Haas, Joseph (EN)

Haas Joseph, *19 March 1879 Maihingen (near Nördlingen, Bavaria), †30 March 1960 Munich, German composer. He taught at elementary schools in Augsburg and Munich, where, in 1904, he became a pupil of M. Reger, whom he followed to Leipzig; there he also studied under K. Straube, and in 1909 he received a scholarship from the A. Nikisch Foundation for his Sonata, Op. 21. From 1911 he taught composition at the Stuttgart Conservatoire. In 1921, he initiated (together with P. Hindemith and others) the Donaueschingen Festival of Contemporary Music; in the same year, he joined the Akademie der Tonkunst in Munich, where he became a professor of composition in 1924 and, in 1925, director of the department of Catholic church music. In 1930, he was elected a member of the Preussischen Akademie der Künste in Berlin. From 1945, Haas oversaw the reconstruction of the Musikhochschule in Munich and remained the head of the institution until 1950. In 1949, on the 70th anniversary of Haas’s birth, the J. Haas-Gesellschaft was founded in Munich, which has published the “Mitteilungsblatt der J. Haas-Gesellschaft” since 1950. In 1950, Haas retired. In 1953, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Pontificium Institutum Musicae Sacrae in Rome, and in 1954 by the University of Munich.

Three factors shaped Haas’s music: 1. his studies with Reger, from which Haas developed a fondness for counterpoint operating within the realm of extended tonality; 2. his devotion to the German folk song (from the Middle Ages to the present day); 3. his involvement in the Catholic strand of German musical life and the resulting need to compose in accordance with its requirements. In the early period of his career, Haas cultivated small forms (cycles of piano miniatures, solo songs) rooted in the tradition of German Romanticism, yet enlivened by contrapuntal texture and the impulses of German folk song, often featuring archaic melodies. His chamber divertimenti and orchestral works in variation form share a similar character. This ‘historical-national’ strand in Haas’s music, evoking the humour and lyricism characteristic of folk art (including Eulenspiegeleien), proved very popular. After 1920, Haas turned to sacred music. National characteristics were most evident in his works for choral ensembles, whose texture underwent significant simplification, as in the Speyrer Domfestmesse, an extremely popular piece that marked the beginning of a cycle of functional church music (involving the congregation) which Haas continued throughout his life. This category also includes song cycles intended for children. Haas created a type of so-called ‘folk oratorio’ (including Das Jahr im Lied), in which he utilised elements of German folk music. Haas rejected the systematic and sonic experiments of his time; he drew on the ideals of German guild mastery, attaching importance to the reliability of compositional technique and the accessibility of the work; he maintained that anyone who does not bring joy to people through their art is not a serious artist. Although certain efforts to simplify the musical language appear to align with the slogans of totalitarianism, in Haas’s case this stemmed from a desire to establish better contact with a wide audience and to draw their attention to what he considered the highest religious values, which he set against fascism. In the post-war years, Haas was referred to as “the Heinrich Schütz of our time”.

Literature: J. Haas Vollständiges Verzeichnis der Werke, with foreword by K.G. Fellerer, «Jahresgabe des J.Hass-Gesellschaft» 1950, 2nd edition Jachenau 1954; Festgabe J. Haas (…) zum 60. Geburtstag am 19.3.1939, ed. M. Gebhard, O. Jochum, H. Lang, Mainz 1939 (contains a list of Haas’s compositions and a bibliography); K. Laux J.Haas Porträt eines Künstlers, Mainz 1931, 2nd edition. Düsseldorf 1954; K. Laux J. Haas Bildnis und Bekenntnis, Hamburg 1940; F.J. Wehinger Traurig sein hebt keine Not! J. Haas Leben und Werk, Karlsruhe 1959; “Musica Sacra” LXXIX, 1959 No. 3 (special collection devoted to Haas).