Hans Pfitzner

German composer Hans Pfitzner (1869-1949) was an ardent arch nationalist within post-romantic German tradition and a self-described anti-modernist. Established from the 1890s as a significant conductor, teacher, and composer of opera and lieder, Pfitzner's most important works are the opera Palestrina (1915) and his Violin Concerto (1924). Pfitzner paid a heavy price for his early and naïve support of the Nazi Party; after criticizing them, he was relieved of all his teaching posts, and later, rendered homeless in a bombing raid. Provisions were made for Pfitzner's comfort in the postwar period, though revival of his music has proven a slow process.