Rudolf Krasselt

Rudolf Krasselt (1 January 1879 – 12 April 1954) was a German violoncellist, conductor and director of the Staatsoper Hannover during the Weimar Republic and the period of National Socialism.

Among others, Kurt Weill, Ernst Krenek, Berthold Goldschmidt, Günter Raphael, Johannes Schüler, Rudolf Wagner-Régeny and Mark Lothar learned conducting with him at the Berlin Musikhochschule.

In Hannover he built up a management team together with the head conductor Hans Winckelmann, the chief stage designer Kurt Söhnlein, the concert master Max Ladscheck, who had followed him from Berlin, and the two Kapellmeisters Arno Grau and Johannes Schüler in such a way that the Städtische Oper Hannover was among the five best opera houses in Germany within a few years.

The emerging modern dance was represented by the ballet greats Yvonne Georgi and Harald Kreutzberg, who Krasselt skilfully managed to tie to the house.

He was joined by a world-renowned singing ensemble, in which Tiana Lemnitz, Emmy Sack, Carl Hauss, Peter Anders, Josef Correck, Willy Schöneweiss, Wilhelm Patsche and Otto Köhler sang, among others.