Walter Kraft


Walter Kraft was a German organist and composer, best known for his remarkably long tenure at the Marienkirche, Lübeck.
During this tenure, Kraft, who had been a student of Paul Hindemith in Berlin, revived the practice of evening concerts of sacred works. Such concerts, collectively called Abendmusik, had been regularly given by his predecessors at the church, notably Dietrich Buxtehude and Franz Tunder; but they had ceased in 1810, mainly due to the dislocation caused to northern Germany by the Napoleonic wars.
Kraft made numerous commercial recordings during the LP era, most of which have been reissued on compact disc and as mp3s. As well as recording Handel's 12 organ concertos, he was among the first to commit to disc the entire solo organ music of Bach and Buxtehude. His discography also included pieces by more obscure German baroque musicians such as Nikolaus Bruhns.
Like his younger contemporary Anton Heiller, Kraft also composed a fair amount, though as with Heiller, his fame as a performer completely upstaged his hopes of lasting renown as a creator. Once he retired in 1972 from the Marienkirche post, he apparently planned to write an opera, but never finished any such work.
He died along with 32 others when Amsterdam's Hotel Polen caught fire.
Organ Compositions:
Te deum for 2 organs
Partita on a song of Schuetz
Toccata on 'Ite missa est'
Prelude in G
Fantasia on Three Easter Songs
Totentanz-Toccata
Triptychon on 'St. Michael'
Fantasie 'Media vita in morte sumus'
Five Short Organ Pieces
Organ with Instruments:
Prelude, Pastorale & Chaconne, flute & organ
Concerto for organ & chamber orchestra
Metaphern, violin & organ