Karl Straube and his role in the Leipzig Orgelbewegung; a first exploration by Martin Moree

Articles

Martin Moree Karl Straube and his role in the Leipzig Orgelbewegung; a first exploration
Het ORGEL 107 (2011), nr. 3, 20-31 [summary]

Karl Straube is known as the promoter of late-romantic organ culture in general and of the music of Max Reger in particular. This image needs revision, because Straube’s romantic period passed fairly quickly: getting acquainted with historical organs opened a new world of sound for him, which he apparently did not know yet.
This re-orientation shows that Straube was completely a child of his time who followed the Orgelbewegung enthusiastically, not only through his re-orientation with regard to early music, but also in his increasing interest in new music.
An aspect of Straube’s activities that has remained underemphasized is his importance as teacher of composing pupils. To this group of pupils belong Günther Ramin, Niels Otto Raasted, Eberhard Wenzel, Johannes Weyrauch, and the brothers Mauersberger.
From published sources one gets a fragmentary picture of Straube’s relations with his pupils as regards his influence on their compositions. From these fragments (in particular his letters) we get to know Straube as one who encouraged the younger generation to compose, but who was not afraid to offer strong criticism. Further study however should shed more light on the relations between Straube and his composing pupils.