You are bidding on one typewritten, signed letter the lawyer, Politician (National Liberal Party, DDP) and long-time President of Creditreform Georg Zöphel (1869-1953).
DatedLeipzig, Otto-Schill-Str. 2, the 5th November 1946.
Aimed at the pianist, composer, writer and music critic Erwin Kroll (1886-1976) in Berlin.
Regardsan essay by Kroll about Richard Wagner: "The Wagner Case", in: The Structure, Issue No. 8. -- See. plus Sven Oliver Müller: Richard Wagner and the Germans. A story of hatred and devotion, Munich, HC Beck 2013, p. 201: "As early as August 1946, the composer and music critic Erwin Kroll stated, «d"There has always been a 'Wagner case,'" which should not lead to people "simply labeling Wagner the 'ancestor of fascism.'"
Excerpts: "By Mr. Herbert Ihering, whose defamation of Wagner you are also objecting to, one of the greatest artists in world history, who achieved and will continue to achieve immortal fame for the German name, has been reduced to being a tool of National Socialism. They earned the merit of saving the honor of this very unique phenomenon, which stands out among their peers in the history of art above all the geniuses of the old and new times, and in doing so they also cleared the German name of the shameful appearance as if the depravity of Hitler's mischief had even the slightest connection with it could be called the high artistic consecration that distinguishes the works of the only one.
I agree with Thomas Mann's words in his 1. Share as I follow 2. Part [...] strongly disagree."
Here he characterizes Wagner's work in effusive words.
"I was a loyal visitor to the Bayreuth Festival for 43 years from 1896 to 1936. However, I avoided the specific nature of Bayreuth by never having any close relationships with the Wagner family; So I'm not a Wagnerian in the true sense. He probably visited the grave regularly, but never the Villa Wahnfried. [...] I also don't want to be addressed as an opponent of Ihering, who I enjoyed listening to in the essays on the structure. Only the cheerful accusation of slurring the language against an incomparable language creator [...] is so absurd that I can only explain the opposition of this sharp mind to Wagner by the lack of musicality, which is a grace from God and which was not given to everyone .
In any case, I am grateful for your brave essay!"
Signed
"[Your] Dr. Georg Zöphel."
Scope: 3 written pages (A4); without envelope.
Condition: leaves perforated on the sides; Paper heavily browned, with tears at the edges (one tear backed with tape on the back). Pleasee also note the pictures!
Internal note: Kroll 2021-12-9 Autograph Autograph
About Georg Zöphel and Erwin Kroll (source: wikipedia):
Karl Georg Zöphel (*6. October 1869 in Reichenbach in Vogtland; † 13. April 1953 in Munich) was a German politician (National Liberal Party, DDP) and long-time president of Creditreform.
Family: Zöphel's father was the Reichenbach merchant Albert Zöphel. His mother Katharina Pauline Schleber (1850–1928) was a niece of the founder of the dyeing and finishing company Georg Schleber AG in Reichenbach. His younger brother Arno died of typhus at the age of thirteen.
He had been married to his cousin Léonie Schleber (* 1876) since 1899. This marriage resulted in three sons and a daughter.
Life and career: After graduating from the König-Albert-Gymnasium in Leipzig, Zöphel, who was of the Evangelical Lutheran faith, studied law from 1888 to 1892 in Leipzig, Munich and Freiburg im Breisgau. In 1892 he received his doctorate in law. He initially worked as an in-house counsel for various business associations and also set up practice as a lawyer in Leipzig in 1898. In 1900 he became president of the Association of Creditreform Associations in Schkeuditz and held this office until he was forced to resign by the National Socialists in 1936.
After the Second World War he worked again for Creditreform and founded on 31. August 1947 in Neuss the “Creditreform Zentralverwaltung eV” was founded as the basis for the association's relocation to West Germany.
Party member and MP: In the Empire, Zöphel belonged to the National Liberal Party. Zöphel was a member of the state parliament in the Kingdom of Saxony from 1907 to 1918. In contrast to the majority of his party friends, he did not take part in the founding of the DVP in 1918, but went to the left-liberal DDP. In 1919/20 he was a member of the Weimar National Assembly. In contrast to the majority of DDP MPs, he voted there on the 22nd. June 1919 for the signing of the Peace Treaty of Versailles.
“It was said that he made a number of amendments to the Weimar Constitution that only related to punctuation marks, (...) In addition, Zöphel was not effective as a speaker. (…) This is how it was explained that Dr. Zöphel from the Democratic Party, (…) was not nominated again as a candidate for the seat. The Democrats chose the Leipzig history professor Dr. phil. Walter Götz, (…) , before. That took Dr. Zöphel very sick. He resigned shortly before voting day (April 4th). May 1924) switched to the German People's Party and addressed the electorate in the Leipziger Neuesten Nachrichten with the request not to vote for Dr. Walter Götz, but to vote for the German People's Party's candidate for the seat. The Democratic Party labeled this request from Zöphel as the “Parthian arrow”. (…) . Despite Zöphel's Parthian arrow, Dr. Walter Götz elected. The German People’s Party subsequently did not approach Zöphel as a candidate.”
– Rudolf Mothes: Memoirs of a Leipzig lawyer
Fonts
The constitution of the German Empire from 11. August 1919. Briefly explained and provided with critical information. Späth & Linde, Berlin 1920.
Erwin Kroll (*3. February 1886 in Deutsch Eylau, East Prussia; † 7. March 1976 in West Berlin) was a German pianist, composer, writer and music critic. Like his friend Otto Besch, Kroll was an East Prussian composer.
Life:Around 1900 Kroll came to Königsberg i. Pr. and attended the Royal Hufengymnasium with Otto Besch. At the Albertus UniversityHe studied philology and music. With a doctoral thesis on ETA Hoffmann, who has always been revered in Königsberg, he received his Dr. phil. received his doctorate, he went into teaching. In 1919 he turned entirely to music and continued his studies in Munich, which he had begun with Otto Fiebach and Paul Scheinpflug. There he found an important teacher, especially in Hans Pfitzner. He later dedicated a highly acclaimed book to him. In addition to his studies, Kroll was an accompanist at the Munich State Opera and secretary of the Hans Pfitzner Association for German Music, which Thomas Mann had called for to be founded. In 1925 Kroll returned to East Prussia and became music critic for the Hartungsche Zeitung, and from 1930 onwards it was its features editor.Since 1934 he worked in Berlin as a critic and music writer. After the Second World War he headed the music department of the Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk in Berlin until 1953. With his book, Kroll has created a monument to the (forgotten) importance of Königsberg as a music city.
factories
East Prussian homeland - orchestral work
Violin Sonata in B major
Sonatina in F major
East Prussian dances
The Adebar - fantasy about East Prussian folk tunes for large orchestra
Vocal works and song arrangements
Songs for solo voices and choir songs
Fonts
Music city Koenigsberg
Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann. Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig 1923.
Hans Pfitzner. Three Masks Verlag, Munich 1924 .
The theater. Festschrift for the 25th anniversary of the Dortmund Municipal Theater. The theater, Berlin 1930.
Carl Maria Weber. Athenaion, Potsdam 1934 .
Music city Königsberg. Atlantis, Freiburg i. Br. 1966.
Honors
Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, Cross of Merit on ribbon (27. January 1956)
Cultural Prize of the East Prussian State Team (1960)