Hausegger, Siegmund von

Hausegger, Siegmund von, esteemed Austrian conductor and composer, son of Friedrich von Hausegger; b. Graz, Aug. 16, 1872; d. Munich, Oct. 10, 1948. He studied with his father and with Karl Pohlig. At the age of 16, he composed a grand Mass, which he himself conducted; at 18 he brought out in Graz an opera, Helfrid. Richard Strauss thought well enough of Hausegger as a composer to accept for performance his comic opera Zinnober, which he conducted in Munich on June 19, 1898. In 1895-96 Hausegger conducted at the Graz City Theater; in 1897 he was an asst. conductor in Bayreuth. He was the conductor of the Volk Symphonie-Konzerte in Munich (1899–1902), the Museum Concerts in Frankfurt am Main (1903–06), and the Phil. Concerts in Hamburg (1910–20). From 1918 to 1934 he was director of the Academy of Musical Art in Munich; in 1920 he was named Generalmusikdirektor of the Munich Konzertverein, which became the Munich Phil, in 1928; remained there until his retirement in 1938. He acquired a fine reputation as a conductor in Germany, becoming a champion of Bruckner’s syms. in their original versions. As a composer, he wrote in a late German Romantic style. He publ. a monograph, Alexander Ritter, Ein Bild seines Charakters und Schaffens (Berlin, 1907), and his father’s correspondence with Peter Rosegger (Leipzig, 1924). His collected articles appeared under the title Betrachtungen zur Kunst (Leipzig, 1921).

Works

dramatic: Opera: Helfrid (Graz, 1890); Zinnober (Munich, June 19, 1898, R. Strauss conducting). ORCH.: Dionysische Fantasie (1899); 2 symphonic poems: Barbarossa (1900) and Wieland der Schmied (1904); Natursymphonie for Chorus and Orch. (1911); Aufklänge, symphonic variations on a children’s song (1919). VOCAL: Pieces for Men’s Chorus and Orch.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire