Heinz Röttger

Heinz Röttger (born November 6, 1909 in Herford , † August 26, 1977 in Dessau ) was a German composer and conductor .

Life

Röttger studied conducting and composition at the Munich Academy of Music from 1928 to 1931 with Siegmund von Hausegger and Walter Courvoisier . In 1930 he also began studying musicology and received his doctorate in 1934 with his dissertation “The problem of form in Richard Strauss ”. In the 1933/34 season he was also Hans Knappertsbusch's assistant at the Bavarian State Opera . From 1934 to 1944 he worked as a répétiteur and Kapellmeister at the Augsburg Theater . Röttger had to take part in World War II as a soldier and was taken prisoner of war, from which he was released in 1946. From 1948 to 1951 he was musical director at the Stralsund Theater , then until 1954 as general music director at the Rostock Volkstheater . In 1954 he was finally given the musical direction of the State Theater Dessau , which he held until his death. In 1963 he was appointed professor. Röttger received, among other things, the Handel Prize of the Halle District (1961) and the Art Prize of the City of Dessau (1963).

Audio language

Röttger initially composed in a late romantic style influenced by Richard Strauss, among others. After the Second World War , however, it opened up to much more modern tendencies. He was oriented towards innovations by composers such as Igor Stravinsky , Béla Bartók and, above all, Arnold Schönberg . Many of his later works use dodecaphonic techniques. Röttger developed a powerful, expressive style, largely without orienting itself to any particular degree on the aesthetics of Socialist Realism, which had long been officially desired in the GDR. The focus of his work was orchestral music and stage works, which he often performed as a conductor himself. As a conductor, Röttger was a particularly prominent advocate of contemporary music.

Works

• Symphonies and symphonies
  • Symphony No.1 in D major (1935)
  • four symphonies (1936)
  • Symphony in E major (1937)
  • Symphony in G sharp minor (1939)
  • Choral symphony "Shouldn't I sing to my God?" (1946)
  • Sinfonia brevis (1949)
  • Dessau Symphony (1965/66)
  • Sinfonietta (1937)
  • Sinfonietta No.2 (1941)
  • Sinfonietta brevis da camera (1960)
  • Sinfonietta per archi (1968)
• further orchestral works
  • Symphonic Suite (1936)
  • Symphonic improvisations (1948)
  • Orchestral Impromptus (1952)
  • Orchestral Aphorisms (1954)
  • Concertino for orchestra (1964)
  • Music for orchestra (1972)
  • Symphonic Contrasts (1976)
• Concerts
  • Piano Concerto (1951)
  • Concerto for two violins and orchestra (1969)
  • Concerto for violin, violoncello and orchestra (1972)
  • Concerto for violin, double bass and string orchestra (1971)
  • Violin Concertos (E major 1943, 1969)
  • Violoncello Concerts (1952, 1962)
  • Double bass concert (1966)
• Operas and other vocal music
  • The Dark Knight , Opera (1943)
  • Luciafest , opera (1944)
  • Karl Michael Bellmann , Opera (1952)
  • Phaeton , opera based on Ovid (1958)
  • The women of Troy , opera based on Euripides (1959)
  • The marriage proposal , opera based on Chekhov (1959)
  • The Road to Palermo , Opera (1964)
  • Spanish Capriccio , Opera (1976)
  • Stage fairy tale
  • Borchert Cantata (1957)
  • Mahomet cantata based on Goethe (1957)
  • Song cycles
• Chamber music
  • Octet (1948)
  • Piano quintets (1935, 1942)
  • String quartets (1936, 1936, D minor 1937, 1943, 1951, 1959)
  • Piano Trios (1943, 1956)
  • Violin Sonatas (C sharp minor 1927/28, 1938)
  • Viola Sonata (1943)
  • Violoncello Sonatas (1938, 1946, 1962)
  • Four piano pieces (1957)

swell

• Hollfelder, Peter: The Piano Music , Hamburg 1999
• Laux, Karl (Hrsg.): The music life in the German Democratic Republic , Leipzig undated
• Rosenfeld, Gerhard : text accompanying the CD Hastedt HT 5314 contemporary east 14: Heinz Röttger: orchestral works