Erich Schneider (church musician)

The Dresden Frauenkirche - Erich Schneider's place of work until 1945

Erich Schneider (born September 25, 1892 in Rochwitz , † January 24, 1979 in Dresden ) was a German church musician , conductor and choir director. He became known as the last cathedral cantor of the Dresden Frauenkirche before its destruction in 1945.

Life

Youth and education

Schneider came from a musical family, his father was a teacher. In Dresden he attended the Freiherrlich von Fletcher seminar for teachers and studied music at the Dresden Conservatory . His trainers included a. Kurt Striegler , Paul Juon and Paul Büttner . In 1919 he founded the first student orchestra at the Dresden University of Technology .

Work as Kapellmeister and director of the Mozart Society

In 1921 Erich Schneider succeeded Hofkapellmeister Hagen as conductor and artistic director of the Mozart Society . This was considered one of the most important German amateur orchestras and significantly shaped the musical environment of the city. In addition to regular symphony concerts, the orchestra took part in numerous performances by choirs and gave concerts for non-profit organizations such as the “Volkswohl”. After Schneider took over the position as cantor of the Frauenkirche, from 1926 the Mozart Association also regularly participated in larger church music events, mainly in the Frauenkirche. From 1928 he was responsible for organizing the Zwinger Serenades he initiated together with the Mozart researcher Ernst Lewicki , based on the Salzburg model. These and the "ballet serenades" performed together with the State Opera Ballet from 1930 gained international recognition. For its high artistic level, the orchestra directed by Schneider received first prize from the Reichsmusikkammer in 1937 as the best German amateur orchestra .

From 1923 Erich Schneider also worked as Kapellmeister of the private Albert Theater in Dresden. Here he conducted in 1929 a. a. the Dresden premiere of the Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill . He also composed a “Heroes' Mass of the German Soul” in memory of the gruesome events of the First World War .

Acting as cathedral cantor of the Frauenkirche

In 1925 he was appointed cantor of the Dresden Frauenkirche. In addition, as prefect of the choir, he was involved in the reorganization of the women's church choir. Together with the organists Alfred Hottinger and Hanns Ander-Donath , Schneider shaped the life of church music in Dresden until the church was destroyed in 1945. Under his direction, the Great Mass in C minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , but also works by Johann Sebastian Bach , Joseph Haydn , Anton Bruckner and other well-known composers were performed every year . For these concerts he succeeded in engaging well-known soloists, including a. the chamber singer Liesel von Schuch . However, Schneider also promoted the music of modern artists. In 1930, for example, he had Bach's organ works with vocal music by the contemporary composer Heinrich Kaminski compiled into a program.

Due to the Second World War , there were also considerable restrictions in musical life. Despite all the difficulties, Ernst Schneider succeeded in initially continuing his orchestral work to a limited extent. On December 17, 1944, the last concert of the Mozart Association took place under his direction together with the choir of the Frauenkirche. On the evening of February 13, 1945, Schneider rehearsed a performance of Mozart's great Mass in C minor in the community hall, until the air alarm announced the bombing of the city , which also destroyed Schneider's place of work. He and his family managed to escape from the burning city center. In the last days of the war he was called up for military service and was taken prisoner by the French.

Activity after 1945

Schneider returned to Dresden in the spring of 1946 and was able to take over the artistic direction of the Mozart Society again. After its forced dissolution, the musicians continued to work as a private amateur music association under the name of Dresden Mozart Orchestra . Since the dissolution of the club structure resulted in great financial difficulties, the orchestra had to cut back its concert activities significantly. Occasionally until 1960 there were still a few serenades in Pillnitz and in the rebuilt Zwinger and in the stone hall of the German Hygiene Museum . From 1951 to 1961 Schneider also worked as a teacher for orchestral music at the Carl Maria von Weber Academy of Music in Dresden .

In addition to his work as an orchestra conductor, Erich Schneider was artistic director of several choir associations, including a. the Dresdner Liedertafel , the Orpheus men's choir , and the Römhildchor . From 1946 onwards, he worked as a cantor at the Martin Luther Church in Dresden Neustadt, where he had major church music performed in cooperation between the Mozart Orchestra and the choirs mentioned. Supraregional attention a. the great C minor Mass, which was performed several times between 1959 and 1964, and the Requiem by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the Requiem by Antonín Dvořák and the first performance of Frank Martin's oratorio “Golgatha” in the GDR. Schneider often engaged well-known musical personalities as vocal soloists, such as B. Ruth Keplinger , Sonja Schöner or Peter Schreier . With a performance of Mozart's C minor Mass on April 12, 1964 and his retirement, Erich Schneider's activity as a church musician ended.

In spite of his old age, however, he continued to strive for intensive rehearsal work by the choirs he led and prepared some serenades in the Pillnitz palace gardens. On November 14, 1971, on the occasion of his 50th anniversary as artistic director of the Mozart Orchestra, a more extensive concert took place in the stone hall of the Hygiene Museum. Schneider last appeared as a conductor in September 1976 and then withdrew into private life for health reasons. He died three years later in his hometown of Dresden. His grave is in the Johannisfriedhof in Dresden's Tolkewitz district .

literature

• Matthias Herrmann : Maintaining music at the Frauenkirche between 1897 and 1945: on the work of Alfred Hottinger, Hanns Ander-Donath and Erich Schneider , in: The Dresden Church Music in the 19th and 20th Centuries, Series Music in Dresden, Volume 3, Laaber- Verlag, 1998, ISBN 978-3-89007-331-6 , pp. 311-320.
• Martin Schneider: Erich Schneider (1892–1979) - the last cantor of the Frauenkirche in Dresden , in: The Dresden Frauenkirche. Yearbook on its history and on its archaeological reconstruction, yearbook 1996, vol. 2, Verlag Hermann Böhlaus Nachhaben, Weimar, 1996, pp. 247-252.

Web links

• History of the Mozart Association with information on the work of Erich Schneider.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} W. Mücket: Greetings to Erich Schneider, former choirmaster in Dresden , in: Dresdner Monatsblätter, Issue May 1965 Verlag Klaus Edgar Herfurth, Frankfurt / Main, Supplement p 1-5.
2. ↑ Birgit Matuschewski (Ed.): Music and instruments , in: Chronicle one thousand years of inventiveness in Saxony, Volume 4, MPR Verlag, 2006, ISBN 978-3-93557-903-2 , p. 144
3. ^ Ingrid Hermann: Heinrich Kaminski. Approaches to his vocal work , in: Hefte der Heinrich-Kaminski-Gesellschaft, No. IV, Waldshut-Tiengen, 2003.
4. ↑ Klaus Günzel: The stone bell , in: Die Zeit , April 23, 1998.