Herbert Windt
Herbert Windt (born September 15, 1894 in Senftenberg , † November 22, 1965 in Deisenhofen ) was a German composer .
Life
The son of the businessman Georg Windt and his wife Hedwig began studying music at the Stern Conservatory in 1910 . When the war broke out in 1914, the music student volunteered for the front. In the Battle of Verdun on August 16, 1917, as Vice Sergeant in a Reserve Infantry Regiment, he was seriously wounded and lost an eye. Then he was awarded the Iron Cross, 2nd class.
After the war he studied in 1921/1922 at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin with Franz Schreker and received several awards. His most important work was the opera Andromache , for which he also wrote the libretto . The opera was removed from the program after just four performances. In the audience, however, there was a UFA film producer who offered Windt the opportunity to compose the music for the submarine film Morgenrot .
During the National Socialist era , it was not the opera but the film that became the domain of Herbert Windt, who joined the NSDAP in November 1931 (No. 698.452). Along with Wolfgang Zeller , Michael Jary , Franz Grothe and Georg Haentzschel, Windt became one of the most prominent film composers of the Third Reich . He worked closely with Leni Riefenstahl in particular ( Triumph des Willens 1934/35, Olympia 1936–1938, Tiefland 1940/54), but also Wolfgang Liebeneiner ( The Discharge , 1942), Georg Wilhelm Pabst ( Paracelsus , 1943), Frank Wisbar ( The Unknown , 1936, Fährmann Maria , 1936) and Gustav Ucicky ( Morgenrot , 1933) use him with preference for their films. Also for the propaganda films of Karl Ritter , especially the reserved films crew Dora , GPU , in the fight against the world enemy , cadets , Legion Condor , Pour le Mérite , Stukas , company Michael and above all else in the world Herbert Windt supplied the music.
Especially his scores to propaganda films such campaign in Poland (1940) and victory in the West (1941) excited even during the Second World War, the attention of the film sociologist Siegfried Kracauer , the composer in his memoirs, From Caligari to Hitler and theory of film devoted detailed analyzes.
Windt's style is seldom based on the guidelines of his teacher Schreker (such as in the introductory sequence of Triumph des Willens ), rather his music is micro-motifically shaped (see the Olympic scores, which are based on only one single eight-tone basic motif) and draws is characterized by a sophisticated rhythm (e.g. in Friedrich Schiller - Triumph eines Genies , 1940). In addition to his film music, he composed numerous soldier songs.
After several years of professional bans due to his Nazi past, he composed film music again in the post-war period, including for Frank Wisbar's Stalingrad film Dogs, You Want to Live Forever (1958). He also wrote about 40 music for radio plays.
Herbert Windt had been married to the contralto Friedel Bosch since 1921. His second wife Else was the mother of his daughter, who was born towards the end of the war.
His grave is in the Zehlendorf forest cemetery in Berlin.
Works
- Singing over the waters (cantata based on a poem by Richard Dehmel ; first performance 1921 in Aachen)
- Andante Religioso (Chamber Symphony, first performance on July 4, 1921 in Berlin)
- Incidental music for the play Hannibal , premiere on October 17, 1923
- Andromache (two-act opera based on the play Andromache ; world premiere on March 16, 1932, Berlin)
- Symphony of Labor (1933)
- Incidental music for the "Thingspiel" German Passion 1933 by Richard Euringer
- The flight to Niederwald (radio cantata for Hitler's 47th birthday, which was broadcast on the German broadcaster in 1936)
Film music
- 1933: Dawn
- 1933: You should not desire
- 1933: refugees
- 1933: The victory of faith
- 1933: rivals of the air
- 1933: Wilhelm Tell
- 1934: The four musketeers
- 1934: The riders of German East Africa
- 1934: Hermione and the seven upright ones
- 1935: My life for Maria Isabell
- 1934/35: Triumph of will
- 1936: the unknown
- 1936: Ferryman Maria
- 1936: Standschütze Bruggler
- 1937: The beautiful Fraulein Schragg
- 1937: Michael company
- 1937: Strong Hearts / Strong Hearts in the Storm (first performance 1953)
- 1937: The secret of Betty Bonn
- 1938: Olympia - Festival of the Nations
- 1938: Olympia - Festival of Beauty
- 1938: Northern Lights
- 1938: Mrs. Sixta
- 1938: By a thread
- 1938: Pour le Mérite
- 1939: In the fight against the world enemy
- 1939: Legion Condor (film) (unfinished)
- 1939: a doctor's novel
- 1939: Forest rush
- 1939: Midsummer bonfire
- 1940: Angelica
- 1940: Friedrich Schiller - Triumph of a genius
- 1940: Campaign in Poland
- 1941: Cadets
- 1941: victory in the west
- 1941: About everything in the world
- 1941: Stukas
- 1941: Weather lights around Barbara
- 1942: The dismissal / turning point
- 1942: GPU
- 1943: Paracelsus
- 1943: Occupation of Dora
- 1944: The Degenhardts
- 1944: Soloist Anna Alt
- 1945: people among sharks
- 1944: lowlands (completed in 1953)
- 1950: The woman from last night
- 1951: Stips
- 1952: The Battle of the Tertia
- 1952: When the heather dreams in the evening
- 1953: Christina
- 1954: beacon
- 1955: heroism after the store closes
- 1955: Ciske - a child needs love
- 1956: roses for Bettina
- 1956: Through the woods, through the meadows
- 1957: Rose Bernd
- 1958: heart without mercy
- 1958: Dogs, do you want to live forever
- 1960: In the name of a mother
Awards
- 1921: Mendelssohn Prize from the Prussian Ministry of Culture
- 1923: Prize from the Herzfeld Foundation
literature
- Henning Dibbern, Ansgar Schlichter: Herbert Windt (1894–1965). In: Kieler Contributions to Film Music Research 4, 2010 ( ISSN 1866-4768 ), pp. 209–212 ( online , PDF, 105 kB).
- Christoph Henzel: Between Scherker and Schönberg. Herbert Windt 1921 , in: Luca Böggemann, Dietmar Scenk (ed.): “Where is the flight going? To the youth ”. Franz Schreker and his students in Berlin , Olms-Verlag, Hildesheim / Zurich / New York 2009, pp. 97–111, ISBN 978-3-487-14214-2
- Siegfried Kracauer: Theory of the film. The salvation of external reality . Frankfurt am Main 1964. p. 218 ff.
- Siegfried Kracauer: From Caligari to Hitler. A psychological history of German film . Frankfurt am Main 1979. pp. 322 ff. And 366 ff.
- B. Hannah Schaub: Riefenstahl's Olympia. Body ideals - ethical responsibility or freedom of the artist? , Munich 2003. pp. 64-70.
- Stefan Schmidl: Composing for Hitler. Film music of Herbert Windt . In: Filmscore Monthly Vol.11 / No.7 (07/2006).
- Reimar Volker: Very welcome from above - Herbert Windt's film music in Nazi propaganda film. Trier 2003.
- Michael Walter: The music of the 1938 Olympic film . In: (ders.): Hitler in the opera. German musical life 1919–1945 . Stuttgart, Weimar 2000.
Web links
- Herbert Windt in the Internet Movie Database (English)
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Windt, Herbert |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German composer |
DATE OF BIRTH | September 15, 1894 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Senftenberg |
DATE OF DEATH | November 22, 1965 |
Place of death | Deisenhofen |