Richard Mohaupt

Richard Mohaupt was born in Breslau, where he studied music. After his studies he worked as a répétiteur and music director in Breslau, Aachen and Weimar and after a concert tour through the Soviet Union he finally moved to Berlin in 1932. Four years later he had his first success with his ballet Die Gaunerstreiche der Courasche. The work was performed during the ballet festival which was part of the supporting programme of the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. But shortly after this success the Nazis denounced him with the expression "Music Bolshevism" and he was excluded from the Reichsmusikkammer. With this exclusion Richard Mohaupt could not work in Germany anymore and so emigrated to the US in 1939 and settled in New York.

In the US, Mohaupt did not compose musical theatre anymore because symphonic music sold much better. That led to the composition of his most famous work, the Town Piper Music, which was performed worldwide in the 1950s. During his time in the United States he mainly composed for film, television and radio. His works were performed by renowned orchestras like the New York Philharmonic and the NBC Symphony Orchestra. He also composed operas at that time but mainly for German opera houses, among them were Max und Moritz (1949). In 1955 Richard Mohaupt moved back to Europe and lived in Austria until his death. He died in Reichenau an der Rax before the world premiere of his last opera, Der grüne Kakadu (with words by Arthur Schnitzler).

Notes

Sources

• Ulf-Martin Keller: Richard Mohaupt: Concerto for Orchestra (Based on Red Army Themes) (1942–43) – Gattungskontext, Analyse, Rezeption. Magisterarbeit Universität Hamburg, 2012
• Nico Alexander Schneidereit: Richard Mohaupts Chormusik. Magisterarbeit Universität Hamburg, 2010
• Friedrich Geiger: Amerika im Musiktheater – Musiktheater in Amerika. Das Beispiel Richard Mohaupt. In Peter Petersen and Claudia Maurer Zenck (edit.): Musiktheater im Exil der NS-Zeit. Hamburg 2007
• Friedrich Geiger: Mohaupt, Richard. In Ludwig Finscher (edit.): Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart. 2., völlig neu bearb. Ausgabe, Kassel usw. 2004
• Mathias Lehmann: Der Dreißigjährige Krieg im Musiktheater während der NS-Zeit: Untersuchungen zu politischen Aspekten der Musik am Beispiel von Karl Amadeus Hartmanns "Des Simplicius Simplicissimus Jugend", Ludwig Mauricks "Simplicius Simplicissimus", Richard Mohaupts "Die Gaunerstreiche der Courasche", Eberhard Wolfgang Möllers und Hans Joachim Sobanskis "Das Frankenburger Würfelspiel" und Joseph Gregors und Richard Strauss’ "Friedenstag". Hamburg 2004
• Otto Friedrich Regner, Heinz-Ludwig Schneiders: Reclams Ballettführer. 8th edition, Stuttgart 1980
• Friedrich Herzfeld: Das Lexikon der Musik. Frankfurt am Main/Berlin/Wien 1976
• Kurt Stone: Mohaupt, Richard. In Friedrich Blume (editor): Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Kassel etc. 1961
• Heinrich Lindlar: In Memoriam Richard Mohaupt (3.7.). In Musica 11 (1957), p. 581–582
• Rudolf Bilke: Richard Mohaupt. In Musica 4 (1950), pp. 324–326

• Programs and images of Richard Mohaupt in the New York Philharmonic Archives
• Obituary by Walter Abendroth: Zum Tode Richard Mohaupts. In: Die Zeit from July 11, 1957 (in German)
• YouTube video of a performance of Double-Trouble (reduced orchestra) at the University of Central Florida from April 12, 2008