Hans Christoph Becker-Foss

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Hans Christoph Becker-Foss (* 1949 in Höxter ) is a German organist , choir director and professor of organ playing.

Life

Hans Christoph Becker-Foss grew up in a family of church musicians . After graduating from high school, he studied church music at what is now the Bremen University of the Arts . His teachers there were Hans Heintze and Erich Ehlers (organ) as well as Walter Bohle and Birgid von Rohden (piano). While still a student, he took part in courses from Hans Richter-Haaser (piano), Gustav Leonhardt (harpsichord), Nikolaus Harnoncourt ( performance practice of early music ) and Guy Bovet (organ improvisation and interpretation of old French organ music). Since then he has been taking organ courses with Christoph Bossert , Ludger Lohmann , Michael Radulescu , Daniel Roth , Roman Summereder and Wolfgang Zerer .

From 1973 Becker-Foss headed the Hastedter Kantorei in Bremen, in 1979 he switched to the market church St. Nicolai Hameln as a church musician and at the same time became district cantor for the Hameln-Pyrmont parish. In 1992 he also took over the musical direction of the Göttingen vocal ensemble. In 1989 he founded the Weserbergland Music Weeks together with cantor Christiane Klein (Bodenwerder) ; Becker-Foss has been its artistic director ever since.

Since 1980 he has been leading an organ class at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media , where he was appointed professor in 1993 and has also been teaching organ studies since 2004. He gives courses for organ, figured bass and early music performance practice. Furthermore, he exercises the function of an organ expert .

Becker-Foss pursues an international concert career as an organist, harpsichordist and conductor. Since 1993 he has appeared in the trio, especially with Gotthold Schwarz (baritone) and Siegfried Pank (viola da gamba). Together with the church musician and theologian Karl Wurm, in cooperation with the label ambiente , he is devoting himself to a CD series with recordings on important organs in Lower Saxony. This is how special programmatic concepts arose on the organ by Andreas Schweimb in Brevörde and on that of the organ building company Jürgen Ahrend in St. Servatius in Duderstadt .

For his recording of Georg Muffat's Apparatus musico-organisticus , Hans Christoph Becker-Foss was awarded the German Record Critics' Prize (best list) in 2001.

Discography (selection)

  • Georg Muffat : Apparatus musico-organisticus . Hans Christoph Becker-Foss ( Beckerath / Goll organ of the Marktkirche in Hameln) and Karl Wurm (texts on the presentation as universal harmony ). 2 CDs. Ambience 2000.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach : Organ Booklet . Hans Christoph Becker-Foss (Beckerath / Goll organ of the market church in Hameln). Ambiente, 2001.
  • God, gods and planets. Works by Johann Pachelbel , Dieterich Buxtehude and Johann Sebastian Bach. Hans Christoph Becker-Foss and Karl Wurm ( Müller organ in Welsede and Schweimb organ in Brevörde). 2 CDs. Ambiente 2002.
  • In Lamentatione Jubilatio Dei - praise and lament in baroque settings. Works by Johann Rosenmüller , Jan Dismas Zelenka and others. Gotthold Schwarz (baritone), Siegfried Pank (viola da gamba) and Hans Christoph Becker-Foss (organ and harpsichord). CD. Raumklang, 2005.
  • Archetypes - images and symbols in the world of organ music. Works by Heinrich Scheidemann ( Magnificat V), Dietrich Buxtehude (choral fantasies), Pierre du Mage , Johann Sebastian Bach (Preludes and Fugues BWV 544, 547 and 548), César Franck ( Trois Chorals ), Charles-Marie Widor ( Symphony II ), Walter Kraft ( triptych St. Michael ) and György Ligeti ( volumes ). Hans Christoph Becker-Foss and Karl Wurm (Ahrend organ for St. Servatius in Duderstadt and Beckerath / Goll organ in the Marktkirche in Hameln). 4 CDs. Ambiente 2007.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach: Musical sacrifice and art of the fugue. In: Numbers - in Duderstadt's Sparkasse and in Bach's late work. Hans Christoph Becker-Foss and Karl Wurm (harpsichord by Rainer Schütze based on the Italian model / harpsichord by Martin-Christian Schmidt after Johann Heinrich Gräbner, Dresden 1739 / Ahrend organ for St. Servatius in Duderstadt), Dorothee Kunst (Flauto traverso), Annegret Siedel (baroque violin), Daniela Wartenberger (baroque violoncello). CD. Ambiente, 2008.
  • Nicolaus Bruhns : Complete Organ Works. As well as works by Dietrich Buxtehude and Johann Sebastian Bach. Hans Christoph Becker-Foss and Karl Wurm ( Berner / Hillebrand organ of the Fischbeck collegiate church ). CD. Ambiente, 2009.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Best List 2-2001 , accessed on October 14, 2011.
  2. ^ Review: Herbert Glossner. In: Fono Forum , July 1, 2002.
  3. ^ Review by Michael Wersin on January 19, 2007 in Rondo Musikmagazin , accessed on October 13, 2011.
  4. Review: Gerhard Dietel in Organ - Journal for the Organ . 04/2009. Page 51. Online ( Memento of the original from October 26, 2015 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. , accessed October 13, 2011. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.organ-journal.com
  5. CD booklet (PDF file, 1.1 MB) ( Memento of the original from December 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved from Sparkasse Duderstadt on October 13, 2011.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.sparkasse-duderstadt.de
  6. Review: Felix Friedrich in Ars Organi . No. 5, December 2010.