Emil Bohnke

Emil Bohnke (born October 11, 1888 in Zduńska Wola near Łódź , Poland ; † May 11, 1928 in a car accident near Pasewalk ) was a German violist , composer and conductor in Berlin .

Life

Emil Bohnke, son of the textile manufacturer Ferdinand Bohnke, married the violinist Lilli von Mendelssohn in 1919 . One of the children from this marriage was the future pianist Robert-Alexander Bohnke (1927-2004).

As a violist he played in Adolf Busch's quartet, among others . Compositionally and personally he was close to the circle around Heinz Tiessen , which also included the pianist and composer Eduard Erdmann . In his role as interpreter (in 1926 he became director of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra), Bohnke often advocated the works of these colleagues.

Honorary grave of Emil Bohnke and his wife in the Dahlem cemetery

Bohnke and his wife died in a car accident at Pasewalk when they were looking for a holiday home for their children.

Soon after his death, the composer was forgotten, which was mainly the fault of the National Socialist rulers: Since Bohnke's wife Lili was of Jewish origin and he also had close contacts with politically unpopular people (his friend Tiessen was an avowed socialist), his works became after 1933 forbidden. Despite a few attempts at revival, Bohnke's music, an undoubtedly interesting document of music from the 1920s, has never quite made its way back into the concert halls.

style

Bohnke's work is not very extensive. Since the composer himself was an excellent chamber musician, his work is primarily concentrated in this area. There are also some piano pieces, orchestral works and songs from Bohnke's pen.

Bohnke began as a late Romantic composer, for example in the successor of Max Reger , but later included more and more expressionist elements in his works. However, there is no noticeable break in his work. Bohnke's compositions are characterized by dense thematic work and bold harmony, which very often go beyond the (still existing) framework of tonality . The most important work of the composer is the Symphony op.16 , which premiered shortly after his death .

Honors

• Emil Bohnke's remains rest in the Dahlem cemetery with those of his wife. Their communal grave was dedicated as an honor grave in Berlin until 2015 . The couple were killed in the same traffic accident in 1928.

Catalog raisonné

• String Quartet in C minor op.1
• Symphonic Overture op.2
• Sonata for violin and piano op.3
• Piano pieces op.4
• Piano Trio in B flat minor, Op. 5
• Piano pieces op.6
• Sonata for violoncello and piano in F minor op.7
• Piano pieces op.8
• Theme and variations for large orchestra, op.9
• Piano sonata op.10
• Violin Concerto op.11
• 6 sketches for piano op.12
• Sonata for solo violin op.13 No. 1
• Sonata for viola solo op.13 no.2
• Sonata for violoncello solo op.13 No. 3
• Piano concerto op.14
• Ciacona for violin solo op.15 No. 2
• Symphony op.16

Web links

• Works by and about Emil Bohnke in the catalog of the German National Library
• Newspaper article about Emil Bohnke in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .
• Robert-Alexander Bohnke about his father Emil Bohnke
• Bohnke at Klassika
• Preface to a score edition of the Variations op.9
• Sheet music and audio files by Emil Bohnke in the International Music Score Library Project