Hans Pischner

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Hans Pischner (left) welcomes Franz Konwitschny to Berlin-Schönefeld Airport in 1961.

Hans Pischner (born February 20, 1914 in Breslau ; † October 15, 2016 in Berlin ) was a German harpsichordist , musicologist , opera director, cultural politician in the GDR and a member of the Central Committee (ZK) of the SED .

biography

Hans Pischner was the son of a piano tuner from Breslau . He studied piano with Bronisław von Poźniak and harpsichord with Gertrud Wertheim, as well as musicology at the Silesian Friedrich Wilhelms University in Wroclaw. From 1933 to 1939 he worked as a music teacher and concert soloist. After serving in the war and being imprisoned by the Soviets , he joined the SED in 1946 and taught at the Liszt School of Music in Weimar from 1946 , and became its deputy director in 1947. In 1948 he was appointed professor . From 1950 to 1954 Pischner was head of the main music department in the State Committee for Broadcasting in the GDR and helped shape state broadcasting. In the newly founded Ministry of Culture he was first head of the main music department from 1954 to 1956 and then officiated from 1956 to 1963 as Deputy Minister of Culture under Johannes R. Becher , Alexander Abusch and Hans Bentzien . In 1956 he was responsible for the main departments of Music and VEB Deutsche Schallplatten, Artistic Teaching Institutions, Cultural Mass Work and German Concert and Guest Performance Management, as well as the Budget and Auditing department. He was thus largely responsible on the state side for the music policy of the GDR.

Grave of Hans Pischner, Dorotheenstädtischer Friedhof, Berlin.

From 1963 to 1984 Hans Pischner was the artistic director of the State Opera Unter den Linden in Berlin . From 1970 to 1978 he was Vice President of the Academy of the Arts of the GDR , his election as President of the Academy, planned by Kurt Hager in 1974, failed. In addition, from 1975 to 1990 he was chairman of the all-German New Bach Society , based in Leipzig , whose internationalization he pushed.

As president of the Kulturbund of the GDR from 1977 to 1989 he was responsible for guiding and controlling the cultural workers after Biermann's expatriation in the sense of the SED leadership. On the other hand, he stood up for musicians who were badly suffered in the GDR, such as the conductor Hartmut Haenchen at times . He submitted his resignation from the office of President of the Kulturbund on November 28, 1989. At the same meeting, the entire Presidium of the Kulturbund resigned. He was a member of the Central Committee of the SED from 1981 to 1989.

Hans Pischner always knew how to find time for the harpsichord , to give concerts in public and to make numerous recordings in addition to his professional tasks .

From 1995 to 2008 he was Honorary President of the International Society for the Promotion of Young Stage Performers “BühnenReif” (ISSA) and a founding member of the Board of Trustees of the Brandenburg Elbland Festival in Wittenberge . In 2007 he was appointed the first honorary member of the European Culture Workshop (EKW) based in Berlin / Vienna. In December 2011 he was made an honorary member of the Richard Wagner Association Berlin-Brandenburg.

meaning

Hans Pischner was one of the personalities of East German musical life who on the one hand had a great influence and on the other hand are highly controversial. He has made a name for himself both as a director of state institutions and as a performing artist. As deputy minister for culture, he shaped the musical life of the GDR on the state side. Later he remained an important cultural functionary who, as President of the Kulturbund, headed a mass organization and acted in the interests of the SED.

As director of the State Opera Unter den Linden, he showed more "self-sense" (Alf Lüdtke). He himself admitted in his autobiography how he was able to use the system skillfully and manipulatively during his time as director: “I knew my way around, was generally able to enforce my ideas and also knew how to help myself in complicated situations. If you knew how to play on the keyboard of the apparatus - also often disagreed among each other - and not to ask too many questions and thus provoke unwanted answers, there were ways of circumventing anti-art political strangulation, of escaping the terror of sentiments Despite the many risks and cultural and political resistance, he managed to ensure that his house with its ambitious repertoire and its ensemble gained worldwide renown. The Staatskapelle developed after many musicians had left after the Wall the ensemble, again one of the leading European orchestras. Pischner knew how to turn up-and-coming soloists such as Peter Schreier , Theo Adam , Anna Tomowa-Sintow and Siegfried Vogel into international opera stars who had been successful for decades. The world premieres of the operas Einstein , Leonce and Lena and Lancelot by Paul Dessau were pushed through by Pischner against numerous opposition from the party and state apparatus, and under the direction of Ruth Berghaus , Dessau's wife, they became highlights in musical life. As a skilful diplomat and experienced music expert, he had the ability to refute some doctrines and refute the frequent animosities of cultural officials towards Western influences. Hans Pischner had brought the Austrian Otmar Suitner to his house as general music director , a conductor of extraordinary stature, experienced on the international stage and equipped with solid technical skills. Erhard Fischer's engagement as chief director of the State Opera also turned out to be farsighted, as he represented a moderate antithesis to the musical theater style of the Komische Oper Berlin and yet, as a former collaborator of directors such as Joachim Herz , both classics and world premieres from the Pischner era Brought success.

As a harpsichordist, Pischner was a guest in many concert halls around the world for decades. His playing is documented on numerous records, including with his friend Dawid Oistrach . His main interest was always the works of Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Friedrich Handel , but also contemporary work.

Awards

Fonts

  • Music and revolution. Speech about Richard Wagner as a revolutionary from 48, given on June 22, 1948 in the Weimar group of the Kulturbund for the democratic renewal of Germany, Verlag Kulturwille, Weimar 1948.
  • Streiter for a national German music, in: Der Rundfunk, Vol. 8 (1953), pp. 29-30.
  • Music in China. Henschel, Berlin (GDR) 1955.
  • Jean Philippe Rameau's theory of harmony. Its historical prerequisite and its effect in the French, Italian and German music theory literature of the 18th century. A contribution to the history of musical thought Berlin (GDR), Humboldt University, Philosophical Faculty, dissertation from May 10, 1961 [print edition: VEB Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig 1963].
  • Firsts of a lifetime. Autobiography. Verlag der Nation, Berlin (GDR) 1986, ISBN 9783373000204 .
  • Touches, actions, dreams. Music and politics between utopia and reality. Autobiography. Henschel Verlag, 2006, ISBN 3-89487-538-0 .

literature

Web links

Commons : Hans Pischner  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans Pischner is dead. Jungewelt.de , October 17, 2016.
  2. ^ Matthias Braun: Culture Island and Power Instrument: The Academy of Arts, the Party and the State Security. Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen 2007, p. 375. Google Books
  3. ↑ Christiane Niklew:  Pischner, Hans . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 2. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
  4. ^ Members of the Central Committee of the SED, in: Neues Deutschland , Volume 36, April 17, 1981, No. 92, p. 4.
  5. ^ Introduction to the finding aid Ministry of Culture. - Secretary of the Minister Johannes R. Becher DR 1 1954–1958, Koblenz 2004.
  6. ^ [Kurt Hager to Erich Honecker, April 3, 1974 regarding elections in the Academy of Arts, Federal Archives-SAPMO, Kurt Hager Office, IV B2 / 2024/75]
  7. ↑ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of May 8, 1999, p. 45.
  8. ↑ Jan Brachmann: With mild dissonances. Music in the game of power: on the death of Hans Pischner. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of October 18, 2016, p. 13.
  9. ↑ ND, Kulturbund for more personal responsibility, in: Neues Deutschland, Volume 44, November 29, 1989, No. 281, p. 4.
  10. ^ Members of the Central Committee of the SED, in: Neues Deutschland, Volume 36, April 17, 1981, No. 92, p. 4.
  11. ^ The Central Committee of the SED . In: Berliner Zeitung , April 22, 1986 (year 42, issue 95), p. 4.
  12. ↑ Honorary Members . ( Memento of the original from June 21, 2012 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. Richard-Wagner-Verband Berlin-Brandenburg eV, accessed on October 18, 2016. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wagnerverband-berlin.de
  13. ↑ Touch, deeds, dreams. Music and politics between utopia and reality. Autobiography. Henschel Verlag, Berlin 2006, p. 143.
  14. ↑ Johann Sebastian Bach - David Oistrach, Hans Pischner - Sonata for violin and harpsichord No. 5 in F minor BWV 1018 / Sonata for violin and harpsichord No. 6 in G major BWV 1019 at Discogs
  15. ↑ National Prize Winner 1961. In: Berliner Zeitung , October 7, 1961, No. 277, p. 6.
  16. ↑ J. R. Becher Medal awarded. In: Neue Zeit , May 30, 1962, p. 2.
  17. ↑ Congratulations to comrade Prof. Dr. Hans Pischner. In: Neues Deutschland , February 20, 1984, p. 2.
  18. ↑ Neues Deutschland, Volume 44, October 6, 1989, No. 236, p. 2.
  19. ↑ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, May 8, 1999, No. 106, p. 45
  20. ↑ Volker Müller: Musicians and civil servants in the GDR: The memoirs of Hans Pischner - love, lie, cunning. In: Berliner Zeitung , July 3, 2006, accessed on October 17, 2016.
predecessor Office successor
Max Burghardt President of the Kulturbund of the GDR
1977–1989 		-
Christhard Mahrenholz President of the New Bach Society
1975–1990 		Helmuth Rilling
personal data
SURNAME Pischner, Hans
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German harpsichordist, musicologist, director and SED functionary
DATE OF BIRTH February 20, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH Wroclaw
DATE OF DEATH 15th October 2016
Place of death Berlin