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Composer

Hans Rott

About

Albums

Hans Rott: Symphony No. 1 / Mahler: Blumine / Bruckner: Symphonisches Präludium
Bamberger Symphoniker, Jakub Hrůša
Rott: Symphony No. 1 in E Major
Cincinnati Philharmonia Orchestra, Gerhard Samuel

AboutHans Rott

The Austrian composer Hans Rott was born in Vienna to a theatrical family, and died there at the age of 25, leaving a handful of completed pieces that can only hint at what he might otherwise have achieved. Both his parents died while he was still in his teens, but the orphaned Rott gained a place at the Vienna Conservatoire through his own talents and won high praise from his teachers – including Anton Bruckner, in whose organ class he was an outstanding pupil. Rott attended Wagner's first Bayreuth Festival but despite winning an organist's position at Vienna's Piarist Church, he found life outside the Conservatoire challenging. Falling foul of Vienna's musical faction-fighting, he succumbed first to mental illness, and then to the respiratory disease that killed him. His completed works include orchestral pieces and songs but his reputation rests almost wholly upon his masterly Symphony in E major (1878), and upon the recollections of his fellow-student and close friend Gustav Mahler, whose own First Symphony plays explicit homage to Rott's, and who wrote that "it is completely impossible to estimate what music has lost in him". Numerous recordings and performances of the Symphony since its belated premiere in 1989 have given modern listeners a chance to judge for themselves.

An Exploration into Hans Rott's Symphony No. 1

Devastating Loss to The World of Music – Hans Rott

Hans Rott, born on August 1, 1858, in Braunhirschengrund, a suburb of Vienna, was the illegitimate son of Carl Mathias Rott, a well-known actor, and Maria Rosalia Lutz, a singer and actress. His parents married in 1862–63, legitimizing him. Despite facing early hardships, including the deaths of both parents during his teenage years, Rott's prodigious musical talent earned him a place at the Vienna Conservatoire.

The Remarkable Music Journey of Hans Rott

At the Vienna Conservatoire, Rott studied piano with Leopold Landskron, organ with Anton Bruckner, harmony with Hermann Grädener, and composition/counterpoint with Franz Krenn. His classmates included notable contemporaries like Gustav Mahler. Rott attended the first Bayreuth Festival in 1876, immersing himself in Wagnerian musical culture, which profoundly influenced his own compositions. From 1876 to 1878 he served as organist at Vienna’s Piarist Church, where his rooms became a gathering place for fellow musicians and friends. Despite his evident talent and the praise of teachers like Bruckner, Rott struggled professionally due to Vienna's fiercely factionalized musical scene and began to experience severe mental health issues in his early twenties.

An Insight into Hans Rott’s Symphony in E Major

Rott's reputation today rests almost entirely on his Symphony No. 1 in E major, composed between 1878 and 1880. The symphony, lauded for its innovative orchestration and forward-looking style, was left unperformed during his lifetime due to his declining mental health and early death. It premiered only in 1989, over a century after its completion, and has since been recognized for its significance in the late Romantic repertoire. Gustav Mahler, a close friend and fellow student, openly admired Rott's music, incorporating homage to Rott’s symphony in his own First Symphony and later writing, "it is completely impossible to estimate what music has lost in him."

Remembering Hans Rott: A Lost Musical Prodigy

Rott became severely mentally ill in 1880 and spent his final four years in the psychiatric clinic of Vienna’s General Hospital. He died on June 25, 1884, not simply "at age 25". Today, Rott’s Symphony No. 1 is championed by major orchestras and continues to enchant audiences, serving as a poignant reminder of the profound work of this lost musical prodigy.