Ernst Pepping

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Memorial plaque on the "Janusz-Korczak-Haus", Schönwalder Allee 26, in Berlin-Hakenfelde

Ernst Pepping (born September 12, 1901 in Duisburg ; † February 1, 1981 in Berlin-Spandau ) was a German composer and university professor. In addition to orchestral and chamber music, he mainly wrote sacred vocal music and organ works. He is considered one of the most important innovators in Protestant church music .

Life

After training as a teacher, Pepping studied composition from 1922 to 1926 at the Berlin University of Music with Walther Gmeindl , a student of Franz Schreker . Up to 1928 Pepping composed mainly instrumental works, for which he was awarded the composition prize of the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Foundation . In 1926 his Little Serenade for Military Orchestra and his Suite for Trumpet, Saxophone and Trombone were premiered at the Donaueschinger Musiktage . He found greater recognition with his choral suite performed in Duisburg in 1929 . In the spring of 1934 Pepping received an offer to teach harmony , score playing and counterpoint at the Berlin church music school in the Johannesstift in Berlin-Spandau, where he lived until his death. It was a job that he performed with the greatest devotion and care, which was confirmed by many of his students - such as Helmut Barbe  . Pepping also taught from 1935 to 1938 at the Berlin University of Music as a lecturer. He was exempt from active military service from the start. In the final phase of World War II, the list of God-Favored Persons signed by Hitler protected him from being deployed in the war.

Grave of Ernst Pepping in the Heerstrasse cemetery in Berlin-Westend

From 1947 to 1968 Pepping worked as a professor for church music and composition at the Berlin University of Music (since 2001 Berlin University of the Arts ). In 1968 he stopped teaching and also gave up composing.

Ernst Pepping died on February 1, 1981 at the age of 79 in Berlin-Spandau. His grave is in the state-owned cemetery Heerstraße in Berlin-Westend (grave location: 20-C-60).

meaning

Ernst Pepping is considered one of the most important Protestant church musician of the 20th century, mainly sacred works for choir wrote, including a cappella - fairs , motets and hymns (such as the Spandauer Chorbuch ). In addition, he created secular vocal music, organ as well as orchestral and chamber music works.

After a neoclassical phase in the Weimar Republic, Pepping sought a moderate tonality in his orchestral works during the Nazi era and worked with simplified structures. He had success with this form of traditional music. It saved him from composing everyday music for the Nazis. Numerous orchestral works were created, including three symphonies. These compositions, inspired by the 19th century, were well crafted and musically memorable. After the end of the Second World War, he did not change his style. Neither his 3rd symphony, which was premiered in the post-war period, nor his piano concerto composed in 1950 were able to establish themselves in concert business.

Stylistically, Pepping oriented his church music works on Protestant chorale and the vocal style of the 16th and 17th centuries and church modes, whereby, according to Alfred Baumgartner, he expanded "the tonality through layering of fourths and occasional chromaticisms".

Pepping received numerous honors for his work, such as honorary doctorates from the Free University of Berlin (1961) and the Church University of Berlin (1971). He was a member of the Berlin Academy of Arts and the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts . His works are kept in the archive of the Berlin Academy of the Arts, the estate is in the music department of the Berlin State Library .

The Postmodernism in the late 20th century also led to a reassessment of tonal music. But only a few traditionalists benefited from this. After all, the orchestral music by Furtwängler , Pepping and Hans Pfitzner was almost completely recorded on CD.

Works (selection)

  • 1926: Suite for trumpet, alto saxophone and tenor trombone
  • 1926: Small serenade for military orchestra
  • 1928: Choral suite for large and small choir , world premiere in 1929 in Duisburg
  • 1929: Prelude for orchestra, world premiere in 1930 in Frankfurt under Hermann Scherchen
  • 1930: Invention for small orchestra
  • 1933: How beautifully the Morgenstern Chorale prelude shines for organ
  • 1934: Partita for orchestra
  • 1934: Spandau choir book in 20 volumes up to 1941, two to six-part choral movements
  • 1936: I feel like going to music. Variations on a set of songs by Ludwig Senfl for string orchestra and six wind instruments
  • 1936: A child is born to us motet
  • 1937: Every thing has its time The three-part motets
  • 1938: Jesus and Nicodemus motet
  • 1938: Deutsche Messe, per coro misto a Cappela
  • 1939: 1st symphony for orchestra, premiered under Karl Böhm in Dresden
  • 1939: Large organ book Music for Organ
  • 1940: The year after poems by Josef Weinheber for four-part choir
  • 1941: Organ concert No. 1 and 2
  • 1942: Four fugues for organ
  • 1942: Der Wagen Liederkreis based on poems by Josef Weinheber for mixed a cappella choir, premiered with the Dresdner Kreuzchor under Rudolf Mauersberger
  • 1942: 2nd symphony for orchestra, premiered on February 7, 1943 in Essen under Albert Bittner . Further performance on October 31, 1943 with the Berlin Philharmonic under Wilhelm Furtwängler
  • 1943: Drei Fugen über BACH for organ
  • 1944: 3rd symphony for orchestra "Die Tageszeiten", premiered in 1948 under Robert Heger in Berlin
  • 1945: string quartet
  • 1945: Serenade for orchestra, world premiere in 1948 in Berlin under Robert Heger
  • 1946: Songbook based on poems by Paul Gerhardt for mezzo-soprano and piano
  • 1948: Missa Dona Nobis Pacem (Peace Mass) for choir
  • 1949: Today and forever song circle based on poems by Goethe for mixed a cappella choir
  • 1949: House and consolation book for voice and piano (based on poems by Brentano, Goethe and others)
  • 1950: Concerto for piano and orchestra , premiered in 1951 under Joseph Keilberth in Berlin with Erik Then-Bergh as soloist
  • 1950: Passion report by Matthew for a cappella choir
  • 1953: Partita No. 1 “Ach wie füchtig” for organ
  • 1953: Partita No. 2 “Who knows how close my end is to me” for organ
  • 1956 Te Deum for solo, choir and orchestra
  • 1959: The Christmas story of Luke for a cappella choir
  • 1969: Small organ book, 18 chorale preludes for organ

Discography (selection)

  • Today and forever. Liederkreis based on Goethe poems , Saxon Vocal Ensemble M. Jung, Tacet 2002
  • Missa Dona nobis pacem and motets , Berlin vocal ensemble Bernd Stegmann, Cantate 2005
  • Organ works with Wolfgang Stockmeier , CPO 1990
  • Organ works with George Bozeman, Pape 2005
  • Matthew's Passion Report with the Danish National Radio Choir under Stefan Parkman, Chandos 1992
  • Passion report of Matthew with the Rundfunkchor Berlin under Stefan Parkman, Coviello 2007
  • Paul Gerhardt song book with Sibylle Kamphues (vocals) and Katharina Kegler (piano), Chrismon 2007, ISBN 978-3-938704-42-4
  • Symphonies No. 1-3 and piano concerto ( Volker Banfield ) with the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie under Werner Andreas Albert , CPO 2006
  • Symphony No. 2 in F minor with the Berlin Philharmonic under Wilhelm Furtwängler (1943), Melodiya Edition 2007

literature

  • Alfred Baumgartner: Music of the 20th Century . Kiesel-Verlag, 1985, ISBN 3-7023-4005-X , entry on Ernst Pepping, p. 414f
  • Anselm Eber: Ernst Pepping: Symphonies and piano concerto . In: Supplement to CD CPO 777041-2, 2006
  • Thomas Hochradner:  Pepping, Ernst Heinrich Franz. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 20, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-428-00201-6 , p. 176 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Klaus D. Hüschen: Studies on the creation of motets by Ernst Peppings . Ed .: Klaus W. Niemöller. Bosse, 1987, ISBN 978-3-7649-2342-6 .
  • Anselm Eber: Ernst Pepping - biography of a composer in Berlin . Dohr, Cologne 2000
  • About Pepping performances by the Dresden Kreuzchor, in: Matthias Herrmann (ed.): Dresdner Kreuzchor and contemporary choral music. World premieres between Richter and Kreile, Marburg 2017, pp. 68–70, 271–274, 303, 305–307, 309–310, 313, 316–318 (Schriften des Dresdner Kreuzchor, Vol. 2). ISBN 978-3-8288-3906-9

Web links

Commons : Ernst Pepping  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Alfred Baumgartner: Music of the 20th Century , p. 414.
  2. ^ A b Anselm Eber: Ernst Pepping: Symphonies and Piano Concerto . In: Supplement CPO 2006, p. 6.
  3. ^ Ernst Klee : The culture 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. 452.
  4. ^ Anselm Eber: Ernst Pepping: Symphonies and Piano Concerto . In: Supplement CPO 2006, p. 11.
  5. ^ Hans-Jürgen Mende : Lexicon of Berlin burial places . Pharus-Plan, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-86514-206-1 . P. 492.
  6. ↑ Quotation from Baumgartner: Musik des 20. Jahrhundert , p. 414.
  7. ↑ Fred K. Prieberg : Handbook of German Musicians 1933–1945 , CD-Rom-Lexikon, Kiel 2004, p. 8833.
personal data
SURNAME Pepping, Ernst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German composer
DATE OF BIRTH September 12, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Duisburg
DATE OF DEATH 1st February 1981
Place of death Berlin