Thanks for your answer Mareike!
2019-10-11 16:44:43,922 : ERROR : KNIME-Worker-9 : : Node : Create Spark Context (Livy) : 0:65 : Execute failed: Connection refused (Connection refused) (ConnectException)
java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException: org.apache.http.conn.HttpHostConnectException: Connect to localhost:8998 [localhost/127.0.0.1, localhost/0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1] failed: Connection refused (Connection refused)
at org.apache.livy.client.common.AbstractHandle.get(AbstractHandle.java:198)
at org.apache.livy.client.common.AbstractHandle.get(AbstractHandle.java:221)
at org.knime.bigdata.spark.core.livy.context.LivySparkContext.waitForFuture(LivySparkContext.java:374)
at org.knime.bigdata.spark.core.livy.context.LivySparkContext.createRemoteSparkContext(LivySparkContext.java:355)
at org.knime.bigdata.spark.core.livy.context.LivySparkContext.open(LivySparkContext.java:265)
at org.knime.bigdata.spark.core.context.SparkContext.ensureOpened(SparkContext.java:144)
at org.knime.bigdata.spark.core.livy.node.create.LivySparkContextCreatorNodeModel.executeInternal(LivySparkContextCreatorNodeModel.java:125)
at org.knime.bigdata.spark.core.node.SparkNodeModel.execute(SparkNodeModel.java:240)
at org.knime.core.node.NodeModel.executeModel(NodeModel.java:567)
at org.knime.core.node.Node.invokeFullyNodeModelExecute(Node.java:1192)
at org.knime.core.node.Node.execute(Node.java:979)
at org.knime.core.node.workflow.NativeNodeContainer.performExecuteNode(NativeNodeContainer.java:559)
at org.knime.core.node.exec.LocalNodeExecutionJob.mainExecute(LocalNodeExecutionJob.java:95)
at org.knime.core.node.workflow.NodeExecutionJob.internalRun(NodeExecutionJob.java:179)
at org.knime.core.node.workflow.NodeExecutionJob.run(NodeExecutionJob.java:110)
at org.knime.core.util.ThreadUtils$RunnableWithContextImpl.runWithContext(ThreadUtils.java:328)
at org.knime.core.util.ThreadUtils$RunnableWithContext.run(ThreadUtils.java:204)
at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:511)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
at org.knime.core.util.ThreadPool$MyFuture.run(ThreadPool.java:123)
at org.knime.core.util.ThreadPool$Worker.run(ThreadPool.java:246)
Caused by: org.apache.http.conn.HttpHostConnectException: Connect to localhost:8998 [localhost/127.0.0.1, localhost/0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1] failed: Connection refused (Connection refused)
at org.apache.http.impl.conn.DefaultHttpClientConnectionOperator.connect(DefaultHttpClientConnectionOperator.java:159)
at org.apache.http.impl.conn.BasicHttpClientConnectionManager.connect(BasicHttpClientConnectionManager.java:325)
at org.apache.http.impl.execchain.MainClientExec.establishRoute(MainClientExec.java:381)
at org.apache.http.impl.execchain.MainClientExec.execute(MainClientExec.java:237)
at org.apache.http.impl.execchain.ProtocolExec.execute(ProtocolExec.java:185)
at org.apache.http.impl.execchain.RedirectExec.execute(RedirectExec.java:111)
at org.apache.http.impl.client.InternalHttpClient.doExecute(InternalHttpClient.java:185)
at org.apache.http.impl.client.CloseableHttpClient.execute(CloseableHttpClient.java:83)
at org.apache.http.impl.client.CloseableHttpClient.execute(CloseableHttpClient.java:108)
at org.apache.livy.client.http.LivyConnection.executeRequest(LivyConnection.java:276)
at org.apache.livy.client.http.LivyConnection.sendRequest(LivyConnection.java:269)
at org.apache.livy.client.http.LivyConnection.sendJSONRequest(LivyConnection.java:238)
at org.apache.livy.client.http.LivyConnection.post(LivyConnection.java:213)
at org.apache.livy.client.http.CreateSessionHandleImpl.performStart(CreateSessionHandleImpl.java:144)
at org.apache.livy.client.common.AbstractHandle$5.run(AbstractHandle.java:267)
at org.apache.livy.client.common.AbstractHandle$4.run(AbstractHandle.java:231)
at org.apache.livy.client.common.AbstractHandle$2.call(AbstractHandle.java:156)
at org.apache.livy.client.common.AbstractHandle$2.call(AbstractHandle.java:153)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
at java.util.concurrent.ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor$ScheduledFutureTask.access$201(ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor.java:180)
at java.util.concurrent.ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor$ScheduledFutureTask.run(ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor.java:293)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1149)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:624)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:748)
Caused by: java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused (Connection refused)
at java.net.PlainSocketImpl.socketConnect(Native Method)
at java.net.AbstractPlainSocketImpl.doConnect(AbstractPlainSocketImpl.java:350)
at java.net.AbstractPlainSocketImpl.connectToAddress(AbstractPlainSocketImpl.java:206)
at java.net.AbstractPlainSocketImpl.connect(AbstractPlainSocketImpl.java:188)
at java.net.SocksSocketImpl.connect(SocksSocketImpl.java:392)
at java.net.Socket.connect(Socket.java:589)
at org.apache.http.conn.socket.PlainConnectionSocketFactory.connectSocket(PlainConnectionSocketFactory.java:75)
at org.apache.http.impl.conn.DefaultHttpClientConnectionOperator.connect(DefaultHttpClientConnectionOperator.java:142)
… 23 more