Friedrich Witt (bassist)

Friedrich Witt

Friedrich Witt (born January 31, 1930 in Bochum ; † August 29, 2015 in Berlin ) was a German double bass player . Together with Rainer Zepperitz , he led the double bass section of the Berliner Philharmoniker as principal double bass player for almost forty years .

Life

Witt studied from 1946 to 1948 at the Folkwang School in Essen . In September 1948 he became a double bass player in the Oberhausen Municipal Orchestra . From there he switched to the Münster Municipal Orchestra as solo double bass player in September 1950 . In 1952 he was principal double bass player at the opera orchestra in Frankfurt am Main for a month and in October 1952 he moved to the Duisburg Municipal Orchestra .

In January 1954 he was engaged as a double bass player with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1957 he was given the position of principal double bass player. During this time he played under the chief conductors Wilhelm Furtwängler , Herbert von Karajan and Claudio Abbado . In addition to his work as an orchestral musician, he was a member of the double bass quartet of the Berlin Philharmonic and a lecturer at the Orchestra Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic .

He retired in January 1993. He was the recipient of the Hans von Bülow Medal, which the orchestra awarded him on February 1, 1993. He maintained a podcast with stories about life and work as a musician with the Berliner Philharmoniker.

Friedrich Witt lived with his wife in Berlin and had a daughter and two sons. He died on August 29, 2015 in Berlin and is buried in the Zehlendorf forest cemetery.

literature

Berliner Philharmoniker: Variations with Orchestra - 125 Years of the Berliner Philharmoniker , Volume 2, Biographies and Concerts, Verlag Henschel, May 2007, ISBN 978-3-89487-568-8

Web links

Homepage of Friedrich Witt

Individual evidence

↑ Double bass graduates from the Orchestra Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic and their teachers . Website of the Berlin Philharmonic. Retrieved August 7, 2015.

personal data
SURNAME	Witt, Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German double bass player
DATE OF BIRTH	January 31, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH	Bochum
DATE OF DEATH	29th August 2015
Place of death	Berlin

[1] Double bass graduates from the Orchestra Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic and their teachers . Website of the Berlin Philharmonic. Retrieved August 7, 2015.