Brückner-Rüggeberg, Wilhelm

• Aurél, Karl

German conductor Wilhelm Brückner-Rüggeberg (Karl Aurel) was born into a family of performers, both actors and singers, in Stuttgart. Trained in Munich, he began his musical career in 1929 as an assistant (Hilfs-Solorepetitor) to conductor Hans Knappertsbusch at the Staatsoper there. In 1934 he succeeded Herbert Von Karajan as Kapellmeister in Ulm, but was arrested for having helped fellow musician, Felix Wolfes, a Jew, to emigrate to France and then the USA. He was forbidden to conduct for several years. In 1937 Wilhelm Furtwangler, conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, invited him to conduct a complete Beethoven cycle. In 1938 he was allowed to join the Hamburg Staatsoper and soon became “Erster Kapellmeister” (choir director). Beginning in 1940 he became director of the Lehrergesangsverein (Teachers’ Choir) in Hamburg; during his time there he conducted more than 700 concerts for schoolchildren. He started to teach conducting in 1943 but was mobilized in 1944. After the war, he was one of the founders of the Hochshule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg and later became a full professor there. By 1970 he had conducted more than 2,000 performances of the Staatsoper there. From 1956 and 1960, he made several recordings conducting Kurt Weill’s works including some with Lotte Lenya as a soloist. He was known particularly for his direction of pieces by Handel such as oratorios. He was often invited to be a guest conductor, many times in South America. He composed at least one song, Seemansliebe, a walz, which was signed with the pseudonym “Karl Aurel,” according to the Library of Congress Catalog of copyright entries, 3rd series (1962). He had five children with his wife mezzo-soprano Ludmilla Schirmer.