Gerd Reinke

Gerd Reinke (* 1941 in Treptow an der Rega ) is a German double bass player and teacher. He has recorded a number of solo works on vinyl. On a concert tour to Israel in 1997 with the orchestra of the Deutsche Oper , Reinke signed a bill with the name " Adolf Hitler ", which caused a political stir and resulted in Reinke's dismissal from the orchestra and from his teaching post.

Life

Musical career

Reinke studied at the State University of Music in Hamburg and has lived in Berlin since 1976, where he was a member of the orchestra of the Deutsche Oper and as a chamber virtuoso lecturer at the Hanns Eisler University of Music .

He has given concerts in several European countries, America and Japan. He participated in numerous radio productions. Rudolf Kelterborn , Harald Genzmer , Bozidar Katuser and Hirotoshi Kihara, among others , have dedicated compositions to him.

Incident in Tel-Aviv

Reinke traveled to Tel Aviv with the orchestra of the Deutsche Oper in May 1997 for a two-week guest performance, where the operas Die Zauberflöte and Un ballo in maschera were to be performed on ten evenings with the ensemble of the New Israeli Opera . On the night of Friday, May 30th, Reinke drank two glasses of beer at the bar of his hotel and asked the bartender shortly before 1 a.m. to book the bill in his room. Reinke signed the receipt instead of his own name with “Adolf Hitler” and said “Adolf Hitler will pay you the bill”. The bartender immediately crossed out the name and asked Reinke to sign his real name. Reinke obeyed and said when asked that he wanted to make a joke.

During the course of Friday, Reinke played music with music students in a kibbutz. The bartender reported the nightly incident to the manager of the hotel, who informed a local radio station about it and referred Reinke from the hotel.

On Saturday evening a group of survivors of the Holocaust demonstrated against Reinke in front of the Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center , where the premiere was to take place. Some demonstrators called for the guest performance to be canceled. The orchestra members called a staff meeting on the stage half an hour before the scheduled start. At the beginning of the performance, the deputy director of the Deutsche Oper read out a written apology from the director general Götz Friedrich . In addition, the musicians made a statement through a spokesman in which they distanced themselves from Reinke as a friend and colleague and agreed to his dismissal. The conductor of the performance, Lawrence Foster , publicly expressed his confidence in the orchestra. At the direction of the management of the Deutsche Oper, Reinke flew back to Germany on Sunday morning. At the same time, his position was terminated without notice.

In German politics, the news of the incident triggered a chain of statements, for example by the Berlin Senator for Science, Research and Culture Peter Radunski , the ruling Mayor Eberhard Diepgen and Federal Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel . The German embassy in Tel Aviv spoke of an attack on German-Israeli relations and the "work of ten years". The tabloid BZ wrote “Slicha Israel” (“Forgive us, Israel”) and demanded a reaction from Germany like the kneeling in Warsaw , the Bild newspaper called him a prototype of the unteachable and “foolish ugly German”.

In an interview with the Maariw newspaper on June 3, 1997, Reinke expressed shame for his “uncontrolled” behavior, and regretted having insulted Jews in Germany and Israel and strained relations between the two countries. He also announced that he would apologize in writing to Israeli President Ezer Weizman , Radunski and the chairman of the Berlin Jewish Community, Jerzy Kanal .

After returning from Tel Aviv, Friedrich spoke of a “touchstone of how strong ultimately the morale of our house is” and described the incident as a “dark shadow” and a “scar”. The "bad, inexcusable and scandalous" incident had "meanwhile become something of a catharsis" for the opera house.

Reinke also lost his teaching post at the Berlin Conservatory. He was terminated a number of planned guest appearances with other orchestras. In anonymous letters he was advised to move from his place of residence near Berlin. The German Orchestra Association refused Reinke legal counsel and expelled him in September 1997.

Reinke was considered to be politically left-wing and had not previously spoken out anti-Semitic or xenophobic to colleagues. He himself claims that he had already drank two bottles of red wine at an out-of-town dinner the evening before the incident and that he had a film tear while enjoying the beers . The Deutsche Oper argued against it that Reinke could have had a maximum of 1.5 per thousand alcohol in his blood, which is generally not considered to be completely drunk.

Reinke's lawsuit against the termination without notice by the Deutsch Oper was rejected by the Berlin Labor Court on November 6, 1997.

Reinke has been working as a freelance double bass player in Berlin and Cairo since 1998. At times he was first double bass concertmaster with the Cairo Symphony Orchestra . Reinke, whose wife died in 1987, has two sons.

Literary processing

The incident triggered by Reinke in Tel Aviv was taken up by the writer Friedrich Christian Delius in his 1999 story Die Flatterzunge . This was also performed as a theatrical version in several German cities. The incident was also interpreted in the context of the play Der Kontrabass by Patrick Süskind , published in 1981 .

Works

Sound recordings

• with Horst Göbel, piano: double bass. Music for double bass and piano (record), with: Grande allegro in E minor by Giovanni Bottesini , Sonata a preghiera by Niccolò Paganini (arranged), Sonatas (1979), Fantasias (1980) by Harald Genzmer , Thorofon, Wedemark 1987
• Double bass solo (CD), with: Suite in the old style in 6 movements for double bass alone by Hans Fryba , Hommage à JS Bach for double bass solo by Julien François Zbinden, Thème varié pour contrebasse solo by Jean Françaix , Rhapsodie by Erich Hartmann , Nessos by Hirotoshi Kihara, Rare classics, 1996
• Bach pro (contra) bass (2 CDs) Johann Sebastian Bach: Suites, arranged for double bass by Gerd Reinke, Rare Classic, 1996
• with Noriko Shimizu, piano: Intervalli bassi. Music of the 20th century for double bass and piano (CD), with: Sonate by Harald Genzmer, Largo et scherzando by Victor Serventi , Niobe by Hirotoshi Kihara, Sonate by Paul Hindemith , Rare Classic, 1997
• with Akiko Yamashita, piano: Contrabasso scherzando (CD), with: Introduction, theme and variations on the Carnival in Venice by Giovanni Bottesini , Schön Rosmarin by Fritz Kreisler , Gypsy ways by Pablo de Sarasate , Strauss - contrabasso bass by Bernhard Herting , Bumblebee by Nikolai Rimski-Korsakow , Czardas by Vittorio Monti , Scherzo by Daniel van Goens , Moses-Fantasie, (introduction, theme and variations on the G-string on a theme by Rossini) by Niccolò Paganini, Colosseum-Schallplatten, Nuremberg 1997
• with the Latvian Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra under Dzintars Jost : Contrabasso classico (CD), with: Concerto for double bass and orchestra in D major by Johann Baptist Vanhal , Concerto for double bass and orchestra in A major by Domenico Dragonetti , Concerto for double bass and orchestra No. 2 E major by Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf , Rare Classic, 1997
• with the Philharmonic State Orchestra of Moldova under Gheorghe Costin : Double Bass Concerts of the 20th Century (CD), with: Concerto for Double Bass and Orchestra op.3 by Sergei Alexandrowitsch Kussewizki , Concerto for Double Bass and Orchestra (1990) by Günter Neubert , Divertimento concertante per contrabsso e orchestra by Nino Rota, Querstand, Altenburg 1999
• with Marina Kapitanova (piano): Contrabasso cantabile (CD), with: Meditation by Paul Taffanel , Cantabile by Niccolo Paganini, Rêverie. Elegy. Melody by Giovanni Bottesini, romance by Dmitri Schostakowitsch, song without words op. 109 by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Vokalise op. 34 No. 14 by Sergej Rachmaninow, Kôjô no tsuki by Rentaro Taki, Elégie. Après un rève by Gabriel Fauré , Chanson triste by Sergej Alexandrowitsch Kussewitzki, Querstand, Altenburg 1999
• with Bruno Maria Brys (piano): Rare Accent (CD), with: Sonata in A minor D.821 by Franz Schubert and J.Brahms: Sonata No.1 in E minor Op.38 by Johannes Brahms, Colosseum, 2001
• with the Cairo Symphony Orchestra under Ahmed Elsaedi : Romantic rarities : Concerts in B minor and F sharp minor for double bass and orchestra by Giovanni Bottesini, Air by Johann Sebastian Bach (arrangement for double bass and strings by Giovanni Bottesini), Rare Classic, 2002

Fonts

• Edited by Giovanni Bottesini : Grande allegro in E minor for double bass and piano, Edition Peters 1987
• About playing the double bass. Instrumental- specific considerations , Ries and Erler, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-87676-009-7
• Enjoy the double bass. Double bass school , Boosey & Hawkes - Bote & Bock, Berlin 2010, (four parts, each with CD):
  • 1. 1/2 - 2 1/2 layer , ISMN 979-0-2025-2313-1
  • 2. 3 - 5 layers , ISMN 979-0-2025-2314-8
  • 3. 5 1/2. - 7th layer , ISMN 979-0-2025-2315-5
  • 4. Thumb positions , ISMN 979-0-2025-2316-2

Arrangement for double bass

• Johannes Brahms : Sonata for violoncello and piano , op.38, Ries and Erler, Berlin 1990
• Carl Flesch : The scale system. Scale exercises through all major and minor keys for daily study , Ries and Erler, Berlin 1994
• Otakar Ševčík : Bow Studies , Op. 2, Bosworth, London and Bonn 1996

literature

• Peter Schneider : Hitler in Tel Aviv, in: Limp and fly. Psychoanalytic doubts about reason , Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-45894-0 , pp. 144–152

Web links

• Website about Gerd Reinke

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Berlin musician asks Israel for forgiveness , Welt , June 4, 1997
2. ^ Outrage over Berlin musicians , Berliner Zeitung , June 2, 1997
3. ↑ ^{a b} Jack Katzenell: Musician who signed hotel bill 'Adolf Hitler' to be fired ( Memento of the original from July 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Associated Press , June 2, 1997, according to: Topeka Capital Journal 
4. ↑ Berlin musician asks Israel for forgiveness , Welt , June 4, 1997
5. ↑ quoted from P. Schneider: Erhinken und Erfliegen , 2001, p. 145
6. ↑ Jan von Fleischhauer: I am a riddle to myself , Spiegel , November 3, 1997
7. ↑ Reinke loses trial , Welt , November 7, 1997
8. ↑ Cairo Symphony Orchestra, Recitals , 1999–2000
9. ↑ Die Flatterzunge , reviews on Fcdelius.de
10. ↑ Frank Degler: Aisthetic Reductions , Walter de Gruyter, 2003, p. 31 ff.