Anna Cramer - Songs

Anna+Cramer+was+born+in+Amsterdam+on+July+15th%2C+1873.+She+studied+at+the+Conservatory+of+Music+in+Amsterdam%2C+and+on+her+graduation+in+1897+she+travelled+to+Germany+to+study+composition+with+Wilhelm+Berger+and+Max+von+Schillings.+She+enjoyed+some+early+successes%2C+and+in+1906-07+several+of+her+songs+were+performed+in+The+Netherlands+and+Germany.+Between+1907+and+1910+her+songs+op.1+%26ndash%3B+4+were+published+in+Germany.%3Cbr+%2F%3E%3Cbr+%2F%3EFrom+1910+until+1925+Cramer+lived+in+Munich+and+Berlin%2C+but+at+the+end+of+this+period+she+moved+to+Vienna.+This+proved+to+be+important+for+her+development+as+a+composer%2C+for+while+in+the+Austrian+capital+she+worked+closely+with+folksinger%2C+poet+and+composer+Walter+Simlinger.+He+wrote+the+libretti+for+her+two+operas%2C+Der+letzte+Tanz+and+Dr.+Pipalumbo+%281926-1927%29.%3Cbr+%2F%3E%3Cbr+%2F%3ECramer+suffered+recurrent+money+and+health+problems+and+in+1930+she+was+committed+to+a+mental+institution.+After+her+release+in+January+1931+she+returned+to+The+Netherlands+but+withdrew+entirely+from+public+life%2C+avoiding+all+contact+with+other+Dutch+musicians%2C+and+no+more+of+her+songs+were+published+in+her+lifetime.+However%2C+she+did+not+stop+composing+and+over+the+years+she+also+revised+several+of+her+earlier+songs.+In+1958+she+deposited+a+suitcase+full+of+manuscripts+at+a+bank+in+Amsterdam.+%3Cbr+%2F%3E%3Cbr+%2F%3EHer+mental+health+problems+persisted+and+she+was+forcibly+hospitalised+once+again+in+1960.+She+remained+in+a+nursing+home+until+her+death+on+June+4th%2C+1968+at+the+age+of+94.+The+suitcase+containing+her+manuscripts+then+came+into+the+possession+of+the+Haags+Gemeentemuseum%2C+and+nowadays+her+compositions+are+kept+in+the+Nederlands+Muziekinstituut+in+The+Hague.%3Cbr+%2F%3E%3Cbr+%2F%3EThe+time+she+spent+in+Germany+and+Austria+brought+Anna+Cramer+into+close+contact+with+the+latest+compositional+developments+of+the+day.+Her+songs+are+products+of+German+romanticism%2C+although+she+created+her+own+distinctive+style.+Despite+not+being+avant-garde+by+the+standards+of+the+early+twentieth+century%2C+Cramer+was+capable+of+writing+passages+of+striking+modernity.+She+felt+her+debt+to+Wagner+and+Strauss%2C+and+acknowledged+the+influence+of+Mahler%2C+Wolf+and+Berg%2C+but+also+incorporated+features+of+folk+music+and+cabaret+into+her+songs.+It+would+appear+that+Cramer+often+composed+with+an+orchestra+in+mind%2C+and+Jeppe+Moulijn%26rsquo%3Bs+orchestration+of+her+Sechs+Lieder%2C+op.4+is+a+natural+step+forward+in+the+exploration+of+her+oeuvre%2C+which+is+still+widely+unknown.