Hans Humpert
Johannes "Hans" Humpert (born April 19, 1901 in Paderborn ; † September 15, 1943 in Salerno , Italy ) was a German composer and music teacher . Humpert wrote choral, organ, chamber and orchestral music. His music and compositions are contemporary works of the early 20th century in the as yet uninterrupted tension to tradition, in the origin of Max Reger and the simultaneity with Paul Hindemith .
Life
Origin and childhood
Hans Humpert was born on April 19, 1901 as the son of a Sauerland master tailor in Paderborn, East Westphalia . His childhood was shaped by the modest circumstances in his parents' home. He made his first contact with music in the church services in Paderborn Cathedral . From 1912, at a time in which a new beginning in church music can be dated , at this time the Cecilianism was more and more sidelined, he received piano lessons from the cathedral organist Johannes Cordes . In addition, Max Reger gave on July 24, 1912 and 10 June 1913 two concerts in Paderborn. These events contributed significantly to the musical enthusiasm of the young Humpert.
youth
From 1916 Johannes Cordes Humpert also gave organ lessons; three years later, on September 10, 1919, the then 18-year-old completed his first composition “Fugette über BACH ”, the original of which is in the Paderborn City Archives. In 1920 Humpert graduated from high school Theodorianum in Paderborn, continued to live with his parents until 1924, but did not create any other works during this time.
Maturity years
In 1924 he went to Frankfurt am Main to study composition at the Hoch Conservatory with Bernhard Sekles , who had also taught Paul Hindemith , and to escape the conservative climate of his hometown. The work “Quartet for two violins, viola and violoncello” dates from this time.
After only two years in Frankfurt, Humpert moved to Berlin in 1926 to attend the Berlin Conservatory . Until 1930 he dealt with the field of composition , mainly with fugue and Passacaglia, and among other things created the written works “Schulfugen” and “Schulsonate”.
In Berlin he also came into contact with other musical avant-garde artists , including Hanns Eisler and Joseph Ahrens . At the conservatory he studied with Walther Gmeindl and was a fellow student of Ernst Pepping , with whom he had no personal contact. He met Paul Hindemith in Berlin, who made it possible for Humpert to participate in the Baden-Baden Music Festival, where his work “Trio for violin, viola and cello” from 1927 was premiered.
In 1928, Humpert received the Mendelssohn Prize from the city of Berlin for his work “Concerto for String Quartet and Large Chamber Orchestra” . In 1930 he received a grant from the "Deutsche Grammophon-Gesellschaft" to rewrite the works of old masters in modern notation in the Prussian State Library so that the works could be recorded and performed. Through this work, Humpert came into contact with the works of the early modern composers Heinrich Isaac 1450–1517, Ludwig Senfl 1490–1543 and Heinrich Schütz 1585–1672, who presented him with a new direction in music, as the works of, among others, Johann Sebastian Bach , were considered a new discovery at the time.
Humpert finished his studies at the age of 29 and moved back to Paderborn in 1930. There he married the tailor Agnes Juliane Bremer (born November 21, 1903 in Cologne, † April 19, 1959 in Paderborn) on July 13, 1935 , but initially only viewed his return to his East Westphalian homeland as a stopover.
During his time in Paderborn he received support from Professor Gustav Schauerte and Dr. Johannes Hatzfeld . Schauerte, head of the Paderborn Cathedral Choir from 1905 until his death in 1945 , was instrumental in ensuring that Humpert's works, such as the "Te Deum" at Libori 1931, were (first) performed. Hatzfeld, editor of the Catholic diocese magazine "Leo" , was able to win over the Schwann-Verlag in Düsseldorf, the Schott-Verlag in Mainz and later the Bärenreiter-Verlag in Kassel for the printing of Humpert's works.
Due to the political situation, however, Humpert's stay in Paderborn was extended. Since he was an opponent of National Socialism , he had to assume that he would encounter opposition in the great cultural cities such as Munich and Berlin. Living in modest circumstances, he withdrew from the public eye, but continued to work as a composer while his wife earned a living. From 1939 Humpert himself gave music lessons at the Theodorianum grammar school and the Städtische Realschule - Reismann Paderborn in order to support his family financially.
The last few years
In 1940 Humpert, who became a father that same year, was appointed professor of composition at the Musikhochschule in Münster . However, he could not take the chair because the college was destroyed in an air raid by the Royal Air Force . Humpert wrote in a letter to his pupil Georg Hoffmann: "The Englishman thought it necessary to turn the whole area into a heap of rubble." In 1943 he was called up for military service and assigned to a medical company that brought him to Italy via France . In a letter of May 9, 1943 to Felix Kreusch , he wrote: “France has reconciled me, Italy has redeemed me. I can hardly imagine that an increase in my attitude towards life is still possible after the experience in Florence ”.
death
On September 15, 1943, Humpert was hit in an air raid in the Bay of Salerno , south of Naples . He was buried in the small village cemetery of Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi near Salerno. When German military cemeteries were set up between 1960 and 1961, Humpert was exhumed and reburied in the military cemetery at the Monte Cassino Abbey in the province of Frosinone . The inscription on his tombstone reads, just like on the cross in Salerno, simply: "Soldier Johannes Humpert".
After his death, his manuscripts were safely stored in the cellar vault of the Paderborn Market Church , but were brought to the country by his wife Agnes in 1945 before the destruction of Paderborn and the Market Church.
The only descendant was Hans Ulrich Humpert (born October 9, 1940 in Paderborn ; † August 29, 2010 in Cologne ).
Music and works
The reception of Humpert's works is expressed, among other things, in the following statements:
“His (Humpert's) compositions are written in an expanded tonality with elements of the church key, so that the texts of the sacred choral works appear at the same time new and in the continuum of the testimony of faith. In the compositional examination of the works of the past, Humpert avoided any form of experiment, he sought the personal, artistic place of his present, his historical existence as a proportionality to the traditional heritage and to modernity. In this elementary historical sense - not in a narrowly local sense - Hans Humpert is truly a Paderborn composer in the spiritual reflection of his native city, which is shaped by nature and history. "
“Humpert's linear works underline his familiarity with sacred polyphony, Gregorian chant and the organ. They abstain from subjective outbursts of emotion, they are clearly constructed and strictly disdain all aesthetic expenditure "
“Nevertheless, Hans Humpert, the artist who unfortunately died too early at the age of 42 and is perhaps not yet fully developed, will be one of the most capable composers of our century and one of the most talented new speakers of the twenties to forties, as he can express his own unique qualities in his works understanding."
In 1929 Hindemith commented on the work "Concerto for String Quartet and Large Chamber Orchestra":
"It is a work full of pure and rich music that one can write two symphonies from it."
Instrumental works, works for orchestra
Instrumental works, works for chamber orchestra
Instrumental works, works for organ
Instrumental works, works for piano
Vocal works, sacred choral music
Vocal works, secular choral music
Honors and honors
- In 1928 Humpert received the Mendelssohn Prize of the City of Berlin for his work “Concerto for String Quartet and Large Chamber Orchestra”.
- In 1947 a street in Paderborn was named after him.
- In 1955, Hans Humpert was posthumously named the city of Paderborn's first culture prize winner.
Hans Humpert Society
The Hans-Humpert-Gesellschaft was founded in 1954 with the aim of administering all of Humpert's works and promoting the printing of his many manuscripts as an existing composition. In 1977 the society dissolved again due to the dwindling number of members. The company's records are in the Paderborn City Archives.
Estate in the Paderborn City Archives
In 1978 files and scores collected by Humpert himself , which until then were still in the possession of the Hans Humpert Society, came to the Paderborn City Archives. In the years that followed, the collection was expanded through individual donations of original scores. On November 8, 2002, in accordance with the deposit agreement of November 29 and December 11, 2001, the privately owned, compositional part of the Humpert estate was handed over to the Paderborn City Archives by his son Hans Ulrich Humpert and the estate administrator Rudolf Hoffmann.
literature
- Brockhoff, ME, Music History of the City of Paderborn . Paderborn 1982.
- Hamacher, T., memory of Hans Humpert . In: "Die Warte", Paderborn 1963, issue 12, p. 186 f.
- Hamacher, T., Hans Humpert, culture award winners of the city of Paderborn . In: Hamacher T., (Ed.), "Contributions to the music history of the Paderborn area", 1982.
- Hatzfeld, J., Plagued by all the demons of creativity: Hans Humpert, the great Paderborn composer on his 50th birthday . In: Westfalen-Zeitung No. 90 of April 18, 1951.
- Hegemann, F., On the 20th anniversary of the death of Hans Humpert . In: "Der Kump", Paderborn 1963, issue 9, p. 11.
- Hegemann, F., From home events. Hans Humpert concert . In: "Die Warte", Paderborn 1958, issue 10, p. 152.
- Hegemann, F., events at home seen through the control room. Hans Humpert evening . In: "Die Warte", Paderborn 1958, issue 12, p. 186.
- Isenberg, E., The Choir and Organ Works by Hans Humpert . In: Staatsexamensarbeit Mskr. Cologne 1986, Paderborn City Archives S 2/1681
- Laux, K., Contemporary Music and Musicians , Volume 1 Germany, Essen 1949, p. 151.
- Kreusch, F., The grave of the composer Hans Humpert . In: "Der Kump", Paderborn 1963, issue 8, p. 23.
Web links
- Hans-Humpert-Gesellschaft eV Paderborn and Hans-Humpert-Archiv Archives in North Rhine-Westphalia
- Hans-Humpert-Strasse in Paderborn
- Culture award winner of the city of Paderborn
- Sheet music and audio files by Hans Humpert in the International Music Score Library Project
Individual evidence
- ^ Letter from Hans Humpert to Georg Hoffmann dated July 8, 1942
- ^ Letter from Hans Humpert to Felix Kreusch dated May 9, 1943
- ↑ Liedtke, G., Abbestraße to Zweschenweg: street names in Paderborn . H & SVerlag, Paderborn 1999, p. 105
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Humpert, Hans |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Humpert, Johannes |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German composer and music teacher |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 19, 1901 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Paderborn |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 15, 1943 |
| Place of death | Salerno , Italy |