 124 \ moeltiden i fiskarstugan

vb 125 \ oeterfarten ifroen fiskarstugan

vb 126 \ den 24 januarii 1792

vb 127 \ mjoelkkammern poe haga

vb 128 \ symphony in a major

vb 129 \ sinfonia buffa in f major

vb 130 \ symphony in f major

vb 131 \ symphony (lost)

vb 132 \ symphony 'goettingen' 1 (lost)

vb 133 \ symphony 'goettingen' 2 (lost)

vb 134 \ symphony 'goettingen' 3 (lost)

vb 135 \ symphony 'goettingen' 4 (lost)

vb 136 \ symphony 'goettingen' 5 (lost)

vb 137 \ symphony 'goettingen' 6 (lost)

vb 138 \ symphony in c major violino obligato

vb 139 \ symphony in c major

vb 140 \ symphony in c sharp minor

vb 141 \ symphony in e minor

vb 142 \ symphony in c minor

vb 143 \ symphony in d major

vb 144 \ symphony in e flat major

vb 145 \ symphony in f major

vb 146 \ sinfonia da chiesa in d major

vb 147 \ sinfonia da chiesa in d minor

vb 148 \ symphonie funoebre in c minor

vb 149 \ concerto for 2 violins (lost)

vb 150 \ flute concerto (lost)

vb 151 \ violin concerto in c major

vb 152 \ concerto for violin & viola (lost)

vb 153 \ sinfonia concertante for flute, violin, viola & cello (lost)

vb 154 \ riksdagsmarsch in d major

vb 155 \ contradances (lost)

vb 156 \ duo for violin & viola (lost)

vb 157 \ sonata for harpsichord & violin in d minor

vb 158 \ duo for flute & viola in d major

vb 159 \ sonata for piano & violin in d major

vb 160 \ sonata for piano & violin in c major

vb 161 \ sonata for piano & violin in e flat major

vb 162 \ sonata for piano & violin in c major

vb 163 \ allegro for piano & violin in d major

vb 164 \ string trio (lost)

vb 165 \ piano trio 'hoffstetter' 1 (lost)

vb 166 \ piano trio 'hoffstetter' 2 (lost)

vb 167 \ piano trio 'hoffstetter' 3 (lost)

vb 168 \ piano trio 'hoffstetter' 4 (lost)

vb 169 \ piano trio 'hoffstetter' 5 (lost)

vb 170 \ piano trio 'hoffstetter' 6 (lost)

vb 171 \ piano trio in d major

vb 172 \ string quartet 'goettingen' 1 (lost)

vb 173 \ string quartet 'goettingen' 2 (lost)

vb 174 \ string quartet 'goettingen' 3 (lost)

vb 175 \ string quartet 'goettingen' 4 (lost)

vb 176 \ string quartet 'goettingen' 5 (lost)

vb 177 \ string quartet 'goettingen' 6 (lost)

vb 178 \ string quartet in f minor

vb 179 \ string quartet in c minor

vb 180 \ string quartet in e major

vb 181 \ string quartet op 1 n2 in b flat major

vb 182 \ string quartet op 1 n5 in c major

vb 183 \ string quartet op 1 n3 in g minor

vb 184 \ string quartet op 1 n4 in d major

vb 185 \ string quartet op 1 n1 in a major

vb 186 \ string quartet in c major

vb 187 \ string quartet op 1 n6 in g major

vb 188 \ flute quintet op 7 in d major

vb 189 \ keyboard sonata for countess ingelheim (lost)

vb 190 \ zwei neue kuriose minuetten foers klavier

vb 191 \ rondo for keyboard in f major

vb 192 \ swedish dance for keyboard in c major

vb 193 \ variations for keyboard in c major

vb 194 \ larghetto for keyboard in g major

vb 195 \ keyboard sonata in e flat major

vb 196 \ keyboard sonata in e major

vb 197 \ 5 chorale preludes for organ

vb 198 \ exercises for soprano

vb 199 \ foerkunnom hoegt hans lof och magt in c major

vb 200 \ du, voer voelgoerare och far in b flat major

vb 201 \ droej, sol, uti din uppgoengstimma in d major

vb 202 \ kleine quatro (lost)

vb 203 \ mannheim symphonies (lost)

vb 204 \ buchen symphonies (lost)

vb 205 \ arias and motets (lost)

vb 206 \ 6 pieces for keyboard (lost)

vb 207 \ paris symphonies (lost)

vb 208 \ oder af horatius (lost)

vb anh 1 \ mass in e minor

vb anh 2 \ entr'acte to oefventyraren in a major

vb anh 3 \ poeter prisa moenga goeng in a major

vb anh 4 \ lydia och arist in e flat major

vb anh 5 \ polonaise for orchestra in d major

vb anh 6 \ symphony in d major

vb anh 7 \ symphony 'sigmaringen' 1 in a major (lost)

vb anh 8 \ symphony 'sigmaringen' 2 in g major (lost)

vb anh 9 \ symphony 'sigmaringen' 3 in e flat major (lost)

vb anh10 \ symphony 'sigmaringen' 4 in c major (lost)

vb anh11 \ symphony 'sigmaringen' 5 in d major (lost)

vb anh12 \ trumpet concerto (lost)

vb anh13 \ variations for trumpet and orchestra (lost)

vb anh14 \ trio for keyboard, flute & cello in c major

vb anh15 \ rondo capriccio for keyboard in g major



Bertil van Boer also edited modern editions, on Artaria, of all Kraus’ symphonies recorded on olume 4 of Naxos's complete set of Kraus symphonies, and also wrote the programme notes for those discs as well as the article on Kraus in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Volume 1 won the Cannes Classical Award in 1999, while Volume 2 contains world premiere recordings of three of Kraus’ symphonies.

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See also

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External links

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  • Mozart Forum Exploring the world of Classical-Era Music (1770-1827), encompassing the music, personalities and accomplishments of Mozart and his contemporaries.
  • Mozart - Kraus A page dedicated to W.A.Mozart (1756-1791) and J.M.Kraus (1756-1792), with a list of further links.

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