Karl Haas

{{about|the American broadcaster|the German-English musicologist and conductor|Karl Haas (conductor)|the Nazi leader|Karl Hass}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Karl Haas

| image = Karl Haas - WJROneOfAKind.jpg

| image_size =

| caption = Karl Haas at WJR

| birth_date = {{birth date|mf=y|1913|12|6}}

| birth_place = Speyer, Palatinate, Germany

| death_date = {{death date and age|mf=y|2005|2|6|1913|12|6}}

| death_place = Royal Oak, Michigan, U.S.

| occupation = Radio host, musicologist, pianist, conductor

}}

Karl Haas (December 6, 1913{{spaced ndash}}February 6, 2005) was a German-American classical music radio host, known for his sonorous speaking voice, humanistic approach to music appreciation, and popularization of classical music.{{cite news |date=2005-02-08 |title=Karl Haas, 91; Radio Host Popularized Classical Music With Knowledge and Humor |page=B-9 |newspaper=The Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-feb-08-me-haas8-story.html |accessdate=2008-11-17}} He was the host of the classical music radio program Adventures in Good Music, which was syndicated to commercial and public radio stations around the world.{{cite news |last=Midgette|first=Anne|title=Karl Haas, Radio Ambassador of Classical Music, Dies at 91|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/08/arts/music/08haas.html|accessdate=2008-11-17|newspaper=The New York Times|date=2005-02-08}} He also published the book Inside Music.{{cite book |url=http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1365080|title=Inside music/Karl Haas|year=1999|accessdate=2008-11-17 |publisher=National Library of Australia|isbn=9780732910044}} He was a respected musicologist, as well as an accomplished pianist and conductor. In 1996, he received an honorary degree in Doctor of Letters from Oglethorpe University.{{cite web|title=Honorary Degrees Awarded by Oglethorpe University |publisher=Oglethorpe University |url=http://www.oglethorpe.edu/about_us/history/honorary_degrees.asp |accessdate=2015-03-05 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150319104000/http://www.oglethorpe.edu/about_us/history/honorary_degrees.asp |archivedate=March 19, 2015 }}

Early life and family

Haas was born in Speyer, Palatinate, Germany in 1913. He studied at the Mannheim Conservatory and earned a doctorate in music literature from Heidelberg University. He studied piano with Artur Schnabel. Faced with the rise of Nazism, the Jewish Haas fled Germany for the United States in 1936. He first settled in Detroit, Michigan, then lived in other places, returning to Detroit near the end of his life.{{cite news |last=Holley|first=Joe|title=Classical Radio Personality Karl Haas, 91, Dies|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6475-2005Feb7.html|accessdate=2008-11-17|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=2005-02-08|page=B06}} He and his wife, Trudie, had two sons and one daughter.{{cite web |last=Symons|first=Craig|title=Rest In Peace Karl Haas|url=http://www.choralnet.org/view/169203|accessdate=2011-03-25|publisher=American Choral Directors Association|date=2005-02-07}} Trudie died in 1977.

''Adventures in Good Music''

Haas began his radio program, Adventures in Good Music, on WJR in Detroit, Michigan in 1959.{{cite book |last=Cox |first=Elizabeth |chapter=Adventures in Good Music |editor1-last=Sterling |editor1-first=Christopher H. |editor2-last=O'Dell |editor2-first=Cary |editor3-last=Keith |editor3-first=Michael C. |location=New York, NY |page=5 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dmmLAgAAQBAJ&q=karl+haas+obituary+composer&pg=PA5 |accessdate=17 April 2019 |title=The Concise Encyclopedia of American Radio |publisher=Routledge |year=2010|isbn=9781135176846 }} Syndicated broadcasts of the show across the United States began in 1970 on WCLV, a radio station in Cleveland, Ohio. The show was eventually syndicated to commercial and public radio stations around the world and became the world's most widely heard classical music radio program.{{cite web|url=http://www.wclv.com/skin/blurb.php?sectionId=180&contentId=24804 |title=WCLV – Adventures in Good Music with Karl Haas |accessdate=2017-05-02 |url-status=bot: unknown |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20040624190317/http://www.wclv.com/skin/blurb.php?sectionId=180&contentId=24804 |archivedate=June 24, 2004 }}

The theme music for Adventures in Good Music was the second movement from Beethoven's "Pathétique" Sonata (Sonata No. 8 in C minor), performed by Haas live for each program. He started every show with his trademark greeting "Hello everyone", and later entitled a track of his CD with those words. For several years the program had the most listeners of any classical music radio show in the world.

Haas received the Charles Frankel Award of the National Endowment for the Humanities in 1991.{{cite web|title=TIMELINE: How NEH has fostered the humanities|url=http://www.neh.gov/whoweare/timeline.html|accessdate=2008-11-17|publisher=National Endowment for the Humanities|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090117131058/http://www.neh.gov///whoweare/timeline.html|archive-date=2009-01-17|url-status=dead}} President George H. W. Bush presented the award to him at the White House. Haas also twice won the George Foster Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting. In 1997 he became the first classical music broadcaster to be named to the National Radio Hall of Fame.{{cite web|title=Karl Haas' Adventures in Good Music Broadcasts Come to an End|url=http://www.wclv.com/page.php?pageID=174|accessdate=2008-11-17|publisher=104.9 WCLV classical FM|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080214090828/http://www.wclv.com/page.php?pageID=174|archivedate=2008-02-14}}

Haas did not produce any new episodes of the show in the last two years of his life. WCLV continued to syndicate recordings of his previous shows until June 2007. That month, WCLV announced "with great regret" that it would broadcast and syndicate its last Adventures in Good Music program on June 29, 2007. The announcement explained that the number of stations that carried the show had dropped from more than 400 to fewer than 20, which made it unfeasible to continue the program's national distribution.

Most episodes of Adventures in Good Music are not available publicly because of copyright, which is closely held by his family, although three cassettes/CDs have been issued featuring Haas and his commentary: The Romantic Piano, The Story of the Bells, and Song and Dance. In the 1960s Columbia Records released a Karl Haas commercial LP, "How to Listen to a Symphony," on their Columbia Special Products label.

Death

Near the end of his life, Haas returned to Detroit. He died at the age of 91 on 6 February 2005 at a hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan.{{cite web |title=Karl Haas Obituary |year=2005 |publisher=Legacy.com |url=http://www.legacy.com/ns/karl-haas-obituary/3141750 |accessdate=17 April 2019 |location=Chicago, IL |agency=Associated Press}} He was survived by his sons, Jeffrey and Andrew, by his daughter, Alyce, and by two grandchildren.

References

Bibliography

Haas, K. (1999). Inside Music. South Melbourne, Macmillan. {{ISBN|0-7329-1004-8}}

External links

{{YouTube|zINDMdEfGjQ|Video in which Karl Haas briefly explains why he devoted his entire life to music}}
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6475-2005Feb7.html Obituary in the Washington Post February 8, 2005; Page B06]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20080703194307/http://www.radiohof.org/discjockey/karlhaas.html Haas inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20070817152524/http://www.wclv.com/page.php?pageID=175 Memorial piece about Karl Haas and his radio style]
[http://www.bruceduffie.com/haas.html Interview with Karl Haas], October 28, 1989

Category:1913 births

Category:2005 deaths

Category:American male conductors (music)

Category:American music educators

Category:American public radio personalities

Category:Classical music radio presenters

Category:Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States

Category:German classical musicians

Category:Jewish American classical musicians

Category:National Humanities Medal recipients

Category:Peabody Award winners

Category:People from Speyer