00:00
Kitty von Escherich
25.11.1855 – 4.10.1916
Kitty von Escherich was born in Varazdin as the youngest child into a family in which music played a major role. Her father, an estate manager, founded an orchestra in each of his places of residence in order to popularize Beethoven’s symphonies, which were still little known at the time. Despite the difficult financial situation after his untimely death, Kitty received the best possible education.
She first studied piano and voice in Ljubljana and from 1873-1874 at the Conservatory of the Society of Friends of Music in Vienna, where she was also trained in music theory. At the composition competitions held at the end of the school year, she was awarded second prize three times. From 1884 on, Kitty von Escherich lived in Vienna with her husband and two children. She ran a music salon, from which the “Bach Community” subsequently emerged. Starting in 1889, she also appeared in public as a composer. Her works were praised by critics and received several awards. She leaves behind works for a wide variety of ensembles, but her great passion was vocal music.
Stefan Mendl’s thoughts on the work
Born in 1855 Kitty (Katherina) von Escherich received little recognition as a composer by the time of her death in 1916. In 1876 and the following year she won second prize in the composition competition of the Conservatory of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde.
Her “Ave Maria” for soprano and piano or organ, printed by Doblinger in 1903, is a work of extraordinary power and intimacy and moved me deeply during the rehearsal and recording.