Gerda Herrmann

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Gerda Herrmann in October 2019

Gerda Herrmann (born June 30, 1931 in Bad Cannstatt ) is a German composer and poet . She has lived in Stuttgart-Botnang since the 1960s and has since written over 400 songs to foreign and own texts. A large part of them have been performed at twelve benefit concerts (as of 2019).

life and work

Gerda Herrmann received almost three years of piano lessons from 1941 to 1943 until her school was relocated to the children's deportation camp in Metzingen due to air raids . From then on she played the piano without further lessons. Her father was an association auditor and died as a soldier in 1944 after he had been denounced and had to go to the front. In July 1944, Herrmann was in Stuttgart and, at the age of 13, experienced the heavy air raids on Stuttgart and their consequences.

In 1972 Herrmann wrote her first poem when she was asked to write a text for Amnesty International for a church service in the Friedenskirche in Stuttgart . In 1984 Herrmann's first composition "Elegie" was written. Since then Herrmann has set poems by numerous authors to music, including Annette von Droste-Hülshoff , Joachim Ringelnatz , Arthur Schnitzler and Walther von der Vogelweide . In 2013, she also set a love poem by her father to music, which he wrote in his diary in 1923.

"Composing is too ambitious, I set texts to music."

- Gerda Herrmann

Herrmann herself describes her style as "not modern", but "most likely to be assigned to romanticism". In addition, her style has become easier with age, which Herrmann justifies with Angelus Silesius' quote "Human being, become essential". Herrmann sees the setting of Rilke's poem "The Panther" as her favorite song among her own settings. So far Herrmann's songs have been performed at 12 benefit concerts for the benefit of various clubs and organizations. The first concert took place in 1991 at Solitude Palace.

"She is adorable and charming, I love her stories and her songs (...), her passion for music, her optimism, her hopes for a better world and that she sees the potential of music to heal and touch."

On June 29, 2019, the documentary film Die Liedermacherin von Botnang by director Alexander Tuschinski had its world premiere at the Delphi Arthaus Kino in Stuttgart. It deals with Herrmann's life and work. The film had its US premiere the following year at the Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival and ran in competition at the Berlin Independent Film Festival in the Babylon Cinema .

Encourage creative writing among young people

Since 2003 Gerda Herrmann has been a founding member and deputy chairwoman of the Promotional Group for Creative Writing and Music , which publishes anthologies with texts by young people. The first anthology was published before the association was founded with the help of part of the proceeds from a benefit concert of Herrmann's songs in the White Hall of the New Palace in Stuttgart in 1999. A. in the archive for children's texts of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and contain texts of various styles. A poem by Ingeborg Wenger from the anthology “ÜberBücken” was posted in Stuttgart trams in 2010 as part of the “Lyrik Unterwegs” program . Herrmann has also set poems from the anthologies to music.

Further commitment

"My motto is not to lose courage - and also not to lose humor!"

- Gerda Herrmann

Furthermore, Gerda Herrmann was committed to Amnesty International from 1968 until the birth of her youngest child in 1972 , and describes Amnesty's work as "important". She was also a founding member of Group 49 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d e f Alexander Tuschinski: From Botnang to Hollywood - an interview with Gerda Herrmann . post-moon . May 10, 2020. Retrieved May 10, 2020.
  2. a b Marisa Sass-Baitis: Gerda Herrmann: Lebenslinien . Stuttgarter Wochenblatt . August 21, 2019. Retrieved August 23, 2019.
  3. a b c d e f g h Petra Mostbacher-Dix: singer-songwriter with courage and humor . Stuttgart newspaper . June 21, 2019. Accessed June 30, 2019.
  4. Program announcement of the documentation "Die Liedermacherin von Botnang" on the website of the Delphi Arthaus Kino Stuttgart, archived at archive.org . Retrieved June 30, 2019.
  5. Joachim Auch: Landesschau Baden-Württemberg: Contribution to Gerda Herrmann and the film "Die Liedermacherin von Botnang" (from 17:40 min) . Südwestrundfunk . May 8, 2020. Accessed May 10, 2019.
  6. Youtube: Interview with Gerda Herrmann after the premiere of the film "Die Liedermacherin von Botnang", June 29, 2019 . Retrieved May 10, 2020.
  7. Botnanger Anzeiger 08/2019, pp. 21-22. Original quote in English: She is delightful and charming, I love her stories and her songs (...), her passion for music, her optimism, her hopes for a better world and seeing the potential of music to heal and touch lives.
  8. Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival: Program announcement for screening on February 17, 2020 on the official website . Retrieved February 28, 2020.
  9. Berlin Independent Film Festival: program announcement for screening on February 29, 2020 on the official website . Retrieved February 28, 2020.
  10. Article on Demokratie.de: Students present their own texts . February 3, 2012. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
  11. Georg Friedel: Promotional Group Creative Writing and Music - Niches for Young Authors . Stuttgart newspaper . September 21, 2016. Accessed June 30, 2019.
  12. Ellen Klassen: schulepluskultur.de (blog of the LKJ Baden-Württemberg eV): new anthology of the support group Creative Writing + Music eV with texts by students . August 23, 2013. Accessed June 30, 2019.
  13. Ingeborg and her cool poem ride the subway (excerpt from the article on the website of the Dillmann-Gymnasium, Stuttgart) . Stuttgart newspaper . July 9, 2010. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
  14. Anthology "Nominable" is freshly printed, Botnanger Anzeiger 07/2011, p. 22.