Gerhard Zeggert

Gerhard Zeggert (born October 21, 1896 in Pasewalk ; † July 17, 1977 in Konstanz ) was a German church musician , organist , conductor and composer .

Life

Gerhard Zeggert was born as the son of Hermann Zeggert and his wife Ernestine, b. Dörwald born. From 1911 to 1915 he received basic musical training from the local cantor Herbert Mattheus. This taught him how to play the piano, organ and violin. After graduating from secondary school, Zeggert studied at the Königliche Musikhochschule Berlin in the organ class of Bernhard Irrgang in 1915 and 1916 and later at the Berlin Institute for Church Music and Music Education . In 1920 he passed the examination to become an organist and choir conductor as well as a university lecturer. Zeggert also studied composition with Martin Grabert . From 1920 to 1922 he worked in Berlin. There he worked at the Elisabeth Christinen-Lyzeum, at the chapel of the Berlin State Opera and he directed a male choir.

In 1922 Gerhard Zeggert moved to Breslau , where he began his work as cantor and first organist at the Queen Luise Memorial Church . A year later he worked as the successor to Wolfgang Reimann at the Magdalenenkirche . From 1925 he was also employed as a teacher for singing, history and music theory at the Maria Magdalenen grammar school . From 1937 to 1939 Zeggert also taught at the Bethanien college seminar and was assistant to Max Schneider at the Institute for Church Music at the Silesian Friedrich Wilhelm University .

In 1924 Gerhard Zeggert married Antonie Lehmann, whom he had already met in Berlin. She also had a music education. She played the piano and harpsichord. Later she sometimes appeared in the concerts organized by her husband. From 1924 Zeggert was a member of the State Examination Commission, which admitted applicants for the profession of cantor, private music teacher and city council member in the field of music. From 1927 he was also on the examination committee, which authorized the profession of music teacher in university seminars for teachers. On October 31, 1942, Zeggert received the title of church music director . Furthermore he was appointed to the office of expert of the Silesian Evangelical Consistory .

In Breslau organs were built or rebuilt according to Zeggert's designs: In 1924 the disposition of the new 72-register organ for the Old Lutheran St. Catherine Church was made; in 1930 the new organ in the St. Christophori Church with 25 registers was built; In 1931 the idea, which was then implemented, arose to expand the organ in the New Synagogue to 63 voices. In the years 1924 to 1938 Zeggert systematically expanded the organ in the Magdalenenkirche to 100 voices, and in 1943 he drafted the plan to convert the main instrument of the Wroclaw Cathedral , the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, which was due to the war situation could not be realized. In 1937 the concept was created and the subsequent reconstruction in the spirit of the organ movement of the instrument in the Jahrhunderthalle , the largest organ in the world at the time, with its extension to 222 registers.

The siege of Wroclaw by the Red Army and its resettlement in the post-war period ended Gerhard Zeggert's career. At the age of 49 he lost his job, the opportunity to perform, his compositional work, the position of shop steward and his only son. From 1945 to 1946 Zeggert lived with his wife and two daughters in Bad Warmbrunn , where he was cantor at the Protestant church there, led a choir and organized organ concerts: 12 concerts in Hirschberg , 25 in Bad Warmbrunn and there also two performances of WA's Requiem Mozart .

In 1946, the family was forced from Silesia resettled . Zeggert took the position of choirmaster and temporary organist of the parish church in Rastede (Lower Saxony) and held the position of cantor and organist of the church of St. Georgen in the Black Forest . He organized organ and choir concerts and directed an instrumental ensemble. He also organized concerts with the Stuttgart and Reutlingen symphony orchestras. From 1947 to 1966 Zeggert conducted a male singers' association with which he often appeared, including at the Festival for New Music in Donaueschingen and Ludwigsburg. Gerhard Zeggert died in Konstanz at the age of 80.

Musical creation

Concerts

In addition to religious liturgical activities, Zeggert developed a lively concert activity, such as the 428 “Monday Concerts”, as well as Bach cantatas and oratorios for the church year. From 1939 to 1944 he, Otto Burkert and Gerhard Bremsteller organized the organ summer concerts in the Wroclaw Centennial Hall .

Compositions

All of Zeggert's compositions were lost during World War II (only manuscripts existed, nothing was published in print). In 2012 Tomasz Kmita-Skarsgård found choral parts for a mass in G minor and two chorale arrangements in the library of the St. Christophori Choir .

Works for organ

• Fantasy and Fugue in C sharp minor
• Passacaglia in E minor
• Patriotic imagination
• Four chorale preludes:
  1. God alone on high 'be honor'
  2. Oh, God and Lord
  3. Christ, you Lamb of God
  4. All people must die

Works for chamber music

• Adagio for clarinet, violoncello and organ

Masses and cantatas

• Mass in G minor for soprano and alto solo, choir and orchestra
• Maria Magdalena on Easter morning , biblical scene after Johannes ( text: Joh 20, 11-18) for three solo voices (soprano, alto, tenor), oratorio choir, two violins and cello
• Jesus Christ our Savior
• Thomas, Biblical Scene
• Bless and protect for boys' choir

Works for solo voice

• Four chants for bass and organ
  1. Beware of everyday life (Text: C. Flaischlen)
  2. Eternal night (Text: F. Grillparzer)
  3. Do you have to give a loved one (Text: G. Schüller)
  4. The cemetery (Text: G. Schüller)
• Four chants for soprano and organ (Text: H. Hesse and G. Schüller)
  1. Spiritual evening song
  2. In the evening
  3. Let me forget the world
  4. The song of life
• Four chants for alto voice and organ (Text: G. Lehmann)
  1. See, I am you
  2. standby
  3. Expectation
  4. Close goal

Chorale arrangements

• Now the day has ended for women's choir
• Bless and keep us for female choir

Patronage

Since 2013, Gerhard Zeggert has been the patron saint of the St. Christophori Church in Breslau, which is named "Zeggerteum" after its former director.

literature

• L. Hoffmann Inheritance Law: Breslau - Musical Education. [Keyword in:] L. Hoffmann inheritance law: (Red.): Schlesisches Musiklexikon. Augsburg 2001, p. 82.
• T. Kmita-Skarsgård: Kultura muzyczna kościoła św. Marii Magdaleny we Wrocławiu w latach 1923-1945. Historia, dziedzictwo i perspektywy. Wrocław 2016.
• J. Subel: Wrocławska chóralistyka 1817-1944, volume 1. Wrocław 2008.
• J. Subel: Działalność artystyczna wrocławskiego organisty Gerharda Zeggerta (1896-1977). Portret bohatera [in:] Wybitni wrocławianie. Niezwykłe miasto - niezwykli ludzie, ed. I. Lipman, J. Nowosielska-Sobel, G. Strauchold. Wrocław 2011, pp. 88–89.
• Gerhard Scheuermann: Das Breslau-Lexikon, Volume 2. Laumann-Verlag, Dülmen 1994, ISBN 3-87466-157-1 , p. 1999.

Web links

• Zeggerteum - a choir and foundation of the Protestant St. Christophori congregation in Breslau