Max Wagner

Max Wagner was born on 17 January 1865 in Gotha (Germany). His father died when he was 9 and the family moved to Erfurt. His mother died when he was 15 and somehow Max Wagner managed to study music, first in Erfurt and since 1883 in Berlin where he studied at the Schwarwenka conservatory. After his studies he mainly worked as a piano teacher, but also tried to mark his mark as a composer. Most of his compositions were published during his lifetime by Scheithauer, Rühle, Praeger & Meier and other smaller publishing houses.
In 1892 Max Wagner founded his own publishing house - the "Genossenschaft der Componisten" in Berlin together with Carl Meyder and Paul Ziegler. Other composers like Willi von Moellendorf or Franz von Blon joined this company and Carl Meyder and his orchestra offered the possibility to present new compositions immediately to audiences in Berlin at the Concerthaus (located in the Leipziger Straße 48). At that time compositions by Max Wagner were regularly performed in Berlin.
In 1896 Max Wagner became chief editor of the newly founded "Allgemeine musikalische Rundschau". The magazine was short-lived and discontinued already two years later.
Since the early 1920s Max Wagner went blind and had to retire from his musical activities. He died on 17 August 1944 in Berlin (Germany).

In my possession is the autograph full score of the composition "Von der Schauenburg" by Max Wagner. The work is scored for orchestra, numbered op.18 and was completed on 14 May 1891 in Berlin (according to the manuscript). The first performance was given by the Meyder Orchestra under Carl Meyder on 20 April 1892 at the Concerthaus in Berlin. Further performances followed in the next years in Berlin, Kassel and Warsaw, the last one by the Berlin Symphony Orchestra of Karl Zimmer on 14 February 1896.

The composition "Von der Schauenburg" is a tone poem depicting the journey of a hiker to the ruins of the medieval castle Schauenburg near Friedrichroda in Thuringia (Germany). It is by far the most performed and best known composition by Max Wagner. It was rediscovered and performed by the Thüringen Philharmonie Gotha-Eisenach in 2015.