Hugo Kauder

Hugo Kauder (9 June 1888 – 22 July 1972) was a mid-20th-century Austrian composer, pedagogue, and music theorist who was born in Tovačov (German: Tobitschau), Moravia (now in the Czech Republic). He defied the atonal trend of his generation with his uniquely harmonic, contrapuntal style. His legacy of over 300 works, many yet to be published, is receiving renewed interest today.

Kauder's father Ignaz Kauder was Oberlehrer (principal) of the local German language primary school. As a boy, Hugo Kauder had violin lessons with the local teacher, who eventually dismissed him when he had “taught him everything he knew.” These lessons were his only formal training in music. In 1905, Kauder moved to Vienna to study engineering but often skipped school with classmate Egon Lustgarten to study scores in the Imperial Court Library. Of particular interest to him were several volumes of Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich (Monuments of Music in Austria), mainly works of Flemish composers of the 15th and 16th centuries.

From 1911 to 1917, Kauder played violin in the Wiener Tonkuenstler Orchester under such conductors as Ferdinand Loewe, Franz Schalk, Arthur Nikisch, and Richard Strauss. There he began a lifelong friendship with Dutch horn player Willem Valkenier (1887–1986), inspiring his numerous horn compositions. From 1917 to 1922, Kauder was the violist of the Gottesmann Quartet.

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