Gregor, Joseph 1888–1960

PERSONAL: Born October 26, 1888, in Czernowitz (now Chernovtsy), Ukraine; died October 12, 1960, in Vienna, Austria.

CAREER: University professor, librarian, poet, writer, and dramatist; founder of the theater collection of the Austrian National Library (later renamed the Austrian Theatre Museum), 1923, head of library, 1923–54.

WRITINGS:

Das Theater in der Wiener Josefstadt, Wiener Drucke (Vienna, Austria), 1924.

Das amerikanische Theater und kino, zwei kulturgeschichtliche Abhandlungen, Amaltheaverlag (Zurich, Switzerland), 1931.

Weltgeschichte des Theaters (history), Phaidon (Zurich, Switzerland), 1933.

Shakespeare: Der Aufbau eines Zeitalters: mit 136 Kupfertiefdruckbildern, Phaidon (Vienna, Austria), 1935.

Die Masken der Erde: mit 255 Bildern, darunter 15 farbigen, R. Piper (Munich, Germany), 1936, translated as Masks of the World: An Historical and Pictorial Survey of Many Types and Times, B.T. Bates (London, England), 1937, published as Masks of the World: With 255 Photographs, Dover (Mineola, NY), 2001.

Das spanische Welttheater: Weltanschauung, Politik und Kunst im Zeitalter der Habsburger, H. Reichner (Vienna, Austria), 1937.

Stefan Zweig, Joseph Gregor: Correspondence, 1921–1938, edited by Kenneth Birkin, University of Otago (Dunedin, New Zealand), 1938.

(Author of libretto) Richard Strauss, Friedenstag (opera), first produced in Munich, Germany, 1938.

Alexander der Grosse: die Weltherrschaft einer Idee, R. Piper (Munich, Germany), 1940.

Das Theater des Volkes in der Ostmark, mit 50 Abbildungen, Deutscher (Vienna, Austria), 1943.

Kulturgeschichte des Balletts, seine Gestaltung und Wirksamkeit in der Geschichte und unter den Kunsten, Gallus (Vienna, Austria), 1946.

(Selector and author of introduction) Hermann Bahr, Meister und Meisterbriefe um Hermann Bahr; aus seinen Entwü1rfen, Tagebü1chern und seinem Briefwechsel mit Richard Strauss, H. Bauer (Vienna, Austria), 1947.

Geschichte des osterreichischen Theaters von seinen Ursprungen bis zum Ende der ersten Republik (history), Donau (Vienna, Austria), 1948.

Kulturgeschichte der Oper: Ihre Verbindung mit dem Leben, den Werken des Geistes und der Politik, 2nd revised edition, Gallus (Vienna, Austria) 1950.

Gerhart Hauptmann, das Werk und unsere Zeit, Diana (Vienna, Austria), 1951.

(Author of libretto) Richard Strauss, Die Liebe der Danae (opera; first performed as a radio broadcast in Salzburg, Austria, 1952), J. Örtel (Berlin-Grunewald, Germany), 1944.

Der Schauspielfuhrer, Hiersemann (Stuttgart, Germany), 1953.

Clemens Krauss, seine musikalische Sendung, W. Krieg (Bad Bocklet, Germany), 1953.

Clemens Holzmeister: Das architektonische Werk, Os-terreichischen (Vienna, Austria), 1953.

Richard Strauss und Joseph Gregor Briefwechsel, 1934–1949 (correspondence), O. Muller (Salzburg, Austria), 1955.

Europa: Hauptdenkmaler der west-ostlichen geistigen und kunstlerischen Bewegung, Kremayr & Scheriau (Vienna, Austria), 1957.

Die Theaterregie in der Welt unseres Jahrhunderts: Grosse Regisseure der modernen Buhne, UNESCO (Vienna, Austria), 1958.

(With Rene Fulop-Miller) The Russian Theatre: Its Character and History with Especial Reference to the Revolutionary Period, translated by Paul England, B. Blom (New York, NY), 1968.

Also author of libretto for opera Daphne, by Richard Strauss. Author of introduction, Der Nachlass Josef Kainz: Katalogaufnahme nach den Beständen der Nationalbibliothek, by Bertha Niederle, O. Harrassowitz (Leipzig, Germany), 1942.

SIDELIGHTS: Joseph Gregor was a student of literary and theatrical sciences, a professor, and a poet, writer, and author of librettos, particularly for the musical compositions of Richard Strauss. Two of these are Friedenstag and Die Liebe der Danae. The former features male singers, with one female lead, Marie, who is the wife of a commandant during the Thirty Years War. This twelfth Strauss opera is unique in that the composer had, until that time, favored soprano voices, including that of his wife, for whom he often wrote. Gregor completed the libretto in June 1936, following the German remilitarization of the Rhine-land, and the opera premiered two years later following the annexation of Austria and German preparedness for war. Intended for German-speaking audiences it became popular despite of its antiwar theme, but once World War II erupted it was seldom performed again.

Die Liebe der Danae was first scheduled to premiere during the 1944 Salzburg Festival, but it never went beyond the dress rehearsal when Joseph Goebbels, Hitle's minister of propaganda, declared "total war." It would finally premier as a radio broadcast in 1952, and until 2001 this would be the only recording of its performance. Gregor's libretto describes the pursuit of Danae by both Jupiter and Midas. Opera News critic Paul Thomason reviewed the recording performed by the American Symphony Orchestra, writing that "if this extraordinary recording of Strauss's undervalued Die Liebe der Danae does not jolt opera companies into staging the work, the world will be a poorer place."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Birkin, Kenneth, Stefan Zweig, Joseph Gregor: Correspondence, 1921–1938, University of Otago (Dunedin, New Zealand), 1938.

Richard Strauss und Joseph Gregor Briefwechsel, 1934–1949, O. Muller (Salzburg, Austria), 1955.

PERIODICALS

Opera News, November, 1999, Bryan Gilliam, review of Friedenstag, p. 64; June, 2001, Paul Thomason, review of Die Liebe der Danae, p. 54; June, 2002, Paul Thomason, review of Friedenstag, p. 57.