Trapp, (Hermann Emil Alfred) Max
Trapp, (Hermann Emil Alfred) Max
Trapp, (Hermann Emil Alfred) Max, German composer and teacher; b. Berlin, Nov. 1, 1887; d. there, May 29, 1971. He studied piano with Dohnányi and composition with Juon at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik (1905-11), where he later was on its piano faculty (1920-34); also gave a master class in composition at the Dortmund Cons. (1924-30); in 1929, became a member of the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin, where he taught a master class in composition (1934-5); from 1951 to 1953 he taught at the Berlin Cons. In 1955 he was elected to membership in the Berlin Academy of Arts. His style was neo-Classical with a strong polyphonic texture, in the tradition of Max Reger. He was also active as a landscape painter.
Works
orch: 7 syms., including No. 1, Sinfonia giocosa (1915), No. 2 (1918), No. 3 (1924), No. 4 (1931), No. 5 (1936), and No. 6 (1946); Violin Concerto (1922); Piano Concerto (1930); 3 concertos for Orch. (1934, 1940, 1946); Cello Concerto (1935); Allegro deciso (1942); Kleine Spielmusik for Chamber Orch. (1944); Symphonischer Prolog (1944). CHAMBER: 2 piano quintets; 3 piano quartets; String Quartet (1935); Violin Sonata; piano pieces. VOCAL: Choral works, including Vom ewigen Licht for Soprano, Baritone, Chorus, and Orch. (1942); songs.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire