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Creator
Kaun, Hugo, 1863-1932
Call number
JPB 04-5
Physical description
2.5 linear feet (5 boxes)
Language
Most of the materials in the correspondence and professional files series are in German; English
Preferred Citation

Hugo Kaun Papers, JPB 04-5. Music Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Repository
Music Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.Restrictions apply

Hugo Kaun, composer and choral conductor, was born in Berlin Germany on March 21, 1863. Following his father’s death in 1886, he went to the USA and settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he worked as a teacher, composer and choral conductor. He returned to Berlin in 1902, and by the 1920s his fame as a composer had spread throughout German-speaking Europe. In 1912 he was elected a member of the Academy of Arts and from 1922 taught at the Berlin Conservatory. His operas are Wagnerian in style, and the Wagnerian harmonic language pervades all of his larger compositions. The many choral works enjoyed great popularity. Hugo Kaun died on April 2, 1932 in Berlin Germany.

Biographical/historical information

Hugo Kaun, composer and choral conductor, was born on March 21, 1863 in Berlin, Germany. Although born into a merchant family, he composed prolifically as a youth. He studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin (1879-80) and in 1881 began a determined study of the piano with Oscar Raif. At the same time he attended the composition classes of Friedrich Kiel at the Prussian Academy of Arts. Kaun busied himself with piano teaching, composition and conducting a mixed chorus, but following his father's death in 1886, he went to the USA, settling in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where there was a large German community; while there, Kaun associated with, among others, the music theorist Bernhard Ziehn. A hand injury forced him to give up thoughts of a career as a pianist, and so he spent his years in the USA teaching, composing and directing a choral society, the Milwaukee Liederkranz. Some of his works were performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Theodore Thomas, who was one of the early champions of Kaun's music.

Kaun returned to Berlin in 1902, and by the 1920s his fame as a composer had spread throughout German-speaking Europe. In 1912 he was elected a member of the Academy of Arts and in 1922 he joined the composition staff of the Berlin Conservatory. Kaun was a prolific composer whose output embraces most genres. Of his four neo-Wagnerian operas, Der Fremde (1920) was regarded as the most significant, though in the more radical cultural climate of the Weimar Republic, it quickly disappeared from the repertory, and attempts to revive it during the Third Reich faltered. Although Kaun died one year before Hitler came to power, his nationalist choral works, particularly those for unaccompanied male chorus, enjoyed great popularity throughout Germany after his death.

Hugo Kaun died on April 2, 1932 in Berlin.

Sources:

  • W.D. Gudger and E. Levi: ‘Kaun, Hugo’, Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 23 February 2005),

Scope and arrangement

The papers of Hugo Kaun (1882 - 1980 and undated) consist of correspondence, professional files (clippings, programs, and writings) and scores. Most of the letters within the collection are directed to Margaret (Putti) Weiss, Hugo Kaun’s 3rd child—both Clara (Klex) and Hugo (Hucksie) consistently wrote to her during the 1920s. The scrapbook, most likely created by Margaret Weiss, contained photographs of Kaun’s family and social life. Due to its perishable construction, the scrapbook was photocopied and its photographs deposited within subject related folders.

This collection does not provide items which delineate the development of Kaun’s compositions; nor does it contain many items from his time living in Wisconsin.

The Hugo Kaun papers are arranged in five series:

  • Series I: Correspondence, - and
    undated

    This series primarily contains the letters that Margaret Weiss (née Kaun) received from her family. All of the letters are written in German.

  • Series II: Professional Files, - and
    undated

    This series contains the clippings, ephemera and programs that reveal information on Kaun’s professional life as a composer. The documents, with the exception of one clipping, are written in German. For a fully documented list of Kaun’s compositions see the end pages of Aus Meinem Leiben (box 2 folder 8).

  • Series III: Photographs, - and
    undated

    This series contains the personal photographs found within the collection. The sole production photograph is of Menandra (1925) contained within folder 28.

  • Series IV: Scores, - and
    undated

    This series primarily contains the compositions of Hugo Kaun. The other artists whose work is represented within this series are: Bernhard Kaun (Hugo Kaun’s fifth child) and Erich Anders.

  • Series V: Oversized, - and
    undated

    This series contains two oversized scores written by Hugo Kaun, as well as an oversized draft in ink of Kaun’s Harmonie—und Modulationslehre (ca. 1915).

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Materials were donated from 1980-1988 by Hugo Kaun’s grandson and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Harald Weiss.

Processing information

Processed by Thea Constantine; Machine-readable finding aid created by Thea Constantine.

Using the collection

Location

Music Division
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498
Third Floor

Conditions Governing Use

For permission to publish, contact the Curator, Jerome Robbins Dance Collection.

Access restrictions

Photocopying prohibited.