Günther Marks

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Günther Marks (born November 28, 1897 in Gollnow ( Pomerania ), † March 4, 1978 in Dahme / Mark ) was a German church musician , cantor , pedagogue , organist and composer .

Life

Günther Marks at the age of 80
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Childhood and youth

Günther Marks grew up in a family home where house music was part of family life. At the age of four he received violin lessons from his grandfather.

His parents denied him his wish to study music . Instead, he should take up the teaching profession. He received his first training at the teachers' seminar in Drossen , where he made his debut as a conductor with the “Children's Symphony” by Leopold Mozart . During this time he turned to his later main instruments piano and organ .

His training, which was interrupted by his participation in the First World War, he finished in 1920 with the teaching examination . During this time, in memory of his 18-year-old brother Erich, who died on the first day of the war, he wrote a requiem with choir and large orchestra, which was performed several times in Leipzig and Berlin . The complete score was lost due to the Second World War . After finding a piano reduction, however, Marks designed a shorter version for simple church music conditions, the cantata “On the nothingness of man and the grace of God”.

Place of work Wriezen and World War II

He got his first job as a teacher in Wriezen im Oderbruch . He created numerous compositions for the children's choir he founded. Marks soon turned to church music and composed cantatas, motets and organ works for church services . In 1930 he was appointed to the St. Marienkirche in Wriezen, where the Wagner organ, built in 1729 and destroyed in 1945 by the war, was available to him. In 1939 he was appointed church music director because of his services to church music.

During the Second World War he was also a military officer as a reserve officer . In the fighting for Stalingrad he was taken prisoner by the Soviets and was sent to the Zaporozhye camp on the Dnieper . During this time, he set Gottfried Kinkel's evening poem "Throw off your heart, was sick" to music as a polyphonic song - a sign of a deep trust in God.

Place of activity Dahme / Mark

After his release from captivity in 1947, Marks was left with nothing. His apartment in Wriezen , and with it many of his compositions, had been destroyed in the fighting in the Oderland . President Kurt Scharf , whose company commander was Marks and Dr. Oskar Söhngen , who later became Vice President of the Church Chancellery of the Evangelical Church of the Union, supported Marks in his search for a new field of activity. This led to a friendship, the climax of which was the Marks' golden wedding anniversary in 1972 in the Dahlem village church in what was then West Berlin , which was headed by Kurt Scharf.

In 1947, Marks was appointed to the Evangelical Catechetical Seminar in Dahme / Mark as a lecturer for organ playing and musical composition . He and his wife Anneliese moved into an apartment in the Viktoriastift, where he lived until his death in 1978.

In the historically significant Dahmer St. Marienkirche from the 13th century, Marks found an organ with an eventful history as his working instrument. It was the third organ after the great fire of 1666, which had been built into the shell of the previous organ in 1906 by the organ builder Schuke from Potsdam . The Schuke organ contained 1,600 pipes , consisted of two manuals and the pedal, and had 28 registers . Marks was inspired by this organ for his compositions. In the 17 years of his lecturing at the seminary, he instructed more than 70 seminarians to play the organ on this instrument and took them to the C-exam , which many of them used as a basis for studying church music .

For organ lessons, Marks also used the Sauer organ in the 700-year-old hospital church located in the center of the historic Dahmer town center. Built by the Carmelites as part of a monastery complex, the church was rededicated in the 16th century as a hospital for poor people. After renovations in the following times, the ground floor served as a winter church from 1923 and the upper floors as a retirement home.

Soon after taking office in Dahme, Marks was given the task of replacing the old organ in the Hospital Church with a new one. The organ building company Sauer from Frankfurt (Oder) was awarded the contract and in the post-war period, which was characterized by a lack of material, made a two-manual practice organ with a pedal from “used but well-preserved parts”. Marks accompanied the organ building with technical advice. In 1950 the organ was finished. The “clear, characteristic and beautifully toned voices” of the 522 pipes, “the great combination possibilities” through 10 registers and “the amazing precision of the pneumatic action” were positively highlighted in the acceptance report.

In the Protestant parish of the city, Marks worked as organist and leader of the church choir. Annually recurring highlights of his activity as a cantor were the musical celebrations in the Dahmer main church on Good Friday and the Day of Repentance, during which he also performed his own compositions. In 1964, at the age of 67, he was retired and from then on devoted himself entirely to his compositional work.

End of life

Güther Marks in the Dahmer Schlosspark with the photographer's wife and daughter
Gravestone of Günther Marks

In a letter to Bishop Martin Kruse , he expressed his gratitude to God, who had blessed him with so much music for use in worship. “Music that does not want to behave" learned ", but tries to come close to God's word in clarity and truth. The settings remain human work. So for me, church music is not just about music, but about sermons sung, about the center of our existence under God's hand. "

His last composition was a small Advent cantata with the title “Open up and become light”, which he did not live to see the performance of. Marks died childless on March 4, 1978 and was buried in the cemetery in Dahme with great sympathy from his friends and former students.

Church music creation

Out of his extensive oeuvre of church music - so far 335 large and small compositions have been found - his oratorios for the Passion period "Eden-Gethsemane", "Lord, I am" and "I am - quo vadis homo", written in 1957, 1969 and 1972, stand out in particular out. These works made him famous in East and West Germany and were heard in the Greifswald Cathedral , Potsdam , Magdeburg , Halberstadt , Wernigerode , Rostock , Eisleben , Cologne and Duisburg and also on the radio . Marks also wrote orchestral works, for example the concerto for four French horns and string orchestra , compositions for wind instruments, especially French horn quartets, cantatas for male, mixed and children's choirs, as well as solo songs and pieces for various ensembles.

In addition, there are over 200 chorale preludes, toccatas (free, large-scale compositions), partitas (multi-themed pieces of music) and passacaglia (one-themed lecture pieces), most of which are only available in handwritten form and were also copied by his seminarians in Dahme by hand for their own use . In the chorale auditions for all times of the church year , Marks wanted to "face the need for church music in the country". Here, “auxiliary organists” and catechist organists should be enabled to accompany the service musically without much preparation . Marks mastered this difficult task for a composer , namely to write technically simple preludes with a tonally three-dimensional effect, with great empathy. This resulted in compositions for the single-manual village organ, which also contain registration suggestions for multi-manual organs to enhance the sound. This realistic approach to the musical accompaniment of the service is more relevant today than ever.

For his songs, he preferred texts by his contemporaries Jochen Klepper (1903–1942), Adolf Scheer (1897–1984), Paul Toaspern (1924–2012), Heinrich Vogel (1902–1989) and Wolfram Böhme (1937–2011) with whom he felt connected by a common pacifist and democratic and in any case by a time-critical and pioneering, progressive, sincere and truthful attitude.

Appreciation

During his lifetime he received a lot of feedback on his extensive choral and instrumental music output. Prominent church musicians paid tribute to his compositions. Oberlandeskirchenrat Oskar Söhngen , to whom Marks had dedicated his organ suite “Laudate Dominum”, described him as “the herald of the Gospel in musical tongues”. Bishop D. Kurt Scharf called him "a messenger of joy of the Gospel with its wonderful great art".

Mark's song “Help our Brothers in the World” was included in the World Council of Churches ecumenical songbook “Cantate Domino” . In relation to his own church music work, he quoted ETA Hoffmann : “A composer who wants to write a true Musica sacra wants to check very much beforehand whether the spirit of truth and piety dwells in him and whether this spirit drives him to God praise. "

Memorial events

To commemorate his 110th birthday and to honor his first creative period in Wriezen , the cantata "On the nothingness of man and the grace of God" as well as a few were performed under the direction of the cantor Christiane Moritz for the parish festival of St. Mary's Church there on July 1, 2007 of his instrumental works.

Also in Premnitz in Westhavelland and the surrounding villages Döberitz , Mögelin and Vieritz , on the occasion of this birthday anniversary in the run-up to Christmas 2007, his Advent cantata “Open up and become light” was performed by the ecumenical choir of Milow and Premnitz under the direction of the cantor Elisabeth Hendrich listed.

In another church music event in his second area of ​​activity in the Brandenburg region, Dahme, the 30th anniversary of his death was commemorated in the Passion of 2008 with the performance of a cantata with choir and organ (conducted by cantor Bernhard Barth).

The high point of church music in 2008 in memory of Günther Marks was the re-performance of his evening song "It has become so quiet" as part of the church choir of the Oderland church district on April 20 in the "Cathedral of the Oderbruch " Neuküstrinchen an der Oder in a final service with music 150 singers.

On the first Sunday in Advent 2009, on November 29, 2009, one day after his 112th birthday, a musical memorial service in honor of Günther Marks took place in Dahme / Mark with a large number of former students and Dahmer citizens. Dorothea Blache, Altfriedland , on the organ and the setup time choir, reinforced by Dahmer choirs, under the direction of Landessingwart Lothar Kirchbaum, designed the musical program with Marks compositions. As part of the memorial event, the grave stone in front of the church between an old linden tree and a freshly planted column was unveiled by Pastor Carsten Rostalsky and Ingrid Malek from Görsdorf, who were friends with the Marks couple.

Works (selection)

  • Small cantata for Advent - open up and be light! - 1972 - Text: Wolfram Böhme - Carus-Verlag
  • Small Christmas Cantata - A Child Is Born - 1963 - Merseburger-Verlag
  • Small birthday cantata - The Lord is my protection - 1962 - Hännsler-Verlag
  • 1. Passion Oratorio - Eden-Gethsemane - 1957 - Carus-Verlag - archive number: 269-865/I-II Deutschlandradio Kultur
  • 2. Passion Oratorio - Lord, is it me? - 1970 - Evangelical publishing house
  • 3. Passion Oratorio - “It's me!” Quo vadis, homo? - 1972 - Carus publishing house
  • Passion Cantata - It's Done - 1965 - Carus-Verlag
  • Cantata for Good Friday - Father, forgive them because they don't know what they are doing - 1967 - Evangelische Verlagsanstalt
  • Little Passion Cantata - Your will, Lord, be done! - 1971 - Evangelical publishing house
  • Song motet for the passion time - O sadness, o heartache - 1959 - Carus-Verlag
  • Song for the Passion Time - See God's Son there on the cross - Evangelische Verlagsanstalt
  • Small Easter Cantata - Death is swallowed up in victory - Merseburger-Verlag
  • Cantata for Thanksgiving - I want to lift you up, my God - 1954 - Merseburger-Verlag
  • Cantata on the Reformation - The Lord is my rock and my hoard - Hännsler-Verlag
  • Cantata for the Day of Repentance - Psalm 32 - Text: Heinrich Vogel - Hännsler-Verlag
  • Choral for the Day of Repentance - Day of Repentance - Hännsler-Verlag
  • Partita - Praise the Lord, oh my soul - 1973 - Carus-Verlag
  • Partita - There is joy in you - Carus-Verlag
  • Partita - Jesus, my joy - Carus-Verlag, Hännsler-Verlag
  • Choral - My most beautiful ornament - Carus-Verlag
  • Cantata - O Lord, make me an instrument of your peace - Text: Franz von Assisi - Hännsler-Verlag
  • Choral - Now sing and be happy - Carus-Verlag
  • Song - Decorate the festival with May - Carus-Verlag, Hännsler Verlag
  • Song - From the depths I call, sir - Carus-Verlag
  • Song - Praise God the Lord, all Gentiles - Carus-Verlag
  • Song - We are given into your hand - Text: Adolf Scheer - Carus-Verlag
  • Song - Now is the time - Text: Heinrich Vogel - Verlag Bärenreiter
  • Song - O God, help us bear the burden - Text: Adolf Scheer - Verlag Bärenreiter
  • Song - I don't know when I will part - Text: Heinrich Vogel - Verlag Bärenreiter
  • Song - Help our brothers in the world - Ecumenical song manual “ cantate domino ”, Evangelical publishing house
  • Song - Jauchzet, Seelen - Text: Adolf Scheer - Verlag Bärenreiter
  • Song - Give peace, Lord, give peace, you our hoard of peace - Text: Old Norwegian - Verlag Bärenreiter, Evangelische Verlagsanstalt
  • Cantata - Psalm 88 - 1956 - Text: Heinrich Vogel - Evangelische Verlagsanstalt
  • Small cantata - Hallelujah, thanks the Lord - 1962 - Text: Heinrich Vogel - from Psalm 106 - Verlag Merseburger Berlin
  • Choral - Psalm 117 New sacred choral music - 1968 - Hännsler-Verlag
  • Cantata in the evening and canon - Lord, stay with us - 1967 - Verlag Bärenreiter, Hännsler-Verlag
  • Evening song - The evening is falling down - Text: Adolf Scheer - Verlag Bärenreiter
  • Evening song - When the day is over - Verlag Bärenreiter
  • Organ music - fell on your way - Verlag Bärenreiter
  • Organ music - I call to you, Lord Jesus Christ - Verlag Bärenreiter
  • Organ music - With my God I go to rest - Verlag Bärenreiter
  • Song for marriage and confirmation - We are given into your hand - Text: Adolf Scheer - Hännsler-Verlag
  • Song for marriage and confirmation - Go according to God's will - Carus-Verlag, Hännsler-Verlag
  • Song for confirmation - confirmation song - text: Jochen Klepper - Evangelische Verlagsanstalt

References

  • Appreciation of choir director and cantor Klaus Linkenbach, Hänssler-Verlag, Neuhausen-Stuttgart 1977
  • Conversations with Dorothea Blache, cantor i. R., Altfriedland 2007
  • Conversation with Wolfram Böhme, prom. Theologian, prom. Germanist, poet, author, Leipzig 2008
  • Messages from Horst Danielzik, cantor and music school director i. R., Oberursel 2007
  • Messages from Marianne Heinke, Katechetin i. R., Nuremberg 2008
  • Messages from Heidelore Kneffel, Friends of the “Sarah Kirsch Poets”, Nordhausen 2008
  • Messages from Barbara Krüger, Cantor i. R., Lietzen 2008
  • Messages from Christiane Moritz, cantor in Wriezen 2007
  • Messages from Eckhardt Sehmsdorf, Pastor i. R., Quedlinburg 2007
  • Messages from Werner Stoll, Cantor i. R., Berlin 2008
  • Werner Glauert and Carl Bartscht: History of the main church in Dahme / Mark . 1906
  • Sauer Company, Frankfurt (Oder) Organ file Op. 1685 of January 7, 1971

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wilhelm KH Schmidt: Günther Marks - a life for church music , p. 19 (PDF file; 4.28 MB), accessed on November 18, 2014.
  2. ↑ Wilhelm KH Schmidt: Günther Marks - a life for church music , p. 20 (PDF file; 4.28 MB), accessed on November 18, 2014.
  3. ↑ Wilhelm KH Schmidt: Günther Marks - a life for church music , pp. 10–11 (PDF file; 4.28 MB), accessed on November 18, 2014.
  4. ↑ Wilhelm KH Schmidt: Günther Marks - a life for church music , p. 10 (PDF file; 4.28 MB), accessed on November 18, 2014.
personal data
SURNAME Marks, Günther
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German church musician, cantor, pedagogue, organist and composer
DATE OF BIRTH November 28, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH Gollnow , Pomerania
DATE OF DEATH March 4th 1978
Place of death Dahme / Mark