Krampus

[MartinH]

There's a new horror movie out just in time for Christmas, called Krampus. It's not very good. But it did cause me to look into the Krampus mythology a bit deeper and in the German speaking world Krampus a big deal - and what would seem to be an ideal subject for a composer. But there's nothing! Thinking of Franck's The Accursed Hunstman, the Dvorak Erben tone poems (Noonday Witch, etc), the symphonic poems of Liszt, Karlowicz, Ciurlionis, and many other lesser-knowns, I was surprised that no one, to my knowledge, has ever done it. Does anyone know of anything that has ever been composed on the theme of Krampus? Would sure be a nice antidote to all the sickeningly sweet Santa Claus/St. Nickolas stuff this time of year!

[Alan Howe]

I see what you mean. I don't know of anything composed on the subject, though.

[Mark Thomas]

All I can find on WorldCat is that Karel Risinger (1920-2008) wrote a Marionetten Suite for clarinet and piano, one of the movements of which was Der Krampus. I do agree, though, that it's surprising that there's no orchestral work from the 19th century.

[eschiss1]

ONB Quicksearch doesn't turn up anything orchestral, but does turn up a few songs and piano works that might not be @ Worldcat, some in manuscript (Johann Langer's "Krampus und St. Nikolaus" for piano from 1922, for instance, and something by Stolz, too... also, something- school songs- by "Röth, Philipp, 1779-1850".)

[MartinH]

Thanks for the input. I'm going to look into the Langer and Risinger. Who knows what will turn up.

[Double-A]

I grew up in Switzerland, in the German speaking world if a little on its margins.  I have never heard of Krampus, so I looked him up in Wikipedia.  The character is described there as "Austro-Bavarian".  This is far from the whole German speaking world--in fact Zurich is not that far from Austria, yet I was unfamiliar with the "myth".

So you'd have to look at "Austro-Bavarian" composers (e.g. from Salzburg), a much smaller bunch than German composers.  Maybe that is why the "Krampus" symphonische Dichtung (what word!) does not exist.