Georg Schumann (composer)

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Georg Schumann, portrait photo around 1950

Georg Alfred Schumann (born October 25, 1866 in Königstein ; † May 23, 1952 in Berlin Lichterfelde-West ) was a German composer , pianist , conductor , teacher and director of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin from 1900 to 1952 .

Life, work, honors

Memorial plaque on the house at Goethestrasse 10, in Königstein
Georg Schumann's birthplace in Königstein

Georg Schumann was born in October 1866 as the second of a total of twelve children to the town music director Clemens Schumann senior. (1839–1918) and his wife Camilla Ottilie, b. Müller, born in Königstein. He was a brother of the composer Camillo Schumann ; other siblings were Alfred Schumann (1868–1891), who had last been concertmaster with the Bremen Philharmonic , and Clemens Schumann jun. (1876–1938), from 1900 to 1936 violinist in the Dresden Staatskapelle .

While Georg Schumann's musical training in Dresden was continued by the Saxon “organ king” Carl August Fischer and the former Julius Otto student Friedrich Baumfelder , he was already performing as a soloist with Johann Nepomuk Hummel's piano concerto in A minor and awakened the with a self-composed piano sonata Attention from the composer and lecturer Carl Reinecke , who found him a free position at the Leipzig Conservatory , where he studied with him from 1882 to 1888. Encounters with Franz Liszt , Anton Rubinstein , Johannes Brahms , Arthur Nikisch , Gustav Mahler , Joseph Joachim , Carl Halir and Max Bruch gradually stimulated Schumann's artistic development.

Portrait 1890
Sing-Akademie zu Berlin with its director Georg Schumann in their house on the Festungsgraben in Berlin-Mitte, 1940

After working as a conductor and choir director of the Gesangs-Verein in Danzig (1890) and the Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra in Bremen (1896), he was elected director (1950 honorary director) of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin in 1900 . In 1907 he was appointed as a member, in 1918 as vice president and in 1934 as incumbent president of the Prussian Academy of the Arts , whose master school for composition he headed from 1913 to 1945 as the successor to Max Bruch. His students included Hans Uldall , Shukichi Mitsukuri and Pantscho Wladigerow .

From these positions Georg Schumann had a decisive influence on German and especially Berlin musical life. Together with Richard Strauss and others he founded the Cooperative of German Tonsetzer, today's GEMA , of which he became an honorary member. He was a co-founder of the Association of German Concert Choirs , campaigned in the Aid Association for German Music Care for needy artists and brought a. a. Musicians like Arnold Schönberg at the Academy of Arts.

He was the initiator of the acquisition and maintenance of the Eisenach Bach House and its design as a museum by the Neue Bachgesellschaft with the direct consent of Kaiser Wilhelm II , from whom he sought financial support for the project. Through a personal guarantee , benefit concerts - u. a. with the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in Eisenach in 1905 - and a lively collecting activity supported and promoted this project.

With the support of Sergiu Celibidache , the conductor of the Philharmonic Orchestra , and Hans Chemin-Petits , who was the director of the Berlin Philharmonic Choir , he worked to rebuild musical life in Berlin after 1945.

Schumann is to be assigned to the outgoing late romanticism and neo-romanticism. Johannes Brahms and Robert Schumann , to whom he was not related, can be named as role models .

He wrote over 100 compositions, mainly choral works, e.g. B. Oratorios , chamber music and orchestral works, including an award-winning symphony (B minor symphony) , the choral work Amor und Psyche op. 3 (1888), which was only released on November 4, 2003 in the Philharmonie Berlin after more than 50 years by the Philharmonic Choir Berlin rerun oratorio Ruth op.50 (1908), Variations and Gigue on a theme by Handel op.72 (orchestral variation 1925), a humoresque in variation form, yesterday evening was cousin Michel there op.74 (orchestral humoresque 1925) as well most of the arrangements for the so-called Kaiserliederbuch , “published at the instigation of Sr. Mj. d. German Emperor Wilhelm II. ”, An extremely extensive collection of over 600 folk songs in older and newer movements.

Georg Schumann received numerous offices, awards and honors. In addition to those already mentioned, he was appointed royal professor at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Berlin in 1901 , in 1909 master of the Zelter'schen Liedertafel and in 1916 an honorary doctorate from the Philosophical Faculty of the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Berlin . He received the Beethoven Prize in 1933, the Goethe Medal for Art and Science in 1934, honorary membership of the Beethoven House in Bonn in 1935 and the title of Honorary Director of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin in 1950.

For his life's work, Georg Schumann was managed by Federal President Dr. Theodor Heuss was the first German to be honored with the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1951 .

Honor grave, Thuner Platz 2-4, in Berlin-Lichterfelde

His house in the Berlin villa district of Lichterfelde-West is run by the Georg Schumann Society as a museum and event house (Georg Schumann House). His grave in the Parkfriedhof Berlin-Lichterfelde is the grave of honor of the State of Berlin .

Catalog raisonné

bibliography

  • Herbert Biehle: Georg Schumann. A biography . E. Bisping, Münster 1925 (80 p. With a frontispiece, a representation of Georg Schumann's marble bust, a fold-out sheet of music and a catalog raisonné).
  • Gottfried Eberle: 200 years of Sing-Akademie zu Berlin . Nicolai, Berlin 1991.
  • Uta Lehnert: A voice for the dead. The park cemetery Lichterfelde . Edition Hentrich, Berlin 1996.
  • New German biography . Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1998.
  • Bach Weeks Dill e. V. (Eds.) Luigi Cherubini & Georg Schumann , contributions to music research. Yearbook of the Bach Weeks Dill 2001, Cultur & Commerz Verlag 2001, 96 pp.

Sound carrier (selection)

  • 2015 - Georg Schumann - piano quartet and cello sonata
1st piano quartet in F minor op.29 (1901)
2. Sonata for piano and violoncello in E minor, Op. 19
Munich piano trio - Michael Arlt, violin - Gerhard Zank, cello - Donald Sulzen, piano - Dietrich Cramer, viola as guest
CPO - production with the Bavarian radio
  • 2014 - Georg Schumann -
Ballad in G minor op.65
Gabriela Moyseowicz, piano
primTon Berlin
  • 2013 - Georg Schumann - songs and piano pieces
6 songs op.56
3 songs op.15
Girl songs op.35
3 songs op.14
3 songs op.38 + piano works: Memories op.36 No. 2
In spring op.36 No. 5
How does it billow, Op. 4 No. 2
In the evening, Op. 23 No. 2
Silvia Weiss, soprano - Karola Theill, piano
CPO - production with Deutschlandradio Kultur
  • 2014 - Georg Schumann - Prize Symphony and Serenade
1 Symphony in B minor - Prize Symphony (1887)
2 Serenade op.34
Münchner Rundfunkorchester - Christoph Gedschold, conductor
CPO - production with the Bavarian radio
  • 2011 - Georg Schumann - Piano Trios No. 1 and 2 (cpo)
1. Trio No. 1 op.25 in F major (1899)
2. Trio No. 2 op. 62 in F major (1916)
Munich piano trio - Michael Arlt, violin - Gerhard Zank, cello - Donald Sulzen, piano
CPO - production with Deutschlandradio Kultur
  • 2007 - Georg Schumann - Jerusalem, you high-rise city (Guild)
3 chorale motets for polyphonic mixed choir, Op. 75
" Jerusalem, you high-rise city "
"Shouldn't I sing to my God?"
" With Fried und Freud I am going there "
5 choral motets for polyphonic mixed choir, Op. 71
"How beautiful the morning star shines for us"
"Jesus, my confidence"
"Encourage yourself, my weak spirit"
“Wake up, the voice calls us” - A celebratory song
"From the sky I come here"
The Purcell Singers, Mark Ford, Mary Nelson, soprano - Geraldine McGreevy, soprano
Guildmusic
  • Georg Schumann - Violin Sonatas
1st movement of the violin sonata in C sharp minor op.12
2nd movement of the Violin Sonata in C sharp minor op.12
2nd movement of the Violin Sonata in D minor op.55
3rd movement of the Violin Sonata in D minor op.55
Volker Burkhart, Christoph Weinhart
Jubal MusikVerlag Berlin
  • 2001 - Georg Schumann - choral works
3 motets for mixed choir op.52
3 sacred chants for mixed choir op.31
4 songs for male choir op.41
3 sacred songs for mixed choir op.51
Gesänge Job - 3 motets for mixed choir and organ op.60
3 old German songs for mixed choir op.63
The Purcell Singers, Mark Ford
ASV
  • Georg Schumann - Sacred music of the late romantic era for choir, organ and orchestra
Passacaglia and Finale on BACH for organ, op.39
Jerusalem, you high-rise city op.75,1 (historical recording)
With Fried and Freud I go to the preliminary study (1933) for op.75,3 (historical recording)
I love you dearly, O Lord , from op. 77,8
One is King , from op. 77,6
3 sacred chants for mixed choir a cappella op.31
Symphonic variations on the chorale Who only lets God rule op.24
Jörg Strodthoff, Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, Alsfeld vocal ensemble a. a.
Jubal MusikVerlag Berlin

Documents

Most of the musical estate is in the Berlin State Library and in the archive of the Academy of Arts . Letters from Georg Schumann are also in the holdings of the Leipzig music publisher CF Peters in the Leipzig State Archives .

literature

Web links

Commons : Georg Schumann  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Booklet for the CD "Georg Schumann Piano Quartet op. 29 Cello Sonata op. 19 Munich Piano Trio Dietrich Cramer" (PDF), p. 5
  2. ↑ Information on the parents in the marriage register of the registry office Dresden I (No. 818/1910) on the marriage of his brother Clemens (* 1876), scan of the original viewed on ancestry.de on February 29, 2020.
  3. ↑ Announcement of awards of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In: Federal Gazette . Vol. 3, No. 250, December 29, 1951.
personal data
SURNAME Schumann, Georg
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schumann, Georg Alfred (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German composer, pianist, conductor, teacher and director of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin (1900–1952)
DATE OF BIRTH October 25, 1866
PLACE OF BIRTH Koenigstein
DATE OF DEATH May 23, 1952
Place of death Berlin Lichterfelde-West