Brigitte Schiffer

Brigitte Schiffer (born July 14, 1909 in Berlin , † January 18, 1986 in London ) was a German composer , music ethnologist , music teacher and music critic.

Life

Brigitte Schiffer lived in different places in her childhood and youth, including Berlin, Davos and Lausanne (1914–19), Freiburg im Breisgau (1919–23), and Alexandria , Egypt (1923–29). During this time she took private piano and music theory lessons from different teachers. Returned to Berlin in 1929, she began studying at the then State University for Music and Performing Arts Berlin from 1930 (composition with Heinz Tiessen ). In addition, from 1931 she studied philosophy and musicology, among others with Curt Sachs .

From April to October 1933 Brigitte Schiffer was on a research trip to Egypt to the Siwa Oasis on behalf of the Berlin Phonogram Archive . On returning to Berlin she was not enrolled because of their Jewish origin at the university, through the use of the musicologist Arnold Schering , who as professor of music history , however, taught at the University of Berlin, she was able to enroll again.

She completed her studies at college and university in 1935 with a doctorate “The Siwa Oasis and its Music”. She then emigrated to Egypt and married the ethnomusicologist Hans Hickmann in Nicosia (Cyprus) in September 1935 .

plant

Brigitte Schiffer as a composer created various works, including a string quartet and a concerto grosso . During her time as a composition student in the 1930s, the string quartet was written in 3 movements , which could only be performed in a small group in the climate of the incipient persecution of the Jews , under the pressure of the anti-Jewish Fritz Stein , director of the university in 1934.

The string quartet was performed again on June 26, 2014 in the Konzerthaus Berlin (event series “musica reanimata”, 113th lecture concert on persecution and rediscovery ) and broadcast on August 6, 2014 on Deutschlandfunk .

Her dissertation as a music ethnologist, Die Oase Siwa and her music , was able to be published in 1936 under difficult circumstances by a publisher damaged by the National Socialists.

In Cairo , she worked as a music teacher at the State Institute of Education for Women in Fine Arts from 1937 to the early 1960s , and after some time as head of the institute's music department (interruption due to the war 1943– 45, briefly terminated 1958–59). During her time in Cairo she wrote numerous contributions for the Egyptian radio.

In 1950 she first lectured at the International Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt , she was a regular participant and reporter in the following period.

After more than 20 years in Cairo, Brigitte Schiffer settled in London in the early 1960s. From there she reported as a music critic on music events, especially in British, German and Swiss daily newspapers and music magazines, including Melos .

Long-standing correspondence connects her with personalities such as Hans Heinz Stuckenschmidt , Carla Henius , Wladimir Vogel and Hermann Scherchen .

supporting documents

1. ↑ Brigitte Schiffer (1909-1986). musica reanimata, accessed August 7, 2014 . 
2. ↑ Sybill Mahlke: How I love you, my friends. Der Tagesspiegel, June 27, 2014, accessed on August 7, 2014 . 
3. ↑ Brigitte Schiffer: The Siwa Oasis and its music . Inaugural dissertation, Berlin 1936, Verlag W. Postberg, Bottrop
4. ↑ history. (No longer available online.) Postberg Satz KG, archived from the original on August 13, 2014 ; Retrieved on August 13, 2014 : "Under the pressure of the Hitler regime, Wilhelm Postberg loses his independence and has to sell and" lease "his publishing house to UERA GmbH in Berlin." Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ↑ Program: Preview and Review. deutschlandfunk, accessed on August 7, 2014 : "Long-standing correspondence connects you with personalities such as Hans Heinz Stuckenschmidt, Carla Henius, Wladimir Vogel or Hermann Scherchen."