Gerhard Krapf 1924-2008

Gerhard Krapf, Professor Emeritus, University of Alberta, born Dec. 12, 1924, passed away on July 2nd after a long illness. He is survived by his wife Trudl, three daughters and a son.

07 July 2008

Gerhard Krapf, Professor Emeritus, University of Alberta, born Dec. 12, 1924, passed away on July 2nd after a long illness.

He is survived by his wife Trudl, three daughters and a son.
Gerhard Krapf is renowned for his significant contribution to church music with prolific compositions of organ, choral and vocal works; for the designing and supervision of the 1978 Casavant Organ in Convocation Hall at the University of Alberta, scholarly works on the organ and a decade of teaching at the University of Alberta from 1977 to 1987. His distinguished career along with building the undergraduate and graduate organ programs at the University of Iowa prior to his appointment at the U of A, contributed significantly to the development of the graduate programs in keyboard and library resources at the University of Alberta, and the first Doctor of Music degree in Organ Performance at an English speaking Canadian University. A champion for mechanical/tracker action pipe organs, the U of Iowa was the first American State University to acquire a tracker action instrument (Casavant) and the U of A followed suit upon Krapf's faculty appointment. A dedicated and brilliant teacher of organ, and related subjects, theory and counterpoint, it was said he could improvise a six-voice fugue. Those of us who had the privilege of working with him will remember his amazing intellect and accomplishments, his devotion as a teacher and friend, his deep Christian convictions and his delightful sense of humour. He is greatly missed.

Memorial gifts for the Gerhard Krapf Memorial Portativ Organ may be made by sending a cheque to the University of Alberta, noting in the memo line "Gerhard Krapf Memorial Organ." Mail to Gerhard Krapf Memorial Organ, c/o Dean's Office, Faculty of Arts, 6-33 Humanities Centre, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E5
Friday, 12 December: 8:00 pm Gerhard Krapf Memorial Tribute Concert
Convocation Hall, University of Alberta
Gerhild Krapf, Marnie Giesbrecht, Jacobus Kloppers, Eileen Armstrong and others
Submitted by Marnie Giesbrecht, Professor of Music, Organ Performance, University of Alberta; first graduate of the U of A DMus Organ Performance program , 1988.

Below is his biography as printed by the Sacred Music Press in 1977, which covers the years before he and his wife Trudl arrived in Edmonton.
[Quoted from the biography printed by Sacred Music Press in 1977:]

Gerhard Krapf was born in the small German town of Meissenheim in 1924. After many years of piano and organ instruction, Krapf was drafted into the German army in 1942. He was wounded four times during the course of his military service, and he did not even know that the war had ended when the Russians captured him on May 10, 1945. Years of hard labor followed, and during this period of mental and physical agony, Gerhard Krapf began composing. Music paper was unavailable and even paper was in short supply, so he wrote his scores on old cement bags! Believing that his life would end in central Russia, he was eventually freed on July 3, 1948. By 1950, Krapf had completed his music education and received the Staatsexamen-Diploma in organ, choral conducting, and music theory in Karlsruhe.
Gerhard Krapf then came to the United States as an exchange student at the University of Redlands, where he received his Master of Music degree in 1951. His limited visa forced him to return to Germany, but he was able to immigrate to this country [USA] in 1953, attaining citizenship in 1959. He taught in Michigan, Missouri, and Wyoming prior to his appointment in 1961 as professor and head of the organ department at the University of Iowa.
In addition to his teaching, concertizing, and lecturing, Gerhard Krapf is the author of reviews, articles, books on organ and church music, and has also translated Hans Klotz' Handbook of the Organ and Werckmeister's 1698 Orgelprobe.
The journal Church Music stated, "Gerhard Krapf does not think of himself as a composer, but rather as a musician who happens also to write." As he says, "When I have something to say, I say it." His formidable catalog of works suggests that he has found a great deal to say. And a look into one of his scores will show that he says it with fluency and imagination."

Please join us on December 12th. Any help with contacting former students or colleagues will be greatly appreciated!

For more information, please contact Marnie Giesbrecht at 780-492-9145 or marnie.giesbrecht@ualberta.ca