Karl Straube student of Heinrich Reimann
Career
Born in Berlin, Straube studied organ under Heinrich Reimann there from 1894 to 1897 and became a widely respected concert organist.  In 1897 he was appointed organist at Willibrordi-Dom (St Willibrord Cathedral) in Wesel, but left in 1902 to take up the position of organist at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig.He gave up his career as a performer relatively early in order to pursue teaching and publishing, particularly the music of Max Reger, though he still kept his position at the Thomaskirche. He was also appointed to the organ faculty of the Leipzig Conservatorium in 1907, receiving the title of "Royal Professor" in 1908.  This most honorary title, which is seemingly astounding for a professor of only one year, reflects more on Straube's cleverness than his merit. Since he was offered a job in Berlin (that supposedly paid ℳ 6,000), he wrote a letter of requests to his superior. These subtle "demands" were cleverly wrought (so as not to come off poorly, as his tenure at this point was rather short). He, among other things, requested a raise from ℳ 1,000 to ℳ 5,000 and also requested that the Wilhelm Sauer organ of 1888 at the Thomaskirche be enlarged (not only in manual compass—an extension from f3-a3, but also in size—all done under his supervision by the firm of Wilhelm Sauer). He succeeded Gustav Schreck as cantor of the Thomasschule and director of the Thomanerchor in 1918 and held the post until 1939. His contribution to the history of organ performance was chiefly through his advocacy of the music of Reger and his many students, including Heinz Wunderlich.
Having received the older tradition of organ playing from Reimann in Berlin, Straube revolutionized his technique in collaboration with the orchestral-style instruments of Sauer (and the encouragement from this mentor who spoke of the "unplayable" organ works of Reger).  This allowed him to interpret music by using the full resources of Sauer's massive instruments, with their stop-change mechanisms and expressive divisions; however, he also performed on organs that contained no such devices as well and simply adapted the music accordingly (even Reger was played on purely mechanical instruments with no mechanisms to assist the player, though these were mid-period Romantic organs built by Haas, etc., i.e. not organs of the Orgelbewegung movement).
apprentice of disciple of pupil of follower of learner of