Guide to the Papers of Johann Kruse, 1870-1972

Summary

Collection number:

MS 9876

Creator:

University of Melbourne and Johann Kruse

Extent:

4.65 metres and (3 MS Boxes + 8 cartons + 4 medium Folio-Boxes)

Language:

English

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]'.

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for reference. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

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.

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.

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.

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.

Indexed terms

Names:

University of Melbourne

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]'.

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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