Raimund Pechotsch Explained

Raimund Leo Pechotsch (June 1864 – 20 January 1941) was a composer of romantic and incidental musical theatre pieces. He was a Roman Catholic who also conducted liturgical music.^[1]

Life

Pechotsch was born in Vienna, his father Adalbert Pechotsch being a composer of some note.^[1] He studied at the Vienna Conservatoire and privately under Eduard Remenyi.He was one of three brothers who were members of the Austrian Strauss Band in 1880: Raimund on first violin; Adolf and Rupert both on contra-bass and trumpet.^[2] The band had been contracted to perform at the Melbourne Exhibition of 1881.^[3] He remained in Australia, but moved to Sydney.

He was in Brisbane then left for New Zealand 1889.^[4]

Pechotsch was musical director for Australian stage producer Oscar Asche.^[5] Raimund also worked for music publisher Palings and taught violin and piano in Sydney for many years.^[6]

Pechotsch wrote incidental music for Walter Howard's 1910 play The Prince and the Beggar Maid which was very successful in London and Australia.^[7] He also wrote music (orchestrated for ensemble of twenty) to accompany "Pete" a Lewis Parker stage adaptation of Hall Caine's novel The Manxman.^[8]

Later in life he remarried Alice McCarthy, the daughter of fellow Australian composer Dr William Charles MacCarthy.^[9]

Works

• The cycling schottische
  • A lost love with words by Frederick Augustus Packer Emu waltz (1896)
• For thee : song with violin obligato with words by Ernest Glanville-Hicks (father of Peggy Glanville-Hicks)
• Fire a shot for the Empire with foreign journalist Dulcie Deamer
• To a butterfly with Australian poet Agnes Littlejohn (1865-1944)^[10]
• Sympathy Waltz
• Gem Waltz
• Cradle song : Chant du berceau, written for Hall Caine's Pete^[1]
• Romance, for violin with piano accompaniment
• Liebslied (1915), written after the death of his son^[1]
• My love and I (boat song) with lyrics by Marie Van Brakkel
• Tears and pearls with lyrics by Henry C. de Witt
• Monsieur Beaucaire waltz

Family

On 17 September 1885 Pechotsch married Mary Elizabeth Curtis (born 1858 – 23 December), née Dolman, widow of Peter Campbell Curtis and mother of William John Curtis, KC.(1 September 1881 – 24 May 1940)^[1]

• Raimund Adalbert Pechotsch, aka Jan Rudenyi, (born 1 August 1886 – February 1915) was feted as a violin prodigy,^[11] having received his entire musical training from his father.

He had ten years education in Europe and returned to Australia in his twenties.^[12]

• Eric Joachim Pechotsch, aka Eric Mareo (30 September 1891 – 1958), as a boy was a charming singer of humorous songs^[13] and later as musical director of the Ernest Rolls Revue and in 1935 of his own orchestra, a dandy who affected a long white cigarette holder and conducted with a tinsel-covered baton.^[14] He was convicted in Auckland, New Zealand, of the murder of his second wife Thelma née Trott, who died 15 April 1935 by Veronal poisoning. Thelma's lesbian lover Freda Stark was a key witness at the trial.^[15]

Around 1938 he married again, to the widow O'Hara, née MacCarthy, daughter of Dr Charles MacCarthy, an Irish Home Rule activist.^[1] MacCarthy was frequently written M'Carthy.

He had two brothers in Australia:

• Rupert Joseph Pechotsch (–1941) married Ada Euphemia Norris (c. 1863 – 15 March 1944) on 28 February 1882^[16] lived Numurkah, Victoria, later Highett, Victoria insolvent 1916
• Adolf Pechotsch (c. 1856 – October 1902) married Matilda Eppin (c. 1861 – 13 March 1885); and a second time to the widow Waldock c. 1896.^[17]

Notes and References

1. News: All About People: Tittle Tattle . . 2080 . New South Wales, Australia . 30 January 1941 . 16 March 2018 . 14 . National Library of Australia.
2. News: The Austrian Strauss Band . . 10,706 . Victoria, Australia . 11 October 1880 . 9 February 2021 . 6 . National Library of Australia.
3. News: Herr Pechotsch . . 5967 . New South Wales, Australia . 29 July 1898 . 9 February 2021 . 5 . National Library of Australia.
4. News: Pechotsch Farewell . . 5,285 . Queensland, Australia . 20 September 1889 . 9 February 2021 . 2 . Trove.
5. News: Return of Herr Raimund Pechotsch . . 304 . New South Wales, Australia . 24 January 1909 . 16 March 2018 . 1 . National Library of Australia.
6. News: Mr Raimund Pechotsch . . 28,365 . New South Wales, Australia . 1 December 1928 . 16 March 2018 . 10 . National Library of Australia.
7. News: The Prince and the Beggar Maid . . XCI . 26,557 . South Australia . 29 September 1926 . 16 March 2018 . 13 . National Library of Australia.
8. Web site: Trove.
9. News: Of General Interest . . LXXIV . 4564 . Victoria, Australia . 6 February 1941 . 16 March 2018 . 6 . National Library of Australia.
10. News: The Lost Emerald" (Agnes Littlejohn). . . 1204 . New South Wales, Australia . 10 January 1925 . 16 March 2018 . 14 . National Library of Australia.
11. News: Raimund Pechotsch . . 366 . New South Wales, Australia . 1 August 1897 . 22 November 2020 . 2 . National Library of Australia.
12. News: Fine Composer . . 2235 . New South Wales, Australia . 26 May 1929 . 16 March 2018 . 6 . National Library of Australia.
13. News: Sydney Shows. . . Victoria, Australia . 13 June 1901 . 9 February 2021 . 24 . National Library of Australia.
14. Book: The Trials of Eric Mareo . Ch. 4 — Who was Eric Mareo? . New Zealand Electronic Text Collection . 10 February 2021.
15. Book: The Trials of Eric Mareo . Ch. 1 — Introduction . New Zealand Electronic Text Collection . 10 February 2021.
16. News: Family Notices . . 20,852 . Victoria, Australia . 16 March 1944 . 10 February 2021 . 4 . National Library of Australia.
17. News: Professor Adolf Pechotsch . . 20 . 1026 . Victoria, Australia . 17 October 1902 . 9 February 2021 . 2 . National Library of Australia.