Hans Ströer

Hans Ströer (born November 2, 1919 in Bärringen , Czechoslovakia , † April 24, 1986 in Bad Windsheim ) was a German musician, composer and teacher. In addition to compositions for radio and film music, he dealt with the collection and maintenance of Franconian folk music.

Life

Hans Ströer came from the Bohemian Ore Mountains . His father Franz Ströer, who was an embroidery master by profession, enjoyed singing in his spare time. The mother Hermione was a housewife. Hans Ströer's siblings were also musically gifted: the older brother Anton became a violinist and flautist at the Stadttheater in Kassel, the younger brother Franz studied cello and clarinet in Würzburg .

In 1923 the family from Bärringen moved to Preßnitz . Ströer attended elementary school here from 1925 to 1931 and the community school from 1931 to 1935. He started playing the piano at the age of eight and attended the music school in Preßnitz from 1929 to 1935, where he received his further musical training. He was taught here not only in piano as a major , but also in numerous minor subjects (other instruments, music theory and orchestral playing).

After completing his training at the music school, which he finished on June 20, 1935, and graduating from the community school in Preßnitz, Hans Ströer went to Prague in 1935 to study at the "German Academy for Music and Performing Arts". Here he studied piano , clarinet , harmony , composition and orchestral conducting.

In 1938 his studies were put to an end because he was called up for military service and served as a soldier in the Second World War, which began in 1939. In 1943 he was injured in a lung shot. After his recovery he had to go back to the front and at the end of the war he was taken prisoner by the Americans in America (Arizona / Texas). Since he was employed here as a paramedic, he was spared from heavy field work and the like and devoted himself to music in his free time by forming choirs from the prisoners, arranging songs and making music with the available means.

After being a prisoner of war in 1946, Ströer initially received an engagement with the Palmengarten Orchestra in Frankfurt , where he mainly got to know American light music, and was employed as a pianist and music teacher at the ballet school in Marburg .

In 1948 he moved to Windsheim with his wife. He led the singing club Oberndorf (1948-58), the "Liederkranz" Illesheim (1952-65), the "Choral Society in 1835" in Windheim (since 1953) and the church choir Ipsheim. He was also a group choir director from 1955–60 and a group choir director from 1958–60. In addition, as a private music teacher, especially for piano, he also devoted himself to training young musicians.

In 1953 he was entrusted with the management of the work band of the Schmotzer machine factory in Bad Windsheim, which he directed until 1970. At least since then, the wind orchestra has been the ensemble for which Ströer preferred to compose.

From 1954 on he led the orchestra community founded by Karl Schirmer in 1952, which dissolved again in 1958. In cooperation with the adult education center, committed amateur musicians met who rehearsed and performed classical orchestral works under Ströer's direction.

In the spring of 1986, Hans Ströer went to the hospital. Although the operation went well and he was already on the mend, he died on April 24, 1986.

Compositions

The compositions for large orchestra were created for radio orchestras in the hope that one or the other work would be recorded. He sent them to Bayerischer Rundfunk and Süddeutscher Rundfunk, and some of the pieces were also recorded by the radio orchestras; It is no longer possible to find out what it is, because both stations could no longer find any orchestral works by Ströer in their card files.

Most of the compositions for wind orchestra were created for the Schmotzer orchestra. He has arranged some works for large orchestra especially for the Schmotzer-Kapelle.

Ströer's entire oeuvre is characterized by a preference for arrangements. On the one hand, he often used folk songs in his compositions, on the other hand, he arranged many of his works for different ensembles. There is also a version for wind orchestra of many works for large orchestra. He has also arranged some of them for salon orchestras.

Ströer hardly wrote any piano pieces, which is somewhat surprising since he was a pianist himself. Most of the compositions for piano were written for the magazine "Turnen und Sport" (Pohl-Verlag, Celle). In this journal, gymnastics exercises were also described, for which suitable music was published in the form of a sheet of music and a tape recording. Between 1973 and 1977 Ströer wrote 22 compositions for this, which were published and are among his only printed works, and there were also eight autographs that were probably also intended for such gymnastics, but were not published.

Compositions influenced by folk music

The influence of folk music is very evident in Ströer's entire oeuvre. In this way, compositions based on Bohemian and Franconian folk song templates can be distinguished. In these he uses original folk songs, which he processes in the form of potpourris or symphonic music.

But even if Ströer does not use any templates but composes his own melodies, the closeness to folk music is still maintained by adopting the clear structure of eight-bar melodies in 4 + 4 bars and using simple harmonics.

Overall, his style is naturally influenced by folk music influences from his homeland, where he grew up and received his musical training. However, he does not shy away from taking up influences from the music of other peoples, as the use of elements of jazz and his extensive study of Franconian folk music prove.

Franconian folk music

The arrangements of Franconian folk music for choir or instruments that v. a. for the "Windsheimer Singers" and the "Five Aisch Founders" . In order to better understand the origins of these folk music arrangements, the background should be briefly explained: In 1946, the folk song collector Albert Brosch (1886–1970), who came from the Bohemian Forest and who settled in Bad Windsheim after the Second World War , began collecting of folk songs from this room.

After Josef Ulsamer , who was then head of the folk music department of the Bavarian Radio in Nuremberg , heard about it, the beginning of the 1960s set about recording these Franconian folk songs for the radio. With Hans Ströer, you had an experienced composer at hand, who first wrote three-part, then four-part movements. Due to the growing interest in this music, the “Windsheimer Singers” formed, a men's quartet for which Ströer arranged a large number of songs that are still part of the ensemble's repertoire today. Occasionally the chants that were performed at folk evenings and folk music meetings were also embellished with instrumental preludes and interludes, sometimes accompanied by instruments.

From this the instrumental group “The Five Aisch Founders” developed , for which Ströer wrote numerous Franconian dance movements, especially popular dances like the polka , the Scottish or the waltz . Although the titles (e.g. "Egenhäuser" or "Icklmer Dreher") indicate that they are based on melodies from certain regions, they mostly have no folk melodies as a template, but the names were added to make it easier to distinguish the many dances at will . The line-up of this ensemble consisted of two clarinets, baritone or double bass, guitar and accordion.

Works

Since Ströer does not give a date of origin for his compositions, it is no longer possible to determine the year in which they were composed for some works.

Film music

• Homesickness for Germany
• Dreamland Lebanon
• Spell of romance
• German doctors in retirement
• Carpet weaving
• Schmotzer "Combined Record"

Works for large orchestra

• Je t'aimerai (toujours) (arrangement based on a Lebanese song)
• Remembering Lebanon (May 21, 1954)
• Klingendes Franken (September 30, 1954)
• Franconian Journey (Suite in 4 Sentences)
• Have a good trip
• A Children's Festival (April 23, 1955)
• Hunter joys
• A vacation day (overture)
• Dancing Flowers (Waltz)
• Erzgebirge Rhapsody (August 1958)
• Cheerful Ore Mountains (Overture)
• Festive prelude (sketch, April 1968)

Works for wind orchestra

• The funny wind orchestra
• Happy Weekend (sketch) (July 1966)
• Bad Windsheim is a Kuri idyll (March, July 1961)
• Windsheimer rifle march
• Blues and rag
• Libera me domine
• Cheerful Ore Mountains (Overture)
• A vacation day (Overture, July 1959)
• Erzgebirge Rhapsody
• Singing Franconia (a series of Franconian folk songs, February 1958)
• Small festival music [large line-up]
• Little Festival Music [small line-up] (April 1954)
• Festive prelude
• Sudetenland in song (potpourri)
• Dancing Flowers (Waltz)
• Have a good trip
• Arizona Blues (sent to the German Schlager Festival 1961)
• Untitled work [adaptation via "It 's ist Feierabend "]

Piano music

• 22 printed, 8 non-printed compositions for the magazine "Turnen und Sport" (1973–1977)
• song
• Puppet
• Affection - affection

Chamber music

• Fantasy for violoncello and piano (August 1952)
• The marriage post (cantata) for SATB, violin I, violin II, viola, violoncello. Double bass, piano and drums (June 1, 1961)

Choral works

• Evening song for four-part female choir (February 10, 1983)
• "Von Luzern auf Wäggis zu" for mixed choir (based on a movement by Q. Rische and F. Schmidt)
• "Christmas" for four-part female choir
• "Bride song" (from Franconia) for mixed choir and individual voices
• "S'ist Feierabend" for four-part mixed choir
• “Spring leaves its blue ribbon” (text: Eduard Mörike ) for three-part female choir and piano

Folk music arrangements

• Vocal works for the "Windsheim Singers"
• Instrumental works for the "Five Aisch founders"