Charles Garke

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Charles Garke (born August 29, 1860 in Fort Valley , Crawford County , United States , † May 25, 1936 ) was a Saxon lieutenant general and musician , composer and concert organizer .

Life

family

Garke was born the son of a dentist and hotel owner. He had probably given up his work as a doctor because of back problems and bought a hotel with a restaurant at a railway junction. The family returned to Germany on the occasion of the American Civil War . Charles Garke grew up in Blankenburg, where he also got his first piano lessons and developed an enthusiasm for Richard Wagner's "music of the future " through a score for Richard Wagner's Lohengrin .

Probably in the 1880s he came to Dresden and married Else Hedenus (1870–1950), a daughter from the manor house , with whom he had two children. His son Curt (1891-1914) fell as a lieutenant and adjutant in the 5th Field Artillery Regiment No. 64 in early September 1914.

Military career

Garke was employed with a patent from January 24, 1883 as a second lieutenant in the 1st Field Artillery Regiment No. 12 of the Saxon Army . In the further course of his military career he rose to major on April 22, 1905 and was given command of the 8th Field Artillery Regiment No. 78 in Wurzen on September 23, 1911 , after having been entrusted with its leadership on February 1, 1909 would have. For this association Garke had also composed the "Trabmarsch". Promoted to lieutenant colonel shortly afterwards with a patent dated September 23, 1911 , Garke held this command even at the outbreak of the First World War .

In association with the 24th Division (2nd Royal Saxon) , Colonel Garke and his regiment took part in the German advance through neutral Belgium to France. In a battle on September 3, 1914 near Mourmelon-le-Grand , he was able to distinguish himself and was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Military Order of St. Henry on October 15, 1914 . On September 21, 1914 he gave up his regiment and was appointed commander of the 1st Field Artillery Brigade No. 23 , which commanded Garke during the fighting on the Aisne . On January 17, 1916 promoted to major general, he and his large formation were subordinate to the 36th Division during the Battle of the Somme from October 27 to December 9, 1916 . Here he provided the beleaguered German infantry at Pressoir - Chaulnes with helpful support by assessing the situation and was thus able to halt enemy attacks several times. For this, Garke received on May 25, 1917 the commander of the 2nd class of the Military Order of St. Henry. At the end of July 1917 he handed over the command to his successor Colonel Georg Richter and in October of the same year was appointed commander of the 19th replacement division . He led this division a. a. in the battles before Verdun , at Reims and finally in Lorraine. He was released from his post in October 1918.

After the end of the war he was retired from active service as lieutenant general.

Civil life

In November 1913, Garke had already acquired a now listed villa at Kaiserstraße 6 in the villa community of Niederlößnitz (today in Radebeul ) west of the residential city of Dresden , which he lived in with his family. As a privateer he dedicated himself to music, playing the piano on his Bechstein and Blüthner grand pianos . He took singing lessons from the singing teacher August Iffert, who lived nearby, and learned harmony and composition from Professor Schreyer in Dresden. House concerts were held in the villa, supported by the singer Trude Gabriel and the tenor Otto Wolf, as well as the cellist and concertmaster Gmeindl. Rehearsals and preparations for concerts also took place there, often so-called “small pensioners concerts”, which Garke had organized from 1923 to 1933 at numerous venues in the Lößnitz , but also in Dresden and Großenhain . "It was his aim to make music enjoyment of good quality at low prices possible in economically difficult times after the inflation of 1923."

Charles Garke's family grave in the north cemetery in Dresden

In 1936 Garke was buried in the military cemetery of the Saxon state capital, today's Nordfriedhof . In addition to numerous concert programs, his estate also includes a number of his own compositions. Some of them had his descendants perform as a house concert again in 2012 on the occasion of an event in Radebeuler houses and their owners: House Charles Garke .

literature

  • Silke Engelke: A Wagnerian in Radebeul. In: Preview & Review; Monthly magazine for Radebeul and the surrounding area. Radebeuler Monatshefte eV, May 2013, accessed on December 14, 2013 (with a photo of Garkes in later years).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Silke Engelke: From the life of a house. In: Niederlößnitz from yesteryear. Manfred Richter, archived from the original on December 2, 2016 ; accessed on June 19, 2011 (published in: Preview and Review, Issue 5/2008).
  2. ^ A b Silke Engelke: A Wagnerian in Radebeul. In: Preview & Review; Monthly magazine for Radebeul and the surrounding area. Radebeuler Monatshefte eV, May 2013, accessed on December 14, 2013 .
  3. ^ Inscription of the family grave in the north cemetery in Dresden.
  4. ^ Ranking list of the Royal Saxon Army from 1885. Dresden 1885. P. 232.
  5. ^ Military weekly paper. No. 120 of September 26, 1911. pp. 2779-2780.
  6. ^ Royal Saxon regimental marches ( memento of January 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive ).
  7. ↑ The Royal Saxon Military St. Heinrichs Order 1736–1918. An honor sheet of the Saxon Army. Wilhelm and Bertha von Baensch Foundation. Dresden 1937. pp. 255f.
  8. ^ Military weekly paper. No. 14/15 of January 25, 1916. pp. 317-318.
  9. ↑ The Royal Saxon Military St. Heinrichs Order 1736–1918. An honor sheet of the Saxon Army. Wilhelm and Bertha von Baensch Foundation. Dresden 1937. p. 88.
  10. ↑ Events: Past 2011/12/13. In: Association for Monument Preservation and New Buildings Radebeul.
personal data
SURNAME Garke, Charles
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Saxon lieutenant general as well as musician, composer and concert organizer
DATE OF BIRTH August 29, 1860
PLACE OF BIRTH Fort Valley , Crawford County , United States
DATE OF DEATH May 25, 1936