Raphael, Günter (Albert Rudolf)
Raphael, Günter (Albert Rudolf)
Raphael, Günter (Albert Rudolf) , German composer; b. Berlin, April 30, 1903; d. Herford, Oct. 19, 1960. His father, Georg Raphael, was music director of Berlin’s St. Matthäi. He studied with Max Trapp (piano), Walter Fischer (organ), and Robert Kahn (composition) at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik (1922–25). He taught theory and composition at the Leipzig Cons. and at the Kirchenmusikalisches Institut (1926–34); after his Works were banned by the Nazis, he lived in Meiningen and then in Sweden. Following the collapse of the 3rd Reich, he taught in Laubach (1945–48); taught theory and composition at the Duisburg Cons. (1949–53); was on the faculty of the Mainz Cons. (1956–58); served as prof. at the Cologne Hochschule für Musik (1957–60). His early Works followed in the German Romantic tradition, but he later adopted a more contemporary idiom with excursions into serialism.
Works
ORCH : 5 syms. (1926; 1932; 1942; 1942–47; 1953); Theme, Variations, and Rondo (1927); 2 violin concertos (1929, 1960); Variations on a Scottish Folktune (1930); Chamber Concerto for Violin and Chamber Orch. (1930); Divertimento (1932); Organ Concerto (1936); Smetana Suite, after Smetana’s dances (1938); Sinfonietta (1938); Symphonische Fantasie for Violin and Strings (1940); Jabonah, ballet suite (1948); Reger Suite (1948); Sinfonia breve (1949); Concertino for Alto Saxophone and Chamber Orch. (1951); Die vier Jahreszeiten for Strings (1953); Zoologica (1958). CHAMBER : 2 clarinet quintets (1924); trios for Piano, Violin, and Cello (1925), Flute, Cello, and Piano (1938), Flute, Violin, and Viola (1940), 2 Violins and Viola (1941), and Clarinet, Cello, and Piano (1950); sonatas for Viola and Piano (1925, 1926), Flute and Piano (1925), Violin and Piano (1926, 1968), Cello and Piano (1926), Oboe and Piano (1933), and Violin and Organ (1934); 4 string quartets (1926, 1926, 1930, 1945); String Quintet (1927); 9 sonatas for Solo Instruments (1940–46); 6 duo sonatas for Various Instruments (1940–46);
Woodwind Quintet (1945); piano pieces; organ music. VOCAL : Much choral music, including a cantata (1926), Requiem (1927–28), Te Deum (1930), Busskantate (1952), Judica Kantate (1955), and motets.
Bibliography
T. Schinköth, Musik—das Ende aller Illusionen?: G. R. im NS-Staat (Hamburg, 1996).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire