Bruno Vondenhoff

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Bruno Vondenhoff (born May 16, 1902 in Cologne ; † July 7, 1982 in Frankfurt am Main ) was a German conductor .

Life

Bruno Vondenhoff studied musicology in Cologne and Bonn from 1919 to 1922 . At the age of twenty he took up his first position as Kapellmeister at the Landestheater Coburg . In 1923 he moved to the municipal theater in Münster in the same position . In 1925 he went to the Danzig City Theater as the first conductor . While he was musical director at the Reussian Theater in Gera from 1928 to 1931 , he was committed to contemporary music there (including premieres by Paul Hindemith , Rudolf Wagner-Régeny and Alban Berg .)

In 1931 he became the opera director in Königsberg and at the same time led a conducting class at the local conservatory . Because of his commitment to Jewish and “cultural Bolshevik” composers, he was dismissed without notice in March 1933. 1933–1937 he was general music director in Halle (Saale) and musical chief conductor of the symphony concerts. Here, too, he was dismissed without notice because of his marriage to a “ half-Jewish woman ”, the actress Eleonore Murhammer (1900–1994), whom he married in 1927 in Vienna. During the war years he continued to work as general music director in Freiburg im Breisgau until 1945 .

After the end of the war, the city of Frankfurt am Main appointed him artistic director and general music director. Here he tirelessly organized the rebuilding of urban musical life in the ruins of the city ​​that was destroyed by the Second World War, on all levels. In addition to his directorship at the entire municipal theaters , he also directed the Frankfurt Opera House and Museum Orchestra and the Cäcilien-Verein until 1952 . During his time in Frankfurt he conducted numerous German premieres, such as the Violin Concerto by Alban Berg , Golgotha by Frank Martin and Four Temperaments by Paul Hindemith .

From 1955 to 1967 Bruno Vondenhoff was a professor at the opera school of the State University of Music in Frankfurt, which was also to be rebuilt and expanded . In addition, he continued to work as a guest conductor in Germany, Spain and Mexico.

After the end of his teaching activity, he devoted himself to translations of operas into German and musicological secondary literature from English and Italian for the Ricordi and Suhrkamp publishers . The Gustav Mahler documentation that has been compiled with his wife Eleonore over many years and that was scientifically compiled from their private Mahler collection on behalf of the Austrian National Library in Vienna is of particular importance .

Bruno Vondenhoff died on July 7, 1982 as a result of an accident.

Awards

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ gustav-mahler.org: The golden Mahler Medal (accessed on November 2, 2014)

Fonts

  • Gustav Mahler Documentation - Eleonore Vondenhoff Collection. Materials on life and work . Hans Schneider, Tutzing 1978, DNB 840832036
  • Supplementary volume to the Gustav Mahler documentation, Eleonore Vondenhoff collection. Materials on life and work . Hans Schneider, Tutzing 1983, ISBN 3-7952-0397-X .
  • Second supplementary volume to the Gustav Mahler documentation, Eleonore Vondenhoff collection. Materials on life and work . Hans Schneider, Tutzing 1997, ISBN 3-7952-0908-0 .
  • Bruno Vondenhoff, Eleonore Vondenhoff, Renate Grasberger (Ed.), Helmut Jurgens (Ill.): Hans Pfitzner - Sayings, Conversations, Memories . Hans Schneider, Tutzing 1997, ISBN 3-7952-0901-3 .

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Vondenhoff, Bruno
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German conductor
DATE OF BIRTH May 16, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Cologne
DATE OF DEATH July 7, 1982
Place of death Frankfurt am Main