The Hugo Kauder Society

“Educational efforts...need a shot in the arm. The lack of curiosity of teachers is such that a worthwhile and musically delightful little volume...destined for beginners, the Geigenbuechlein by the Vienna composer Hugo Kauder (Universal Edition) has been allowed to go out of print. These short pieces by a composer who in a secondary activity happens to be also a violin pedagogue belong to that rare species, music that is deceptively simple, pursues very definite aims, technically speaking, while giving the beginner insight into musical form, diction, phrasing, metrical sophistication, in a way that the accredited ‘Violin Methods’ and ‘Violin Tutors’ of the turn of the century seldom do.”

Joseph Szigeti, Violinist

Welcome to the official site of the Hugo Kauder Society and the musician and composer Hugo Kauder. Please read on and explore the site to learn more about this talented and prolific composer.

Hugo Kauder composed over 200 instrumental and over 100 vocal works, including ten concertos and concert pieces (two each for oboe, piano and violin, one each for cello, horn, and viola, and a double concerto for violin and viola), five symphonies, 19 string quartets, chamber music for many different combinations including 11 piano trios, 2 piano quartets, and variations for piano quintet, a large number of songs, and settings of poems by Dowson, Joyce, Swinburne, Goethe, Hebbel, Nietzsche, and Rudolf Pannwitz for vocal-instrumental ensembles, as well as an opera “Merlin” on a German text by Pannwitz.

As a violinist, Hugo Kauder devoted considerable time to composing for the violin. A collection of violin solos called Geigenbuechlein (Violin Book) published in 1929 occupies a central position in his output, both as a practical application of his musical theories and as the musical substance subsequently used in a number of ensemble pieces for a variety of combinations. The Geigenbuechlein together with a more advanced collection titled Neues Geigenbuechlein (1931, unpublished), a collection of 10 easy duos for two violins, four sonatas for two violins and three sonatas for violin and viola constitute what he considered to be his violin school, and utilized with his students.