The 150th birthday of the composer Max Reger (March 19) is commemorated with concerts, lectures and guided tours. The Federal Ministry of Finance has issued a 160-cent commemorative stamp “Max Reger’s 150th birthday”. The Thuringian town of Meiningen is also focusing on one of its most famous citizens for three days: from March 17th to 19th, the former court conductor will be at the center of cultural events.
Max Reger led an eventful and musically productive life before he died of heart failure on May 11, 1916 at the age of 43 during a visit to Leipzig in his hotel room. He is best known for his compositions for the organ. Here he concentrated on chorales, wrote chorale preludes and fantasies. The compositions are considered technically demanding to play. Reger’s work also includes chamber music pieces as well as pieces for piano and strings.
Drawn to music from an early age
Reger was born in Brand in der Oberpfalz on March 19, 1873 and grew up in nearby Weiden. He took piano and organ lessons as a schoolboy and knew by the age of 15 that he wanted to be a musician. After training in Sondershausen and Wiesbaden, he worked as a professor and court music director in Munich, Leipzig, Meiningen and Jena. Reger’s career was overshadowed by his alcohol addiction. Reger is buried in a grave of honor in the Munich forest cemetery.
In 1911 Reger was appointed court music director by Duke George II of Saxe-Meiningen. He held the post until 1914. During his time in Meiningen he created 20 works. Visitors can now get to know Reger’s life and work at 15 concerts and events in Meiningen, as the city announced. “Reger’s whole life is a very concentrated one – he wrote more than others in twice his lifetime,” said Philipp Adlung, Director of Meininger Museums, which also includes the Max Reger Archive with a presentation of the musician’s estate. According to Adlung, Reger’s works are outstanding not only because of the quantity, but also because of the quality. “He raised the Meiningen court orchestra to an international level again and ensured the last great blossoming of the Meiningen court of muses.”
