Richard Trunk

{{Expand German|topic=culture|date=December 2009|Richard Trunk}} '''Richard Trunk''' (born Tauberbischofsheim, 10 February 1879 - died Herrsching, 2 June 1968) was a German composer, pianist, conductor, critic, and member of the Nazi Party.<ref name="taz">{{cite web |last1=Hillenbrand |first1=Klaus |title=NS-Vergangenheit eines Komponisten: Ehre, wem keine Ehre gebührt |work=Die Tageszeitung: taz |url=https://taz.de/NS-Vergangenheit-eines-Komponisten/!6117571/ |lang=de |trans-title=Composer's Nazi Past: Honor to whom no honor is due |date=12 October 2025 |access-date=12 October 2025 }}</ref>

== Life == He studied in Frankfurt with Iwan Knorr before traveling to Munich for further studies with Josef Rheinberger. He accompanied numerous singers (including Eugen Gura), taught singing for a time, and served as music critic for the ''Münchener Post'' from 1907. He was invited to New York City and Newark, New Jersey to conduct the Arion Society in 1912; he returned home with the outbreak of World War I. He later became music critic for the ''Bayrische Staatszeitung'', and taught singing in Cologne from 1920 until 1934. In 1925 he married the singer Maria Delbran. In 1934, through the involvement of Ernst Röhm, he returned to Munich as the president of the Akademie der Tonkunst.<ref name="taz"/> He retired to the Ammersee after World War II.

Trunk was a member of the Nazi Party, having joined in Autumn 1931.<ref name="taz"/> In 1939, he was awarded the Goethe-Medaille für Kunst und Wissenschaft by Adolf Hitler.<ref name="taz"/> His songs Op. 65 set to music texts by Baldur von Schirach and Hanns Johst.

In 1948, a denazification court classified Trunk as a ''Mitläufer'' and issued him a ''Persilschein''.<ref name="taz"/>

==Works== thumb|Title page of the score to Trunk's "Feier der Neuen Front" op. 65, released in 1935 and dedicated to Adolf Hitler

Most of Trunk's musical works were choral pieces or songs with piano accompaniment, though he also composed an operetta (''Herzdame'', 1916) and some instrumental works and chamber music.

==Legacy== In Tauberbischofsheim, a street and music school are named in Trunk's honor, and a plaque marks the house in which he was born.<ref name="taz"/> As of 2025, discussions are planned to re-evaluate the town's commemoration of Trunk.<ref name="taz"/>

==External links== {{Commonscat}}

==References== *"Richard Trunk". In David Mason Greene, ''Biographical Dictionary of Composers''. Garden City, New York; Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1985. {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trunk, Richard}} Category:1879 births Category:1968 deaths Category:People from Tauberbischofsheim Category:German composers Category:German male composers Category:German music critics Category:German music educators Category:German conductors (music) Category:German male conductors (music) Category:German male non-fiction writers