Erich Schönfelder (folk musician)

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Erich Schönfelder (born February 1, 1904 in Schneeberg (Ore Mountains) ; † after 1974) was a German folk musician, founder and leader of the home group Schneeberger Maad and poet of several home songs of the Saxon Ore Mountains .

Live and act

He was the oldest of nine children of the quarry worker Emil Schönfelder and grew up in poor conditions in the mountain town of Schneeberg in the Ore Mountains. Even as a schoolboy he had to contribute to his family's livelihood. When he was eleven years old, his father died in the First World War. Due to a lack of financial resources, he was unable to begin vocational training, but went to Magdeburg as an agricultural laborer in 1918 , where he worked until 1921. After returning to Schneeberg, he worked as a foreman at the August Wellner Sons company in Aue. During this time he joined the SPD. During the Great Depression , he was dismissed in 1931 and Erich Schönfelder became unemployed. It was not until 1938 that he managed to get a job as a transport worker at the Schlema paper mill . a year later he was drafted into the German armed forces. It was not until 1949 that he was released from captivity. He got a job at SDAG Wismut , where he worked for the company fire brigade until 1954 and participated in numerous missions. He then got a job in the Schneeberg plant of the VEB Möbelkombinat Hellerau, where he worked in industrial security until old age.

Even as a school child, Erich Schönfelder was noticed with his sonorous singing voice. He learned to play the zither at an early age and became a member of the Schneeberg Workers' Association.

After the Second World War, Erich Schönfelder joined the mixed folk choir in Schneeberg in 1950. In the same year he founded a folk music group with his brother Martin Schönfelder and four students from Schneeberg, from which the Schneeberger Maad emerged in 1953 , which initially remained part of the mixed folk choir, but appeared independently in 1956. At the numerous events of the group, u. a. Werner Unger as a dialect speaker. Erich Schönfelder composed some of the group's songs himself, such as the felt pond song or the wedge member .

Erich Schönfelder played over 1000 events with his folk music group.

Honors

  • Badge of Honor of the National Building Organization
  • Badge of honor of the National Front of the GDR in silver
  • Badge of honor for friends of nature and homeland in silver

literature

  • Werner Unger : Erich Schönfelder. Life picture of a deserving citizen of our city . In: Schneeberger Heimatbüchlein , No. 13, 1974, pp. 30–31.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Werner Unger: Erich Schönfelder. Life picture of a deserving citizen of our city . In: Schneeberger Heimatbüchlein , 13, 1974, p. 31.
personal data
SURNAME Schönfelder, Erich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German folk musician and local poet
DATE OF BIRTH February 1, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Schneeberg (Ore Mountains)
DATE OF DEATH after 1974