Cyrill Kistler


Cyrill Kistler was a German composer, music theoretician, Music educator and Music publisher.

Life

Born into a Swabian family of craftsmen, Kistler attended the Lehrerseminar in Lauingen from 1864 to 1867. Subsequently, he firstly worked as a teacher at various places in Middle Swabia. However, when he was no longer content with this way of making a living, he, instead, concentrated merely on making and composing music. From 1876 to 1878, he was a student at the Königliche Musikschule in Munich in the subjects organ and composition; one of his teachers was Josef Rheinberger. Afterwards, in 1883, he took over the position of a teacher for Music theory at the Fürstliches Konservatorium at Sondershausen. In 1876, he got to know Richard Wagner at Bayreuth, whose work exerted a deep influence on Kistler.
From 1884 on, he worked at Bad Kissingen in Lower Franconia, where he founded an own music school. From 1880 on, he published the music journal „Musikalische Tagesfragen. Organ für Musiker, Musikfreunde und Freunde der Wahrheit“. The journal existed for a period of 12 years, with periods of interruptions due to Kistler's health problems in between. Kistler composed operas, secular and clerical choral works, songs, and pieces for organ and piano. In 1904, Kistler published his harmonics „Der einfache Kontrapunkt und die einfache Fuge“.
In his lifetime, Kistler became very well known through his work and by writing more than 200 works. He was placed on a par with Richard Strauss and, in a certain way, was in competition with him. When Kistler premiered his opera „Eulenspiegel“ at Würzburg in 1889, Richard Strauss, though, regarded the libretto of the opera to be „clumsy“ and „amusing“. Instead, he used the opera as an opportunity to write his own Symphonic poem „Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks“ a few years later, which had far more success.
Richard Wagner described his friend Cyrill Kistler as his only dignified successor. Kistler's former teacher Josef Rheinberger dedicated his work „De profundis“, which he had written on April 22, 1881, to his former student Kistler with the handwritten dedication on it: „Herrn Cyrill Kistler zu freundl. Erinnerung. München 16.5.1896. J. Rh.“.
However, Kistlers music is nowadays sunk into oblivion to a great extent. His grave on the Bad Kissingen Kapellenfriedhof is unnoticed.
Among his students was the pianist Mieczysław Horszowski, who was once described as Polish „child prodigy“.

Works (Excerpt)

In Bad Kissingen as well as in Großaitingen, streets named after Cyrill Kistler are to be found. In Großaitingen, there is a memorial stone opposite to the house of his birth.

Literature