Max Herre

Max Herre was born in Leipzig in 1887. He studied musicology in Munich under Adolf Sandberger. In 1924 Herre received his doctorate with a dissertation entitled "Franz Danzi. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der deutschen Oper". By 1925 he was already living in Augsburg, where university records give his address as Mittlerer Weg 6.
In March 1926 Herre entered the service of the City of Augsburg as the first permanently appointed music librarian of the municipal music library. The institution had grown out of a large body of music, comprising approximately 40,000 volumes, acquired from the bankrupt stock of the long-established Augsburg music dealer Andreas Gitter and made available for public use. A provisional library had existed since 1923, but under Herre the holdings were systematically organized, catalogued and expanded. He supplemented the extensive collection of scores with musicological, theoretical and biographical literature, thereby developing the institution into a specialist library useful not only to practical musicians but also to scholars. The reorganized music library officially opened on 3 January 1927.
Herre's activities in Augsburg extended well beyond his work as librarian. He taught music history and music theory at the Augsburg Conservatory and became closely involved in the city's concert and theatrical life. He frequently gave introductory talks at concerts, intended to provide audiences with historical and musical background to the works performed. In 1927 he edited the commemorative volume "Das Stadttheater Augsburg", published on behalf of the city for the fiftieth anniversary of the theatre, and contributed a substantial account of the history of opera in Augsburg. He later returned to the subject in further writings on the musical and theatrical history of the city. His scholarly interests also extended to figures such as Carl Maria von Weber, Giuseppe Antonio Paganelli, Anton Maria Peruzzi, Beethoven and Nanette Streicher.
Herre was also active as a music writer and critic. He contributed to the Münchner Neueste Nachrichten and published articles in periodicals including Der Scheinwerfer and the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik. His writings combined musicological research with subjects of more immediate interest to performers and audiences. In 1934 he collaborated with the singing teacher Albert Mayer on "Opern-Studio. Ein Handbuch und Wegweiser für die Theaterberufe", a practical guide particularly aimed at aspiring opera singers, with information on vocal categories, theatrical careers, roles, character types and vocal ranges.
Although Herre was primarily known as a musicologist, librarian and teacher, he was also an active practical musician. He occasionally appeared as a pianist in Augsburg concerts and in 1928 accompanied the baritone Louis Odo Böck. During the 1930s he was also active as a conductor. He conducted local orchestral ensembles, and in 1938 he is documented as directing the Augsburger Kammerstreichorchester in a radio broadcast. His conducting activities formed another aspect of his close involvement in the musical life of Augsburg.
The Second World War brought a devastating end to Herre's work at the Augsburg Music Library. During the major air raid on Augsburg in the night of 25–26 February 1944, the conservatory building housing the collection was hit and the music library was completely destroyed by fire. The loss included the greater part of the carefully catalogued collection that Herre had organized and developed over nearly two decades. A new municipal music library was not opened until 1958, two years after his death.
Max Herre died in 1956. A notice entitled Zum Tode von Dr. Max Herre appeared in the Schwäbische Landeszeitung on 22 September of that year, although his exact date of death has not yet been established.

Herre was also active as a composer, although little is known about his—presumably small—output. It is known that he composed the following works:

• Indienne for orchestra (part of the stage play "Around the World in Eighty Days", performed at the Stuttgart Court Theatre in 1913)
• Dornröschen, a fairy-tale opera to a libretto by J. C. Brunner (composed in 1925; premiered in 1929 at the Augsburg City Theatre)
• Aus den Liedern des Hafis, for tenor and orchestra (published by Haingärtner in 1925)
• Impromptu in F-sharp minor for violin and piano (or organ) (1923)
• Fantasie, for violin, cello and piano op.2 (1923)

In my possession are the autograph manuscripts of two compositions by Max Herre: the Impromptu for violin and piano and the Fantasie for violin, cello and piano. Both works were composed in 1923 and dedicated to E. Sailer. These works remained unpublished and I have also no information about a performance.