Gerhard Steiff

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Gerhard Steiff (born May 1, 1937 in Giengen an der Brenz ; † October 22, 2011 in Tübingen ) was a German church musician , choir director , conductor , theologian and composer .

Live and act

Gerhard Steiff was born in Giengen an der Brenz in 1937 as the great-nephew of the teddy bear inventor Margarete Steiff . He took piano and organ lessons as a child and gained his first experience as a conductor as a student at the Giengen Music School. From 1952 he headed the seminarist choir in Schöntal Abbey and took double bass lessons. From 1956 to 1962 he studied Protestant theology at the monastery in Tübingen as well as in Zurich and Heidelberg . During this time he worked as a double bass player and then founded the Swabian student choir in 1959, which met for singing holidays and concerts from 1959 to 1964.

From 1962 to 1963 he was vicar in Denkendorf near Esslingen and in 1963 married Susanne "Suse" Ludwig. He had three children with her: Mirjam (* 1964), Simon (* 1966) and Hagar (* 1968). In 1963 he began studying Protestant church music at the State University for Music and Performing Arts in Stuttgart, which he successfully completed with the A-exam after only five semesters. There he studied choir and orchestral conducting with Hans Grischkat , organ with Hans-Arnold Metzger , piano with Dora Metzger and composition with Johann Nepomuk David and Erhard Karkoschka .

He then was vicar at the Ludwigsburg city ​​church for another year , until he became a music repetiteur at the Evangelical Abbey in Tübingen from 1966 and since then has focused on church music activities in and around Tübingen. Among other things, he has led the mixed choir ( Kurrende ) of the Protestant student community since autumn 1966 . From 1968 he was cantor and district choirmaster at the Tübingen collegiate church - he founded the Tübingen Chamber Choir in 1970 and directed it for three decades until 2001. The regional church awarded him the title of “church music director”. From 1967 to 1984 he was responsible for the “Tübinger Motette” concert series in the Stiftskirche Tübingen, which under his responsibility offered some of the most impressive concerts in its long history. With the Tübingen Chamber Choir he was very successful with numerous concerts at home and abroad, until a life-threatening aortic aneurysm forced him to retire prematurely in 1985. After a long period of rehabilitation, he resumed his musical activities as a composer, critic, theorist, theologian and above all as a conductor.

Gerhard Steiff conducted several choirs and instrument ensembles. He was also an organist and composer of new, sometimes provocative sound ideas and musical structures. His composition “Die Kamele” from 1985 provoked an uproar in the Evangelical Church of Württemberg and partly beyond that in 1986 when it premiered in Bad Urach , which resulted in diverse discussions in various church music and theological committees. In it he had ecclesiastical texts such as For example, the Gloria Patri is used and, among other things, the name of a pietistic pastor dynasty called and called "soul egoists". Gerhard Steiff subsequently resigned from the position of chairman of the Association of Evangelical Church Music in Württemberg.

In 1989 he composed an "Aria in E" for soprano, recorder, oboe, two triangles, three hanging cymbals, three tam-tams and portative based on the poem "Monument wish" by the artist Ruth Eitle, who is a friend of his, for the opening of an exhibition in the Kunsthalle Tübingen Christian Morgenstern and a picture by Ruth Eitle and dedicated them to the artist. The aria was premiered at the opening of the exhibition and an excerpt from the score was published in the exhibition catalog.

In July 1989 he founded the association A cappella e. V. and in 1992 under the name Tritonus a small vocal ensemble with 12 to 16 singers, with whom he was able to realize his ideas of interpretation of new and old music with a very high quality standard until 2001. He also directed the Tübingen Stephanuschor from 1994 to 1999.

Appreciation

Gerhard Steiff rejected the Federal Cross of Merit for political reasons and was awarded the Staufer Medal of the State of Baden-Württemberg in 2001.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Obituary, October 22, 2011.
  2. ^ A b Peter Steinle: Mourning for church music director Gerhard Steiff. October 24, 2011.
  3. ↑ a b c d e Dr. Irene Faupel: A Cappella, The Founder. After discussions with Gerhard Steiff and after my own experiences and documents from her time as a choir singer in his choirs.
  4. ↑ a b Funeral sermon on Isa 49, 14-16, burial of Gerhard Steiff, Kilchberg cemetery, October 27, 2011.
  5. ^ Gerhard Steiff: List of all chamber choir performances from 1970 to 2001.
  6. ↑ Christoph Weismann: The catechisms of Johannes Brenz: The history of origin, text and impact. Walter de Gruyter, page 561 of 760 pages.
  7. ^ Obituary: composer, choir director and former collegiate church cantor died in Tübingen. Mourning for church music director Gerhard Steiff. Reutlinger General-Anzeiger, October 24, 2011.
personal data
SURNAME Steiff, Gerhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German church musician, choir director, conductor and composer
DATE OF BIRTH May 1, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH Giengen on the Brenz
DATE OF DEATH October 22, 2011
Place of death Tübingen