Rudolf Gschladt

Rudolf Gschladt was born on 11 March 1876 in Vienna (then part of Austria-Hungary, today Austria). He completed his schooling with the Matura, and in 1894 he enrolled at the University of Vienna to study law. During his studies he was very active in various student fraternities: first in the fraternity “Austria Wien.” In 1895 he moved to Chernivtsi, where he studied for one year at the Franz-Josephs-Universität in order to support the fraternity Unitas Czernowitz. In 1898 Rudolf Gschladt was a founding member of the fraternity Rudolfina and helped to establish this association in the following years. His strong commitment to the fraternities had the consequence that his law studies stalled; in the end he was able to complete only the second state examination and never fully finished his studies.
Nevertheless, Rudolf Gschladt obtained a position as an officer in the Vienna municipal administration and advanced to head of division and eventually to senior senate councillor in the housing department. He was also politically active in the Christian-Social Union and was elected a member of the provisional municipal council in 1918, and later served in the Vienna state parliament from 1927 to 1932.
Rudolf Gschladt died on 1 March 1947 in Vienna (Austria).

Besides these activities, Rudolf Gschladt was also a composer and poet in his leisure time. Only a few of these works were ever published or performed. For example, his text of the “Farbenlied” for the fraternity Rudolfina was published in the book Lieder-Texte des Cartellverbandes der deutschen katholisch-österreichischen Studenten-Corporationen in 1900. His “Deutsche Messe” for soli, choir and organ was premiered in 1934 in the Schlosskapelle Schönbrunn under the direction of the choirmaster Victor Gomboz.