Max Reger

Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger

For more information on Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger, visit Britannica.com.

(b Brand, Upper Palatinate, 19 March 1873; d Leipzig, 11 May 1916). German composer. He studied with Riemann (1890-95) in Munich and Wiesbaden (where his drinking habits began); in 1901 he settled in Munich, and in 1907 he moved to Leipzig to take a post as professor of composition at the university, though he was also active internationally as a conductor and pianist. He was appointed conductor of the court orchestra at Meiningen in 1911 and in 1915 moved to Jena.

During a composing life of little more than 20 years, he produced a large output in all genres, nearly always in abstract forms. He was a firm supporter of ‘absolute’ music and saw himself in a tradition going back to Bach, through Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms; his organ music, though also affected by Liszt, was provoked by that tradition. Of his orchestral pieces, his symphonic and richly elaborate Hiller Variations and Mozart Variations are justly remembered; of his chamber music the lighter-textured trios have retained a place in the repertory, along with some of the works for solo string instruments. His late piano and two-piano music places him as a successor to Brahms in the central German tradition. He pursued intensively, and to its limits, Brahms's continuous development and free modulation, often also invoking, like Brahms, the aid of Bachian counterpoint. Many of his works are in variation and fugue forms; equally characteristic is a great energy and complexity of thematic growth.

works:
Orchestral music

• Sinfonietta, A (1905): Serenade G (1906) Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Hiller (1907)
• Vn Conc. A (1908)
• Sym. Prologue to a Tragedy, a (1908)
• Pf Conc., f (1910)
• Overture to a Comedy (1911)
• Romantic suite (1912)
• 4 Portraits after Arnold Böcklin (1913)
• Ballet suite, D (1913)
• Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Mozart (1914)

Choral music

• Psalm c (1909), Die Nonnen (1909)
• 8 geistliche Gesänge (1914)
• Requiem, inc. (1914)
• 2 Gesänge (Der Einsiedler
• Requiem) 1915
• male- and mixed-voice choruses, sacred works

Chamber music

• 9 sonatas, vn, pf (1890, 1891, 1899, 1903, 1905, 1909, 1911, 1915)
• 4 sonatas, vc, pf (1892, 1898, 1904, 1910)
• 2 pf qnts (1898, 1902)
• 11 sonatas, vn (1900, 1905)
• 2 sonatas, cl, pf (1900)
• 5 str qts (1900, 1904, 1909, 1911)
• Serenade, fl, vn, va (1904)
• 2 str trios (1904, 1915)
• Pf Trio (1908)
• Suite vn, pf (1908)
• Sonata, cl/va, pf (1909)
• 2 pf qts (1910, 1914)
• str sextet (1910)
• Preludes and Fugues, vn (1912, 1914)
• 3 Duos im alten Stil, 2 vn (1914)
• 3 suites, vc (1915)
• 3 suites, va (1915)
• Serenade, fl/vn, vn, va (1915)
• Cl Qnt (1915)
• 12 Kleine Stücke eigenen Liedern, vn, pf (1916)

Solo vocal music

• An die Hoffnung, A/Mez, orch/pf (1912)
• Hymnus der Liebe, Bar/A orch (1914)
• over 250 lieder

Piano music

• Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Bach (1904)
• Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Beethoven, 2 pf (1904)
• 4 sonatinas (1905, 1908)
• 6 pieces, pf duet (1906)
• Introduction, Passacaglia and Fugue, 2 pf (1906)
• 6 preludes and fugues (1907)
• Episoden (1910)
• Aus meinem Tagebuch (1912)
• Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Telemann (1914)
• Träume am Kamin, 12 pieces (1915)

Organ music

• 7 chorale fantasias (1898-1900)
• 4 fantasias and fugues (1 on B-A-C-H) (1898-1916)
• 2 sonatas (1899, 1901)
• 6 trios (1900)
• 62 pieces (1901-16)
• 95 chorale preludes (1902-14)
• Variations and Fugue on an Original Theme (1903)
• 9 preludes and fugues (1904)
• Introduction, Passacaglia and Fugue (1913)

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• Period: Post-Romantic (1870-1909)
• Country: Germany
• Born: March 19, 1873 in Brand, Germany
• Died: May 11, 1916 in Leipzig, Germany
• Genres: Chamber Music, Concerto, Keyboard Music, Miscellaneous Music, Orchestral Music, Vocal Music

Biography

Max Reger was an important composer whose artistic worth far surpasses his still generally meager representation on the concert stages and in recordings. In his teen years, he came under the disparate influences of Bach and Wagner, and eventually fused a style from these sources, adding his own unique and seemingly ubiquitous counterpoint, to fashion music that was both ahead of its time and inextricably bound to the past. His mature idiom melded Baroque structural ingredients with the opulent harmonic palette of the late Romantic period. His organ compositions include masterworks like the chorale fantasia Ein feste Burg is unser Gott, Fantasia and Fugue in C minor, and Fantasia and Fugue on B-A-C-H. His huge chamber music output, consisting of nine sonatas for violin and piano and many other works, is an important body of work.

Reger was born in Brand, Bavaria on March 19, 1873, and grew up in Weiden. He studied organ and violin with his father, and piano with his mother. At 11, he began studies with organist Adalbert Lindner. In 1888, Reger traveled to Bayreuth and heard performances of Wagner's Parsifal and Die Meistersinger. The experience had a lasting effect on him, the harmonies and sounds of the latter opera profoundly affecting his musical psyche. In 1890, he began studies in Wiesbaden with Hugo Riemann and soon produced his Violin Sonata No. 1, Op. 1 (1890-1891).

Reger developed a friendship with composers Eugen d'Albert and Feruccio Busoni in the mid-1890s. During this time, he wrote several compositions for piano, including Lose Blätter (1894) and Aus der Jugendzeit (1895). After an unpleasant experience in the military that affected his physical and mental health, he returned to his parents' Weiden home to recuperate. During this period, he produced his Op. 27 chorale fantasia Ein Feste Burg is Unser Gott, and his Op. 29 Fantasy & Fugue in C minor. Reger also earned a reputation as a brilliant pianist at this time, playing many concerts of wide-ranging repertoire, including his own works.

In 1902 Reger married Elsa von Bercken. The Sinfonietta in A (1904-1905) set off a most unwelcome stir for the composer, placing him at odds with the more conservative musical circles in Munich, where he had settled in 1901. By 1907 Reger had decided that the hostile climate in Munich was not worth enduring any longer, and accepted a professorship at Leipzig University. His many students there included Szell, von Hoesslin, Joseph Haas, Schoeck, Kvapil, and Weinberger. His Violin Concerto (1907-1908) and the Symphonic Prologue to a Tragedy (1908) came during this period.

In 1911, Reger was appointed conductor of the Meiningen Court Orchestra by Duke George II. He continued appearing as a pianist and always found time to compose. In February, 1914, he suffered a breakdown from troubles in his Meiningen post and eventually resigned. By September 1914, he had finished Eight Sacred Songs and the Patriotic Overture for orchestra. In March 1915, the composer and his family settled in Jena, where he completed his Sonata No. 9 for violin and piano, declaring it his greatest work in the genre, and the first in his so-called "Jena style." Other important works came during his "Jena" period, including the Op. 131 chamber works for various string instruments (Op. 131a, Op. 131b, Op. 131c, Op. 131d). His concert schedule took him to Holland in May, 1916, where he died of a heart attack. ~ Robert Cummings, All Music Guide

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