Richard Fuchs
Encyclopedia
Richard Fuchs, composer and architect, was born in Karlsruhe
, Baden
, Germany
, on 26 April 1887 and died in Wellington
, New Zealand
, on 22 September 1947. The football player Gottfried Fuchs
was his younger brother.
Fuchs was active in the Jüdische Kulturbund Baden and President of the B’Nai Brith Lodge in Karlsruhe in the 1930s. He designed the Gernsbach Synagogue
- destroyed in Kristallnacht
- among other buildings, few of which survive. He spent some weeks in Dachau concentration camp before his application to emigrate to New Zealand
was accepted, and he did so via England
, arriving on 17 April 1939, bringing with him a selection of his compositions, listed below.
In Wellington
he worked as an architect with Natusch and Sons, then the Housing Department, continued to compose and took an active part in the Wellington
music scene. But whereas in Germany he was persecuted as a Jew, in New Zealand he was shunned as a German.
He wrote further chamber music
, another string quartet
and a piano quintet
, songs, including A New Zealand Christmas to the words of Eileen Duggan, which was sung for the Queen during her 1953 visit to Rotorua
by a Maori girls' choir, and in a Broadcast to Schools by T. J. ("Tommy") Young's children's choir.
Apart from some songs and a string quartet, few of Richard Fuchs’s compositions were performed in his lifetime. Now he is virtually unknown, but there are moves to revive his work.
In 2007 students of the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe
performed some of the chamber music of Richard Fuchs at a special concert given in his memory.
In May 2008 the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra played a Symphonic Movement by Richard Fuchs composed in 1943.
His chamber music that he wrote in New Zealand, Piano Quintet in D minor (1941), and Sting Quartet in E Major (1945) and his song, In Der Fremde (1937) were performed at a concert at Government House in 2008, his earlier chamber music, String Quartet in D minor (1932) were played in Auckland in 2009, together with some of his songs,
A film about the life of Richard Fuchs,The Third Richard (the first two being Wagner
and Strauss
) has been produced by his grandson Danny Mulheron
.
Four of New Zealand's foremost singers, Richard Greager, Roger Wilson, Jenny Wollerman and Margaret Medley recorded a CD of songs by Richard Fuchs, In a Strange Land, accompanied by Richard Mapp and Bruce Grenfell in 2011
(Biographical notes and compositions are in the manuscript collection of the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand: Fuchs, Richard (Dr), 1887-1947 Papers, MS-Group-0859)
The Richard Fuchs Archive was set up to preserve the memory of Richard Fuchs and promote his music. http://www.richardfuchs.org.nz
The Richard Fuchs Archives web site: http://www.richardfuchs.org.nz lists biographical details, compositions and performances of works by Richard Fuchs
Karlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...
, Baden
Baden
Baden is a historical state on the east bank of the Rhine in the southwest of Germany, now the western part of the Baden-Württemberg of Germany....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, on 26 April 1887 and died in Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, on 22 September 1947. The football player Gottfried Fuchs
Gottfried Fuchs
Gottfried Fuchs was a German footballer. A German Jew, he fled Germany because of The Holocaust and emigrated to Canada...
was his younger brother.
Fuchs was active in the Jüdische Kulturbund Baden and President of the B’Nai Brith Lodge in Karlsruhe in the 1930s. He designed the Gernsbach Synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
- destroyed in Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht, also referred to as the Night of Broken Glass, and also Reichskristallnacht, Pogromnacht, and Novemberpogrome, was a pogrom or series of attacks against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria on 9–10 November 1938.Jewish homes were ransacked, as were shops, towns and...
- among other buildings, few of which survive. He spent some weeks in Dachau concentration camp before his application to emigrate to New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
was accepted, and he did so via England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, arriving on 17 April 1939, bringing with him a selection of his compositions, listed below.
In Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
he worked as an architect with Natusch and Sons, then the Housing Department, continued to compose and took an active part in the Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
music scene. But whereas in Germany he was persecuted as a Jew, in New Zealand he was shunned as a German.
He wrote further chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
, another string quartet
String quartet
A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...
and a piano quintet
Piano quintet
In European classical music, a piano quintet is a work of chamber music written for piano and four other instruments, most commonly piano, two violins, viola, and cello . Among the most frequently performed piano quintets are those by Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, César Franck, Antonín Dvořák...
, songs, including A New Zealand Christmas to the words of Eileen Duggan, which was sung for the Queen during her 1953 visit to Rotorua
Rotorua
Rotorua is a city on the southern shores of the lake of the same name, in the Bay of Plenty region of the North Island of New Zealand. The city is the seat of the Rotorua District, a territorial authority encompassing the city and several other nearby towns...
by a Maori girls' choir, and in a Broadcast to Schools by T. J. ("Tommy") Young's children's choir.
Apart from some songs and a string quartet, few of Richard Fuchs’s compositions were performed in his lifetime. Now he is virtually unknown, but there are moves to revive his work.
In 2007 students of the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe
Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe's University of Music is a college of music in Karlsruhe, Germany.-Studies:The Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe offers tuition in voice, orchestral instruments, piano, composition and music journalism. The academic degrees go from Bachelors to Artists Diplomas.- External links:*...
performed some of the chamber music of Richard Fuchs at a special concert given in his memory.
In May 2008 the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra played a Symphonic Movement by Richard Fuchs composed in 1943.
His chamber music that he wrote in New Zealand, Piano Quintet in D minor (1941), and Sting Quartet in E Major (1945) and his song, In Der Fremde (1937) were performed at a concert at Government House in 2008, his earlier chamber music, String Quartet in D minor (1932) were played in Auckland in 2009, together with some of his songs,
A film about the life of Richard Fuchs,The Third Richard (the first two being Wagner
Richard
The first or given name Richard derives from German, French, and English "ric" and "hard" , therefore it means 'powerful leader' as well as 'King's Court'...
and Strauss
Richard
The first or given name Richard derives from German, French, and English "ric" and "hard" , therefore it means 'powerful leader' as well as 'King's Court'...
) has been produced by his grandson Danny Mulheron
Danny Mulheron
Danny Mulheron is a New Zealand actor, writer, and director who has worked in theatre, television and film.In 2008 he released "The Third Richard" a feature length documentary where he tells the story of his Grandfather, a Jewish German composer whose music was banned by the Nazis, rejected in New...
.
Four of New Zealand's foremost singers, Richard Greager, Roger Wilson, Jenny Wollerman and Margaret Medley recorded a CD of songs by Richard Fuchs, In a Strange Land, accompanied by Richard Mapp and Bruce Grenfell in 2011
(Biographical notes and compositions are in the manuscript collection of the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand: Fuchs, Richard (Dr), 1887-1947 Papers, MS-Group-0859)
The Richard Fuchs Archive was set up to preserve the memory of Richard Fuchs and promote his music. http://www.richardfuchs.org.nz
Works
- A Symphony for a large orchestra
- Music for eight wind instruments
- A piece for choir, four soloists and orchestra, Vom judischen Schicksal (Jewish Fate) set to poems by Karl Wofskehl and Susskind von Trinberg
- A String Quartet
- Songs for soprano and orchestra, Fruhling, set to text by Arno Holz
- A Piano Quintet
- Numerous songs to texts by Heine, Uhland, and many others
The Richard Fuchs Archives web site: http://www.richardfuchs.org.nz lists biographical details, compositions and performances of works by Richard Fuchs