Munich awaits rape trial of eminent composer
mainThe distinguished German composer Hans-Jürgen von Bose will go on trial next week in Munich charged with several counts of rape dating back to 2006 and 2007. He denies the charges.
Von Bose, 67, is best known for an opera he wrote on Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Slaughterhouse Five.
Until his arrest, he was professor of composition at Munich’s Hochschule für Musik und Theater where the former rector, Siegfried Mauser, was sentenced in 2018 to two years and nine months in prison. Mauser, 66, has yet to spend a single night in jail.
Von Bose has been held on remand, awaiting trial.
He is the grandson of Herbert von Bose, on of the earliest victims of Nazi rule. Herbert Von Bose was press aide to the German Vice Chancellor Franz von Papen and was murdered by the SS during Hitler’s Night of the Long Knives.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3703298/Munich-Musikhochschule-professor-Hans-J-rgen-von-Bose-charged-rape-Germany-police-storm-house-gun-cocaine-student-kept-cellar-sex-slave.html
Good lord, the allegations are particularly sordid and horrifying.
Surely there’s a more recent photo of the alleged creep.
He looks like a film star. One of the rare occasions contemporary classical music has featured in the Daily Mail. Another instance being the premiere of Birtwistle’s Panic at the Proms.
If true, the allegations are truly terrible.
They should consider renaming it to “Hochschule für Triebtäter”.
Disgusting.
Not sure what the ancestors’ history has to do with the allegations. Doesn’t make him any more or less guilty….
It’s just information. Possibly someone reading it might recognize the last name and wonder if there was a connection. Or they might be trying to sensationalize it: Just imagine! A descendant of a Nazi victim engaging in such behavior! Subscribe to read more articles like this!
The Daily Mail is not a reputable peer reviewed publication. It often ends up having to retract its made up sensational fairy stories. Why would UK readers be at all interested in a German rape case? We have plenty of genuine ones in UK.
Here is a lengthy article in Der Spiegel from two years ago that reports the numerous allegations in detail. The alleged events boggle the mind. Since then, the President of Munich’s University of Music, Siegfried Mauser, has been sentenced to 2 years and 9 months in prison for sexual assault and rape.
https://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/sex-skandal-an-der-musikhochschule-muenchen-a-1207253.html
(The Daily Mail article is the usual trash of that paper. Use Google translate, if needed, to read the Der Spiegel article.)
When I lived in Munich for 13 years (1980-1993,) I found the mentality toward women in music almost beyond comprehension. It was like I had stepped back into the 1950s.
There is an interesting historical context for Mauser’s crimes. The conservatory in Munich was originally built as the personal office building of Adolf Hitler. It was called the Füherbau and was constructed in a massive and luxurious manner, huge rooms with high ceils, precious marbles, a heroic grand stairwell, a concert hall that to this day is one of the best in Germany.
The events Mauser was convicted of were committed in what was formerly Hitler’s office. (If I understand correctly, it had been renovated somewhat since Hitler’s day and part of it was turned into a reception room.)
These attitudes and history were part of the enormous weight I felt during my Munich years, which I forced to confront since my wife faced egregious gender discrimination. I’m glad to see that the Munich’s University of Music is now leading the way in solving these abuse problems which have for decades been rampant in Germany’s conservatories.