BEKKER (Baruch), PAUL

BEKKER (Baruch), PAUL (1882–1937), German music critic and writer. Bekker started his career as a violinist and conductor in his native Berlin, and from 1906 wrote music criticism for Berlin papers and was chief music critic of the Frankfurter Zeitung from 1911 to 1925. He did much to promote acceptance of the works of gustav mahler , Franz Schreker, and Paul Hindemith. As supervisor of the State Theater in Cassel (1925–29), and at Wiesbaden (1929–32), he continued to foster contemporary music, especially operatic. In his books on music history and aesthetics he pioneered the application of sociological criteria to the understanding of musical creation and performance. His critical biography of Beethoven (1911, first English translation 1926) is considered a major contribution to the analysis of the creative process in music. In 1934 Bekker immigrated to the United States and became music critic of the New Yorker Staatszeitung und Herold. His other books include biographies of Oscar Fried (1907) and offenbach (1909); studies of the symphonies of Beethoven (1911, Eng. trans. 1925) and Mahler (1921), and the life of Wagner (1924, Eng. trans. 1931); Neue Musik (1923); Musikgeschichte als Geschichte der musikalischen Formwandlungen (1926); Materiale Grundlagen der Musik (1926); Wandlungen der Oper (1934; The Changing Opera, 1935); and The Story of the Orchestra (1936). -BIBLIOGRAPHY: MGG S.V.; Baker, Biog Dict. S.V. (Bathja Bayer)