Hans von Koessler

Who was Hans von Koessler?

Hans von Koessler was a German composer, conductor and music teacher. In Hungary, where he worked for 26 years, he was known as János Koessler.

Koessler, a cousin of Max Reger, was born in Waldeck, Fichtelgebirge.

He was taught the organ from 1874 to 1877 by Josef Rheinberger and attended the choir lessons of Franz Wüllner in Munich. Immediately after that, he moved to Dresden, where he was appointed director and a teacher for music theory and choir songs at the Dresden School of Music. From 1878 he was also conductor of the Dresdner Liedertafel orchestra. From 1882 to 1908, he initially taught organ and choir at the National Music Academy of Budapest in Hungary. Later, he also became Professor for composition and was also given a peerage.

His students became some of the best Hungarian composers of the time: Zoltán Kodály, Béla Bartók, Ernő Dohnányi; for more see: List of music students by teacher#Hans von Koessler. After his retirement in 1908, he returned to Germany, but became appointed to the agency of Kálmán and Dohnányi in order to ensure that he received a moderate income.