Helmut Steinbach

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Helmut Steinbach (2012)

Helmut Steinbach (born January 18, 1929 in Betzdorf ; † January 29, 2019 ) was a German conductor .

Life

Steinbach grew up in Fürstenberg (Oder) and Hof (Saale) and lived in Frankfurt am Main since 1943 . From the age of six he learned the piano and later also the violin and trumpet . Until 1955 he studied musicology with Professors Helmuth Osthoff , Wilhelm Stauder and Friedrich Gennrich and directing with Heinz Hilpert at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main . His conducting teachers were General Music Director Bruno Vondenhoff and General Music Director Otto Matzerath .

In 1948 Steinbach founded the Frankfurt Youth Symphony Orchestra together with other young musicians . A year later he won in the Netherlands as a conductor of this orchestra the first prize at an international orchestra competition with the Great C Major Symphony of Franz Schubert . "His energetic activity" had "strongly motivated the young musicians striving for self-fulfillment in desolate times," said Frankfurt's former head of the cultural department, Hilmar Hoffmann, in 1994 about Steinbach. Musicians of this youth orchestra found their way as professional musicians in symphony orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic , the Bamberg Symphony or radio symphony orchestras. In 1955 Steinbach was appointed chief conductor for the concerts in Frankfurt's Palmengarten by the City of Frankfurt's Magistrate . The city of Frankfurt selected him from 90 competitors.

Helmut Steinbach conducts in the Paulskirche

In 1972 he founded the "Orchestra of the Philharmonic Society Frankfurt". Mstislaw Leopoldowitsch Rostropowitsch , Wolfgang Windgassen , Karl Ridderbusch , Brigitte Fassbaender , Kurt Böhme , Wolfgang Schneiderhan , Friedrich Gulda , Saschko Gawriloff , Leonard Hokanson and Paul Badura-Skoda gave guest performances at his concerts.

Helmut Steinbach with Mstislaw Rostropowitsch

In addition to the great classical and romantic concert literature, Steinbach was always particularly interested in rarely performed works. Baroque, classical and romantic rarities were also regularly incorporated into his subscription concerts in Frankfurt. Works by Joseph Joachim Raff were just as much a part of this as Muzio Clementi's symphonic work.

In addition, Steinbach attached importance to contemporary compositions in the concert program and created a world premiere and first performance series. A total of 60 premieres and German premieres took place in the subscription concerts. This included several works by Kurt Hessenberg , Hans Franke , Fritz Holtzwart and Victor Bruns . Steinbach particularly sponsored the Jewish composer Wilhelm Rettich , who had survived in a Dutch hiding place. Steinbach persuaded him to return to Germany. As part of the first Jewish Culture Week in Frankfurt in 1981, he conducted the world premiere of its Sinfonia Giudaica . A total of 14 works by Radich von Steinbach were included in the programs. In 1981 Steinbach first introduced student concerts as a conductor in Frankfurt.

Guest concerts took Steinbach through Europe. He has made guest appearances in Prague , Budapest , London , Copenhagen and Zurich , among others . Invitations to non-European areas such as B. Japan, Australia or the USA rejected Steinbach, who suffered from fear of flying.

Steinbach was part of Frankfurt's cultural life for 40 years. “An institution in Frankfurt's musical life” was the headline of the FAZ in 1994. During this time, he directed 5000 concerts in Frankfurt and expanded them into a successful series of events. At Christmas 1994 he ended his contractual work for the city of Frankfurt. In 2003 he withdrew completely from concert life.

Helmut Steinbach had been married to the politician Erika Steinbach since 1972 . He died a few days after his 90th birthday in January 2019. His grave is located in Frankfurt's main cemetery .

honors and awards

Web links

Commons : Helmut Steinbach  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Obituary notice Helmut Steinbach , FAZ from February 1, 2019
  2. ↑ Frankfurter Neue Presse of January 18, 1994
  3. ↑ a b Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of January 17, 2009
  4. ^ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of January 17, 1994
  5. ^ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of March 22, 1995
  6. ^ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of January 17, 2004
  7. ^ Cemetery administration of the city of Frankfurt am Main
personal data
SURNAME Steinbach, Helmut
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German conductor
DATE OF BIRTH January 18, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Betzdorf , Altenkirchen
DATE OF DEATH 29 January 2019