Hugo Kaun

Who was Hugo Kaun?

Hugo Wilhelm Ludwig Kaun was a German composer, conductor, and music teacher.

Kaun was born in Berlin, and completed his musical training in his native city. In 1886, he left Germany for the United States and settled in Milwaukee, which was home to a well-established German immigrant community . As the conductor of local choral societies such as the Milwaukee Liederkranz and the Milwaukee Men's Choir, Kaun quickly acquired an important influence over the city's musical life. He also taught at the conservatory, where his colleagues included Wilhelm Middelschulte. Kaun's eldest son, Bernhard Kaun, later became a composer of film scores in Hollywood.

At the turn of the century, Kaun returned to Germany and continued his teaching in Berlin. Although he received numerous lucrative offers of employment from abroad, these inducements could not persuade him to leave Berlin a second time. In 1912, he was appointed to the Prussian Academy of Arts. He chronicled his eventful life in his autobiography Aus meinem Leben. He died in Berlin.

Kaun composed in a Romantic style for a wide range of genres, including operas, symphonies, tone poems, pieces for solo organ and piano, as well as works for other combinations of instruments. His opera Der Fremde was first performed at the Dresden Hofoper on 23 February 1920, with a cast including Richard Tauber, Elisabeth Rethberg and Friedrich Plaschke, conducted by Fritz Reiner.