Georg Grosch (composer)

Georg Oskar August Grosch (born June 10, 1895 in Graefenthal ; † February 25, 1987 in Jena ) was a Thuringian music educator and composer.

Life and work

Life dates

Georg Grosch was born in Gräfenthal / Thuringia in 1895. His father was a watchmaker. The parents, Karl and Lina Grosch, ran a shop for watches and gold goods in Graefenthal. You were killed in a robbery in 1928. (He processed this experience in the composition A tragic symphony, orchestral work, op. 10 ). His siblings, Helene Grosch (* 1884) and Rudolf Grosch (* 1889), died at a young age. Grosch's first marriage (1923) to Johanna Grosch, b. Beauty and second marriage (1941) with Margarete Grosch, b. Beauty married. (On the occasion of his first marriage, he wrote the works Hymnus an die Liebe, for 4 solo voices and piano, op.4a and Where you are going, I want to go there too, for 3 female voices and organ, op.4b ). The daughters Eva Janka, geb. Grosch (* 1923) and Jutta Lohs, b. Grosch (* 1926), the grandson of Matthias Loh (* 1956) and his descendants. Grosch died in 1987 at the age of 91 in Jena. A street in the Jena district of Göschwitz has been named after him since 1991 .

Educational path

Grosch attended the community school in Graefenthal and the grammar school in Hildburghausen . From the age of 9 he received piano lessons and learned to play the cello himself. Even as a high school student he led a singing wreath, performed as an instrumental soloist and began to compose ( string quartet, op.2 and sonata for violoncello and piano, op.3 ). As a result, Max Reger , the court conductor of the Duke of Saxony-Meiningen and professor at the Royal Conservatory in Leipzig, became aware of him in Hildburghausen and gave him musical support.

When Grosch began studying classical philology in Leipzig after graduating from high school, Max Reger also enabled him to study music (music theory, cello, singing). As a student he was also the singer and vice conductor of the Leipzig University Choir St. Pauli, so he became acquainted with the then Gewandhaus Kapellmeister Arthur Nikisch , who wanted to promote his musical talent. This career was interrupted in 1915 when he was called up for military service. Even during the war he found opportunities to be musically active. After being wounded and imprisoned, he returned home in 1919, continued his studies in classical philology in Jena and passed the state examination for teaching at secondary schools in 1922. After a year of legal traineeship in Meiningen , where he taught ancient languages, he came back to Jena. Jena was his place of activity until the end of his life. He was appointed to the teaching staff here in 1928 and received his doctorate in 1955 at the Pedagogical Faculty of the Friedrich Schiller University on the subject of maintaining instrumental music at the secondary schools in Saxony and Thuringia from 1500 to 1650 as a Dr. paed. In 1958 he was appointed professor.

High school teacher and leader of a school orchestra

Grosch initially taught at the grammar school and at the German advanced school in Jena. During this time his trio for violin, violoncello and piano, op.6 , was created, which was performed in a summer concert of the Jena Pauliner with his participation (cello). From 1926 to 1953 he worked at the upper secondary school (with the German advanced school), the later Adolf-Reichwein-Oberschule, today's Adolf-Reichwein-Gymnasium as a teacher for ancient languages ​​and music. He soon intensified the musical education of the students and, in addition to a school choir, founded a student orchestra with a symphonic line-up in 1926. The instrumental training of the students was also largely in his hands. He developed the playing technique of the instruments autodidactically and wrote instrument schools. The ensembles (choir and orchestra) contributed to the high reputation of the school and played an outstanding role in numerous events, e.g. B. at the celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the school in 1932. One of the first compositions that Grosch rehearsed with choir and orchestra in 1930 was The 13th Psalm . During the time of National Socialism and especially during the Second World War , the choir and orchestra work had to be cut back despite great efforts. His orchestral suite in the old style, op.20, was performed at this time .

After the Second World War, Grosch successfully campaigned for the repair of the instruments and the resumption of choir and orchestral work at the Jena Adolf Reichwein School. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the student orchestra in 1951, he organized a student concert with choir and orchestra, at which he performed the symphony in the style of Joseph Haydn, op. 24 , which was dedicated to the occasion . The song Mensch zu Mensch (Text: G. Engelke), op. 23b, sung in 1950 and the Four Thuringian Peasant Dances performed in 1953 were also written for the orchestra of the school. In its 27-year history, the student orchestra had over 300 students, around 10% of whom chose music as their profession. He presented his notes on the student orchestra as a manuscript after completing his school service in 1955. The manuscript was edited by the Jena musician Karl Müller Schmied in 2009 and published in small numbers.

Conductor of a Jena folk choir

For almost 30 years - from the beginning of 1924 to the end of 1953 - Grosch was also the conductor of the Jenaer Liederkranz, a folk choir founded in 1885. He worked tirelessly to shape the voices, to educate the singers musically, to give soloists and small choir formations special training, to win over and over again young singers and thus achieved that the song wreath achieved a high quality and demanding for a folk choir Could design programs. This also included the performance of choral songs composed by him ( singer's march ; soldiers' morning song , text: Max von Schenkendorf ; Wandrer's night song, text: JW von Goethe, op.7b and anvil or hammer, text: JW von Goethe, op.23a ). At the gala concert on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the choir in 1935, the Overture in B flat major, op.8 and the world premiere of his festival music for large orchestra with final choir , op.14 , played by the Jena Municipal Symphony Orchestra, played in the Jena Volkshaus . At the performance of his suite for violoncello and piano, op. 18, in a concert by the Jenaer Liederkranz - Jenaer Liedertafel choir community created during the war, he himself sat at the piano. The Jenaer Liederkranz, which still exists today, experienced its heyday under Grosch and maintains the memory of its longstanding meritorious choir director.

Lecturer and Institute Director at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena

From 1938 to 1944 Grosch worked part-time as a lecturer at the "Franz Liszt" University of Music in Weimar, specializing in teaching methodology. In 1953 he followed the call to the Institute for Music Education at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena as a lecturer for instrument studies, music theory and school music education, after having previously had a teaching position (training on the instruments clarinet, French horn, cello, harpsichord and bassoon, as well as harmony, instrument studies and ear training). From 1957 to 1962 he was director of the Institute for Music Education. He was appointed professor in 1958 - the year of the university's 400th anniversary.

Performance of his compositions in Thuringia

In 1938, 1955 and 1975, the Jena Symphony Orchestra (now the Jena Philharmonic ) performed the Variations and Fugue on its own theme, op. 16 and 1938, and in 1958 the string quartet in C minor, op.13 . At the end of the 1930s, his Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in A minor, Op. 15, was played with the violinist Hugo Kolberg on a tour of the Rhineland. Georg Grosch dedicated the cantata 'Be aware', op.25, to the Jena University on the occasion of its jubilee in 1958 , which was performed to great acclaim in the Jena Volkshaus with a symphony orchestra and several choirs. Repeated performances took place in Erfurt in 1961 and in Jena in 1962 and 1973. In 1958 the symphonic piece in B flat major was performed by the Max Reimann Ensemble in the auditorium of the university and the suite for violoncello and piano, op.18, was repeated again in the podium of young artists . In 1962 the double concerto for violin, violoncello and orchestra, op. 28 , was premiered in Rudolstadt , and in 1962 it was played in Gotha . In June 1962 the Jena Symphony Orchestra intoned the Symphony in A minor, Op. 30 with the final chorus on Fichte's 'You should believe in Germany's future' , which Grosch dedicated to Fichte's memory on the occasion of his 200th birthday, as part of the city festival . Here it was shown once again how closely Grosch was connected to the city of Jena in his compositional work.

Working after retirement

After 1962 Grosch still gave lectures at the university and in the Kulturbund Jena. He was a music reviewer for the local daily press. Then he devoted himself to chronologies and records on various topics (creative power of aged musicians, Max Reger, cause of death of composers who died early, women in the lives of great composers ...), which he handed over in manuscript form to the Central Institute for Music Research in Berlin. He completed his biography manuscript memoirs of a German school music educator around 1975. It is in the Jena city archive.

student

Well-known personalities emerged from Georg Grosch's longstanding work in the musical education of schoolchildren and students. Representative for this are:

• the musicians, lecturers, music educators, musicians, music editors and publishers
  • Gert Frischmuth , Erfurt / Weimar
  • Rosemarie Frischmuth, Erfurt / Weimar
  • Hans Jörg Görner, Leinefelde
  • Wolfgang Hütter, Zwickau
  • Eberhard Möller, Zwickau
  • Siegfried Müller, Weimar
  • Karl Müller Schmied, Jena
  • Karl Rarichs, Frankfurt / Main
  • Wolfgang Reich, Dresden
  • Bruno Salomon, Jena
  • Klaus Schneider , Berlin
  • Helmut Wald, Erfurt
  • Gerhard Warnke, Jena
• the gynecologist and violin maker Klaus Osse, Jena
• the dentist Georg Spillner, Kahla and Munich, who became known as the musical clown NUK
• the psychologist Friedrich Winnefeld, Jena

Compositions

Orchestral works, concerts, choral works with orchestra

• Comedy Overture, op.8, 1927
• Romantic Suite (3 movements), op.9, 1927
• A tragic symphony, op.10, 1930
• Variations and fugue on a theme of their own, op.16, 1937
• Orchestra suite in the old style (Intrade - Minuet - Sarabande - Bourrée), op.20, 1941
• Symphony in G major in the style of Joseph Haydn (Andante / Allegro - Allegretto), op. 24, 1951
• Symphonic piece No. 6 in B flat major
• Four symphonic dances
• Four Thuringian peasant dances for string orchestra and flute
• Concerto for violin and orchestra in A minor, op.15, 1935
• Concerto for piano and orchestra in E major, op.19, 1941
• Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra, op.27
• Double concerto for violin, violoncello and orchestra, op.28
• Concerto for violoncello and orchestra, op.29
• The 13th Psalm for choir, baritone solo and orchestra
• Cantata 'Weihe der Nacht' (Text: Friedrich Hebbel), for solo voices, mixed choir and orchestra, op.12, 1932
• Festive music (text: Martin Luther), for large orchestra and choir, op. 14, 1935
• Warning, for mixed choir and orchestra, op.17
• Cantata 'Be aware' (text: Johannes R. Becher), for mixed choir and orchestra, op.25, 1952
• Symphony in A minor with closing words by JG Fichte, op.30

Chamber music

• Old Style Sonata for Violin and Harpsichord (or Piano), Op. 1, 1914
• String Quartet No. 1 in D major, op.2
• Sonata for violoncello (or violin) and piano, op.3
• Trio in D major for violin, violoncello and piano, op.6
• String Quartet in C minor, op.13, 1933
• Suite for violoncello and piano, op.18, 1938
• Suite for piano, op. 21, 1942
• 1st and 2nd suite for folk instruments
• 1st and 2nd suite in classic style
• Sextet for clarinet, horn, 2 violins, viola and violoncello, op. 22, 1949

Vocal works, choral music

• Hymn to Love, for 4 solo voices and piano, op.4a, 1923
• Wherever you go, I want to go too, for 3 female voices and organ, op.4b, 1923
• Soldiers morning song 'Rise from the earth', (Text: Max von Schenkendorf), for choir
• Wanderer's night song, Der du von den Himmeln ', (Text: JW von Goethe), for 4-part choir, op.7b, 1927
• Singers' march 'Auf ihr Sänger', for choir
• Anvil or hammer (text: JW von Goethe,) for mixed choir, op.23a, 1949
• Mensch zu Mensch (Text: Gerrit Engelke), for mixed choir, op.23b, 1950

literature

• Georg Grosch: Memoirs of a German school music teacher (manuscript). Jena approx. 1975. Jena City Archives.
• Georg Grosch: History of the student orchestra of the Oberrealschule zu Jena (now: Adolf Reichwein Oberschule) (1926 to 1953). Jena 1955. Edited and edited by Karl Müller Schmied. Jena 2009.
• Choir chronicle of the Jena song wreath 1885 e. V .; Archives of the choir.
• Ingrid Jacob: 125 years Jenaer Liederkranz 1885 - 2010. quartus-Verlag, Bucha bei Jena 2010, ISBN 978-3-936455-79-3 .
• Matthias Lohs: List of works by Prof. Dr. Georg Grosch (June 10, 1895 - February 25, 1987). (Manuscript). Göppingen 2012.

Web links

• Gräfenthal awaits the Jenaer Liederkranz , accessed in February 2013.
• Article about Georg Grosch, accessed February 2013.