Guide to the Papers of Johann Kruse

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MS 9876

National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record

Collection Summary

Creator
Johann Kruse
Title
Papers of Johann Kruse
Date Range
1870 - 1972
Collection Number
MS 9876
Extent
4.65 metres (3 MS Boxes + 8 cartons + 4 medium Folio-Boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Repository
National Library of Australia

Introduction

Scope and Contents

Published and handwritten music collected by Johann Kruse during his student years and professional life as a solo violinist, chamber music player, conductor and teacher. It includes violin technical studies, sonatas, concertos and other performance pieces with piano or orchestral accompaniment,piano works and vocal works. Some violin and piano pieces have been annotated with bow and/or fingering marks. A majority of the pieces are inscribed with Kruse's name and title, and a few have been signed by composers.

Conditions Governing Access

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1143376).

Conditions Governing Use

Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.

Preferred Citation

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Johann Kruse, National Library of Australia, MS 9876, [box number and series and/or file number]'.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The collection was donated to the Library in 1996 by Gail Wissmann on behalf of the Music Library of the University of Melbourne.

A biographical file on Johann Kruse is held in the National Library and can be accessed via the Newspaper Reading Room.

Arrangement

The collection has been largely left in the order in which it was received from the University of Melbourne, although some slight rearrangement was imposed where material was obviously misplaced (eg violin music with vocal scores). A Schumann score and a violin technical work which were received after the original consignment have been incorporated into the arrangement.

Biographical / Historical

Johann Secundus Kruse was born on 22 March 1859 in Melbourne, son of Johanna (née Schultz) and John August Kruse. His father was an analytical chemist.

Kruse attended A.B. Tegethoff’s school in St Kilda, and displayed musical talent from a young age. From the age of nine he appeared in the first desk of violins in Melbourne Philharmonic concerts, and from 1871 was performing with his sister at concerts organised by the German Liedertafel and the Metropolitan Liedertafel. With the help of a fund set up by local musical identities, Kruse travelled to Germany in 1875 to study under the leading European violinist of the time, Joseph Joachim, at the Berlin Hochschule fur Musik. Kruse became one of Joachim’s foremost students, and in 1882 became principal violinist and sub-conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Society.

In 1885 Kruse became a teacher at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik. In 1891 he left Berlin to become leader of the Bremen Philharmonic orchestra and the following year joined the famous Joachim Quartet as second violin. In 1895 he was appointed leader of the St James Hall String Quartet in London and from 1897 settled in London, reviving the Saturday and Monday popular concerts and starting his own quartet.

Kruse returned to Australia on two occasions, the first time in 1885 when he gave at least two concerts in Melbourne in which Mrs Anderson (later to become Nellie Melba) also appeared. Reviews of his performances were enthusiastic, noting ‘the rare excellence of his powers both as a poet-musician and as a perfect executant of the violin’ and the ‘perfect sweetness, power, delicacy and rhythm’ of his playing’. Kruse also gave concerts in Sandhurst and Sydney before returning to Melbourne to depart once again for Europe. In 1895 Kruse returned to Melbourne briefly to visit his dying father. On this occasion he also gave four concerts which were warmly received by large and appreciative audiences.

After 1903 Kruse turned to teaching, but poor health and hostile attitudes to his German origins during World War I created problems which appear to have led to a temporary retirement. He emerged from retirement in 1921 to play in chamber concerts and in 1926 founded a quartet to perform Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.

Kruse died in London on 14 October 1927, survived by his wife, Christiane Dorothee, née Gildemeister, whom he married in 1901, and a brother who had remained in Melbourne to carry on their father’s business.

References: Le Gallienne, Dorian, ‘Gifted Australians who turned to Europe’, Age, 21 March 1959; O’Neill, Sally, Australian Dictionary of Biography 1851-1890, vol 5, 1974; Orchard, W. Arundel, Music in Australia, 1952.

Item Descriptions

Class MS 9876. Original Consignment

Series 1. Violin music

The violin music comprises the largest part of the collection and is arranged into the subseries short pieces, concerti, orchestral scores, duets and trios, and studies and exercises. Within the subseries the pieces are arranged alphabetically by composer. Some of the material has markings and annotations, presumably attributable to Kruse. Much of it is inscribed with Kruse's name and position, "Concertmeister", and a substantial amount is also stamped "J. Glickman – Gift". As the latter appears on many items bound in hard blue covers, it's possible that Glickman was Kruse's binder. Some pieces have handwritten dedications to Kruse from the composer.

Subseries 1.1. Short pieces

This subseries includes sonatas, solo violin pieces, and two albums which have been placed at the end of the composer listing. Most of the short pieces have piano accompaniment. Some are arrangements by Kreisler, Sarasate, Joachim, Burmester, Spohr, Cernicchiaro and Rudorff.

The composers represented are Albeniz, Artôt, C.P.E. Bach, J.S. Bach, Bargiel, Bazzini, Becker, Beethoven, Bellairs, Bemberg, Bergh, de Bériot, Brahms, Bredt, Bruch, Capilonch, Allessandro Casorti jun., Aug. Casorti, Centola, Chopin, Coleridge-Taylor, Cooke, Couperin, Daniels, Drdla, Elgar, Erdmannsdorfer, Ernst, Gabriel-Marie, German, Godard, Grul (Gruel?), Handel, Heinrich XXIV prinz Reuss du Kostritz, von Herzfeld, Hillier, Hinton, Hintze, Hollander, Hubay, Hussla, Jaques-Dalcroze, Jensen, Joachim, Kahn, Koessler, Komercz(?), Laub, Lehmann, Lemon, Leonard, Lesser, Levy, Liebling, Lloyd, Mackenzie, Makomaski, Marshall-Hall, Marteau, Martin, Mayseder, Monti, Moszkowski, Mozart, Neumann, Noble, Paganini, Petersen, Petterson, Purcell, Randegger, Ramann, vom Rath, Reger, Ries, Rubenstein, de Saint-Lubin, Sarasate, Schubert, Schumann, Sevcik, Seyffardt, Simonetti, Sinding, Spohr, Stanford, Stojowski, Sulzer, Thome, Tschetschulin, Vieuxtemps, Wagner, Walker, Wehrle, Wieniawski, Wilhelmj, Wulf, Ysaye and Zelmann.

There is a separate bundle of music, some of which is inscribed with the names Lilian E. Howden and I. or J. Howden, which contains extensive annotations. The composers in this group of papers are Alard, d'Ambrosio, Bohm, Chopin, Cui, Drdla, Delibes, Goldmark, Kreisler, Mackenzie, Massenet, Porpora, Pugnani, Ries, Rimsky-Korsakoff, Saint-Saëns, Schubert, Scott and Vieuxtemps. Some of the pieces are arrangements by Sarasate, Marsick, Elgar, Kreisler, Wilhelmj and Barns.

A - H (File) - Box 1
J - S (File) - Box 2
T - Z, albums (File) - Box 3

Items inscribed "Lilian E. Howden" or "I." or "J. Howden"

Subseries 1.2. Concerti

This subseries contains concerti mainly with piano accompaniment. Composers are Beethoven, de Bériot, Bernard, Casorti, Ernst, Richard Franck, Godard, Hartmann, Hubay, Jaques-Dalcroze, Joachim, Kamarowsky, Koch, Mackenzie, Molique, Paganini, Rode, Saint-Saëns, Spohr, Truman, Vieuxtemps and Viotti.

Included are cadenzas for the Beethoven Violin Concerto composed by Molique, Joachim and Laub, as well as a handwritten unsigned version, and orchestration for one Paganini concerto by Wilhelmj.

B - J (File) - Box 3
K – V (File) - Box 4
Subseries 1.3. Orchestral scores

This subseries consists of scores and parts for violin works. The composers are Artôt, Alard, de Bériot, Ernst, Horsley, Hubay, Joachim, Kotek, Paganini, Pitt, Raff, Rudorff, Schumann, Spohr, Svendsen, Tschaikowski (Tchaikovsky), Vieuxtemps, Viotti, Wagner and Wieniawski.

Some of the material has been annotated. In some cases orchestration is by another composer, for example Singer and Rudorff. One Schumann score includes Kruse's name in print on the cover, but it is unclear in what way he was involved in the publication.

Amongst the items is a handwritten piece by C.E. Horsley with a note to 'Concert-Meister Kruse, Sandhurst 30 June 1885', inside of which are two handbills for two concerts at which 'Mrs Anderson' (later Nellie Melba) also appeared.

A - E (File) - Folio-Box 1
H - S (File) - Folio-Box 2
S – T (File) - Folio-Box 3
V-W (File) - Folio-Box 4
Subseries 1.4. Duets and trios

Consists of a small number of pieces, including studies for violin duet. Composers are Adams, C.P.E. Bach, Dont, Fauré, Fiorillo, Gounod, Leonard, Meerts, de Monasterio, Wieniawski.

Papers re duets and trios (File) - Box 4
Subseries 1.5. Studies and exercises

This subseries consists of technical studies for the left hand and bow, and scales and arpeggios. The composers and writers are Abel, Cramer, Dont, Fiorillo, Gavinie, David, Halir, Hullweck, Kreutzer, Krieger, Kross, Leonard, Lipinski, Lutgen, Markees, Meerts, Paganini, Rode, Sachse, Schradieck, Spohr, Schubert, Sevcik, Wieniawski and Wilhelmj. The Sachse book is inscribed by the author and has inside it a letter from Sachse to Kruse dated 1914.

Papers re studies and exercises (File) - Box 5

Series 2. Chamber music

This series contains mainly pieces for string quartet, including some handwritten manuscripts and one item marked "composer unknown". Composers are Bonawitz, Draeseke, Gernsheim, Halm, von Helsen, Henschel, Hepworth, Heubner, Jadassohn, Jensen, Kahn, Kiel, Klughardt, Kotek, Lefebvre, Levy, Marshall-Hall, Meyer-Olbersleben, Puchat, Rudorff, Scharwenka, Georg Schumann, Schuppan, Simonetti, Stojowski, Street, Taubert, Truman, Veitzel(?), Witte, Wuerst and unknown composer.

Papers re chamber music (File) - Box 6

Series 3. Vocal music

This series consists of hard- and soft-bound scores of lieder, songs, masses, operas etc in two separate alphabetical arrangements. Librettists include Heine, von Wolff, Goethe, Shakespeare, Guillard,. The composers are Alfredy, J.S. Bach, Bargiel, Beethoven, Brahms, Cherubini, Gluck, Handel, Hartmann, Heymann, Holbrooke, Jude, Lanyi, Arnold Mendelssohn, Felix Mendelssohn, Mozart, Pizzetti, Rossini, Schubert, Schumann, Spohr, Verdi, Rotoli, Rudorff, Wagner, von Weber, Weingartner.

A - W soft-bound scores, plus Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius (File) - Box 7
B - M hard-bound scores (File) - Box 8
M - S hard-bound scores (File) - Box 9
W hard-bound scores (File) - Box 10

Series 4. Orchestral music

This small series consists of four pieces by Rudorff

Pieces by Rudorff (File) - Box 11

Series 5. Piano music

This series consists of published tutors, short pieces, fragments and albums, some of which are inscribed with names other than Kruse, and some of which are marked with dates between 1884 and 1925. The composers are Beethoven, Charles Blake, Breton, Charbonnet-Kellermann, Cutolo, Czerny, Fichel, Gautier, Genee, Kohler, Lange, Leybach, Peck, Raff, Rochard, Rudorff, Schubert, Sydney Smith, Thumer, Wyman, albums and fragments. Alice Charbonnet-Kellermann and Cesare Cutolo were contemporary Australian composers.

Pieces by Rudorff (File) - Box 11

Series 6. Miscellaneous papers

This series has been separated into music and other (mostly printed text) papers. The music papers contain fragments of published and handwritten music, including what appear to be musicianship exercises dated 1879, a flute tutor and a card of hymns entitled 'Hawthorn Lodge of Mark Master Masons'. The remaining papers include some items which may derive from Kruse's family, and a card of St. James Palace.

Music papers; Other papers (File) - Box 11

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