Talk:Hans Kronold

The Voratious Wikipedian

Here we go again. First, it was that situation with Cristóbal Oudrid, now I find myself diving into the life of Selma Kronold's brother, cousin of my Moritz Moszkowski. It was because of him, whose compositions I have been cataloging for more than a year, that I really tried to collect as much information on the life and work of this cellist whose slow, heavy playing style sounds to me abominable ! It was very difficult to find something about him. There are many entries about his playing in newspapers of that time, especially the New York Times, which I used as reference both in the text and in his compositions, but as for his life, no. I searched so insistently that I was able to see the life he had in the chaos of a megalopolis like New York at the beginning of the 20th century. The compositions that he chose for his repertoire, his tours with other musicians by Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, his temperament and personality, that perhaps, by the very instrument he played, turned him into someone even more economical in words, sullen, quiet, boring, uninteresting and such. However, he passed me as a person who needed to make a living, as he played with string orchestras that he formed or was called in to replace other musicians that could not meet their commitments, or even play in theaters and events organized by people in the business, and even in churches at the end of his life.

Kronold's position in his family was another thing that caught my attention. He was 11 years younger than his more-successful sister Selma, or Selma Koert-Kronold, for having been married for 10 years with violinist Jan Koert, who also emigrated to the United States for the same reason like many others before him. So, to skip Kronold's life for Adolph Brodsky's or Anton Seidl's, who was the one responsible not only for establishing (favoring) Selma on stage and in the life of the city, but also Hans and Koert, would be only one more step to take (I felt compelled to look for Nora and Sophie, Hans' daughters, but that would have been too much). Names such as the Metropolitan Opera Company, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the New York Symphony Orchestra also showed to me the importance of these institutions in music in the American scenario in the beginning of the 20th century. I still hate this rag-time in American cities like Chicago, New York, Boston and other capitals, but I've got to admit that it was very interesting to read (see) these people's lives at the time and places that I have already mentioned.

Another thing for me was Kronold's recordings for Edson, Columbia, Pathé, and the rediscovery of the gramophone, phonograph cylinders, the Amberol brand and everything that had to do with all this. I could listen to his recording files made at the beginning of the century (Kronold did not record Funeral Service Over President McKinley, performed by The Columbia Quartette, a vocal quartet of male voices, with chime and piano accompaniment) and confirm once more how horrible they are ! But as I said, it is quite interesting to have the chance to submerge in my research once more, in my reading, and consequently in the life of someone who died nearly a hundred years ago. It was through this article on Kronold's life, his recordings and compositions that I came to find Alice Verne-Bredt, who caught my attention and about whom there is very little information available.

How to proceed

Please, do not change things around here under your own interpretation or taste, because changing six for half a dozen does not help or add anything else to what I did. What was done, was done for the future, for tomorrow, to others who need to know, to get to know, to study and appreciate all the information that today only the English Wikipedia was able to collect in one single place. Improve the article, make it longer, find more information if possible (there are opus numbers missing - Opus 1 was extremely difficult to find), but please do not disrupt the article because you think it should be changed based on your own will. It was really very difficult to collect this little, even if this little is all there is. Thank you for reading and, see you next time pal !

Krenakarore ^TK 01:45, 16 December 2014 (UTC)