Hellmuth Merkel

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Hellmuth Merkel (born March 7, 1915 in Lichtenstein / Sa. , † December 5, 1982 ibid) was a German musician , composer and conductor .

Life

Hellmuth Merkel was born in Lichtenstein / Sa. born. There he grew up as the only child of Georg Merkel and Marie Merkel (née Bachmann). His musical activity began in the 1920s at the Radebeul Orchestra School . After war and military service as well as long Soviet imprisonment, Hellmuth Merkel co-founded the dance and entertainment orchestra "Hohensteiner 13" in Hohenstein-Ernstthal in 1949 . This was followed by leading musical activities at IG Wismut , the Eros circus , the Zwickauer Lindenhof and the Aue workers' music theater .

In 1966 he took over the musical supervision of the Erzgebirge Ensemble Aue . In this position he dedicated himself to maintaining the traditions of Erzgebirge songs and developing the ensemble.

He deserves the credit that he has given the forgotten Russian horns their due place in the Ore Mountains folklore through replicas and new compositions specially dedicated to them. For this purpose he cooperated closely with the Freiberg Museum , whose fund includes original instruments that once brought miner August von Herder to the mining town .

He composed and arranged numerous songs and pieces of music for the Erzgebirge Ensemble Aue, which were also distributed on long-playing records and CDs. Particular mention should be made of the recordings he produced: “In dr Hammerschenk”, “Erzgebirgsweihnacht” and “Wu de Walder haamlich rauschen”. Also in numerous books, such as B. 10 old and new songs from the Ore Mountains and on song postcards found his works distributed.

His compositional legacy comprises more than 500 titles, including pieces that can be assigned to the genre of light music, which at the time belonged to the repertoire of many orchestras as well as radio, television and film.

family

In 1940 he married his wife Helene, with whom he had a daughter in 1951.

Awards

Hellmuth Merkel was honored with numerous awards and cultural prizes from the GDR for his extensive work.

Discography

  • 1973 "In dr Hammerschenk"
  • 1974 "Erzgebirge Christmas"
  • 1977 "Wu de Walder utterly rustling"

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 10 [Ten] old and new songs from the Ore Mountains / selected. by Manfred Blechschmidt; music. edit from Hellmuth Merkel; Helmut Reinbothe. Ore Mountains Care Center. u. voigtland. Folklore at the district cabinet for cultural work, Karl-Marx-Stadt 1981, 24 pp.
personal data
SURNAME Merkel, Hellmuth
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German musician, composer and conductor
DATE OF BIRTH March 7, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH Lichtenstein / Sa.
DATE OF DEATH 5th December 1982
Place of death Lichtenstein / Sa.