The Life of Karl Otto Lies

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2011 in the subject Musicology, grade: A (entspricht 1), Utrecht University (Roosevelt Academy), course: Music in Context, language: English, abstract: That failure is not always caused by a lack of talent but rather a lack of fortune and false modesty can be seen exemplary in the life of the Dutch-German composer Karl [Carl] Otto Lies. He was born on 26 July 1869 in Hanover as the first of two children of the Roman Catholic bailiff Karl Lies and his wife Margaretha Louisa Brand. Already during his college years in Cologne, he started composing several piano and organ pieces. After college, he entered the conservatoire of Cologne and was taught composition and conducting by prof. Franz Wüllner, a well-known German composer and conductor (Dohr). Furthermore, he had classes in music theory with Gustav Jensen, piano with Otto Klauwell and score reading with conductor Eduard Mertke. In his leaving certificate, Franz Wüllner wrote about him: 'He has proven to be highly ambitious and gifted and developed to a splendid musician during his study period.'1 This statement sounds especially comprehensible if one considers that Lies composed during his studies among others one cantata, various pieces for piano en two symphonies of which he performed parts in his final exam. Apart from that, one can unfortunately not learn much more about his study period because the historical city archive of Cologne which probably contained some material collapsed two years ago.