Richard Liesche

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Richard Liesche (born February 19, 1890 in Leuben , Meißen district , † December 1, 1957 in Bremen ) was cathedral cantor and leading church musician . He lived and worked in Bremen from 1930 until his death.

biography

Training and first tasks

Liesche was the son of a restaurateur and farmer. He attended a community school and a Saxon teachers' college and then actually wanted to study German . Even in his youth he was an excellent piano and organ player. That is why he studied music at the Leipzig Conservatory : organ with Karl Straube , piano with Joseph Pembaur , composition with Max Reger .

In early 1918 he became organist at the St. Nicolai Church in Flensburg , where he also led choirs. He developed an extensive activity and in 1929 became regional church music director of the Evangelical Lutheran regional church Schleswig-Holstein . In the meantime he was also active in the St. Thomas Choir and in the Conservatory in Leipzig.

In Bremen

In 1929 Liesche played organ works by Bach and Reger in Bremen. In 1930 he became director of the Bremen cathedral choir and organist of the cathedral community . His main focus in artistic work was on the composers Bach and Brahms . The Bremen Bach Festivals of 1931, 1939 and 1951 in Bremen were designed by him. But he also advocated contemporary church music such as by Hans Chemin-Petit , Johann Nepomuk David , Hugo Distler , Karl Gerstberger, Heinrich Kaminski , Frank Martin , Karl Marx , Hans Friedrich Micheelsen , Albert Moeschinger , Rudolf von Oertzen, Ernst Pepping , Günter Raphael , Kurt Thomas , Fritz Werner or Erwin Zillinger .

Since 1933 Liesche was regional church music warden. He was often on concert tours with the cathedral choir. Under him, the cathedral choir began its first foreign tour to Copenhagen in 1934 , where it was celebrated as a choir that "stands on the same level as the best choirs in the world," according to the Danish press. He organized music evenings and motets and in 1934 led a Bach festival of the New Bach Society . Since 1934, the song Sundays he introduced were regularly held on Thursdays.

Liesche refused to join the NSDAP despite pressure from regional bishop Heinz Weidemann . On the other hand, he and the Bremen Cathedral Choir had to play for events of the Kampfbund for German Culture in 1933 and regularly at the instigation of the cathedral preacher Weidemann on anniversaries such as Hitler's seizure of power and on his birthday. He also played "Nordic Concerts" and the world premiere of the oratorio "Saat und Harvest" by Kurt Thomas . He and the choir were used to look after the troops during the Second World War on tours to France, Belgium and the Netherlands. At the request of Pastor Gustav Greiffenhagen from the Confessing Church , he and the choir performed at concerts in Rügenwalde , Stargard , Kolberg , Belgard , Stolp and Lauenburg with songs like u. a. Grant us peace graciously , I want me to be home and Bach's motet Sing a new song to the Lord . Kapellmeister Frithjof Haas , a “half-Jew”, wrote to Liesch in 1945: “In addition, you did not shy away from letting me use the cathedral organ completely for study. You and I know what risk you were taking ”. “You have consciously expressed that you did not want to subscribe to the inhumane principles of the past Hitler regime in any way. It urges me to express this clearly once again, because I regretfully had to hear that your clear attitude towards National Socialism has been questioned. I find this all the more incomprehensible as you, apart from your generally friendly attitude to me also in short discussions about politics ... expressed your clear attitude as well ...

After the war

After the war, Liesche's first motets took place in the north aisle of the cathedral in June 1945 . About 5000 people took part, standing and sitting on and among rubble. In 1945/46 he was forced to work as an "organ builder" in order to reinstall the organ pipes that he had removed before the destruction. During this time he was chairman of the state association of Bremen sound artists and music teachers. In July 1947, after lengthy negotiations with representatives of the Allied military government, Liesche was involved in founding the Bremen Choral Society . At the music school founded in Bremen in 1948, he organized the church music department. He was appointed professor in 1949. A Bach Festival took place in 1947, a Bach Week in 1950 and the St. Matthew Passion in the cathedral in 1953 .

In addition to his work at the cathedral, he also directed the teachers' choir; in 1952 he transformed it into a mixed choir. During his illness and after his death, cathedral organist Wilhelm Evers continued his work until Hans Heintze took over as cathedral organist in 1958.

Works

  • Bach Festival in Bremen from 4th to 11th September 1947. Program booklet. (Head: Richard Liesche), Lloyd-Druckerei W. Bauer, Bremen 1947
  • Gustav Knak (collaboration): Choral book for the standard hymn book of the Evangelical Lutheran regional churches in Schleswig-Holstein-Lauenburg, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Lübeck, Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Eutin ; Heliand-Verlag, Bordesholm 1930

Honors

  • In 1949 Liesche was appointed professor by the Bremen Senate.
  • In Bremen- Kattenesch , Richard-Liesche-Strasse was named after him.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Götz Ruempler: The history of the Bremen cathedral choir . Ed .: St. Petri Cathedral Bremen
  2. ↑ From: The history of the Bremen Cathedral Choir .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Liesche, Richard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German cathedral cantor and church musician
DATE OF BIRTH February 19, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Leuben , Meißen district
DATE OF DEATH December 1, 1957
Place of death Bremen