KULKE, EDUARD:

By: Isidore Singer, Benuel H. Brumberg

Austrian author; born at Kostel, near Nikolsburg, Moravia, May 28, 1831; died in Vienna March 20, 1897; educated at the polytechnic institutes of Vienna and Prague. After following for several years the profession of teacher he settled in Vienna and devoted himself entirely to literature. He soon attracted attention by his tales derived from the life of the Moravian ghetto, whichplaced him as a ghetto-writer next to Leopold Kompert. Among his works may be mentioned: "Aus dem Jüdischen Volksleben" (Hamburg, 1871); "Geschichten" (Leipsic, 1869); and "Der Kunstenmacher," the last-named published also in Paul Heyse's "Novellenschatz." Kulke was an intimate friend of Friedrich Hebbel, whose memoirs he published under the title "Erinnerungen an Friedrich Hebbel" (Vienna, 1878).

As a musical writer Kulke contributed notices to the "Fremdenblatt" (Vienna) and "Vaterland" (Vienna), in which he with great ardor advocated the Wagnerian cult. Among his essays on this subject are: "Richard Wagner," Prague, 1883; "Die Umbildung der Melodie," ib. 1884; and "Richard Wagner und Friedrich Nietzsche," Leipsic, 1890. Subsequently he changed his views and separated from Wagnerianism.

The most important of Kulke's esthetico-philosophical essays is "Zur Entwickelungsgeschichte der Meinungen," Leipsic, 1891. Of his numerous other works, the more widely known are: "Don Perez," tragedy (Vienna, 1873); "Korah," Biblical tragedy (Leipsic, 1873); "Der Gefiederte Dieb," comedy (Vienna, 1876); and "Der Glasscherbentanz" (1881). He was also a diligent contributor to Jewish periodicals.

S. B. B.