Clemens Schmalstich

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Clemens Carl Otto Schmalstich (born October 8, 1880 in Posen , † July 15, 1960 in Berlin ) was a German composer and conductor.

Life

Born on October 8, 1880 in Poznan , Clemens Carl Otto Schmalstich studied philosophy for four semesters in Bonn at the request of his father, who did not want his son to study music, after attending the Friedrich-Wilhelm grammar school in Poznan . In 1900 he became a member of the Landsmannschaft Salia Bonn . During his time in Berlin, Schmalstich became a member of the Landsmannschaft Marchia Berlin (today: Landsmannschaft Marchia Berlin zu Osnabrück ).

In 1902 the young student succeeded in coming to the Royal University of Music in Berlin. There he “learned” the piano from Professor Ernst Rudorff , but two years later he moved to Engelbert Humperdinck's master class (creator of the opera Hansel and Gretel ), who became his father's friend and gave him the position of conductor at the New Playhouse in Berlin mediated, where he conducted Humperdinck's music for Shakespeare's "Storm" in addition to other works . Even then, Schmalstich won a number of academy prizes. His friend Leo Blech appointed him to the Royal Opera in Berlin in 1910, where Schmalstich worked as Kapellmeister alongside Blech, Richard Strauss and Karl Muck until 1919 .

After a few years of freelance work with many tours abroad, he took over the artistic direction of the Electrola company in Berlin in 1927 , and in 1931 accepted an appointment as a teacher at the state academy. On May 1, 1932, he joined the NSDAP (membership number 1.106.153). He worked in Alfred Rosenberg's Kampfbund for German culture as district cultural administrator and division manager for light music and operetta and was presidential advisory board in the comradeship of German artists .

Until 1945 he was full professor, head of the conducting classes and the opera school at the Hochschule für Musik. After the end of World War II , he was on the black list of the US military government and radio in the Soviet Zone . After conducting the “Berliner Concertverein” since the 1920s and leading the NSLB orchestra since 1937 , he took over the Siemens orchestra in 1945.

As a composer, Schmalstich wrote about 120 songs with piano and orchestra, the operas "Beatrice" (1940) and "Die Hochzeitfackel" (1943), two symphonies, three concertos for piano and orchestra, a Sinfonietta, the symphonic poem "Tragic Epilogue" (on the death of Pope Pius XII.), broadcast by many stations, several orchestral suites, many piano works, the operettas “Dancer from Love” (1919) and “When the Tsarina Smiles” (1937). His youthful work Peterchens Mondfahrt has been performed repeatedly on national and international stages since 1913. His music is also used in the TV film Peterchens Mondfahrt from 1959. Schmalstich's filmmaking began with a cultural film about Goethe , and the heyday of Ufa cultural films is linked to his name. For example, he composed the music for the cultural filmsDas Wort aus Stein ” about the buildings of Adolf Hitler (1939) and “Nuremberg, the city of the Nazi party rallies” (1940). The film music he composed during the Nazi era also included Zu Straßburg auf der Schanz (1934) and Schneider Wibbel 1939. The 1945 “The Year of Elks” and “Women's Gymnastics” (“Grace and strength. Women's sport under slow motion”) were First performed during the Berlin Festival in 1957.

Among his thirteen feature films were the Waschneck staging "Abel with the harmonica", "Love people" (Renate Müller, Gustav Fröhlich, Harry Liedtke), " Regine " ( Luise Ullrich , Adolf Wohlbrück), "Music in the blood" (Sybille Schmitz) , but also the Rühmann film “ Lachende Erben ” by Max Ophüls and the Heinrich George film “ Ein Volksfeind ” directed by Hans Steinhoff in 1937.

Clemens Schmalstich was married for over fifty years to Lissi Schmalstich-Kurz, a once celebrated concert and oratorio singer and writer, who also wrote the libretto for his opera “Beatrice”. Schmalstich remained loyal to his adopted home Berlin until his death. He was buried in the forest cemetery in Zehlendorf , but his grave site has already been closed.

Orchestral works (selection)

  • Amor and Psyche op.103 (1933)
  • From a small town op.94, suite (1936)
  • Pictures from Ceylon, suite for piano (1947)
  • Nordic Suite op.112 (1947)
  • 2 serenades for string orchestra op.104 (1956)

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Berthold Ohm and Alfred Philipp (eds.): Directory of addresses of the old men of the German Landsmannschaft. Part 1. Hamburg 1932, p. 410.
  2. a b c d Fred K. Prieberg : Handbook of German Musicians 1933–1945 , CD-Rom-Lexikon, Kiel 2004, pp. 6168–6169.
  3. ^ A b Ernst Klee : The cultural lexicon for the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-10-039326-5 , p. 527.