Hermann Simon (composer)

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Hermann Simon (born January 26, 1896 in Berlin , † November 14, 1948 in Waldshut-Tiengen ) was a German composer .

Life

Simon's childhood was shaped by early strokes of fate. His mother died early and he himself was in a coma for months after a serious fall. Simon received his musical education as a choirboy in the Berlin State and Cathedral Choir and later at the State University of Music. With his compositions he made an important contribution to the renewal of Protestant church music. Because of his preference for text settings, the press coined the catchphrase "word musician" for him. In 1932 he was commissioned by the Berlin State Theater on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the death of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe to write new incidental music for Faust. To compose a tragedy . The result was a succinct musical language, with a realistic, gripping drama and was praised as a prime example of exemplary drama music. This brought Simon into artistic contact with Gustaf Gründgens , who staged the performances. Hermann Simon never had a permanent position. During National Socialism , he managed to get by with settings by Nazi-loyal writers such as Heinrich Anacker and Kurt Eggers . At the same time, those of his choir songs were published under the title “Chorales of the Nation” that had already had a permanent place in socialist choir life. After the end of the Second World War he became seriously ill. He could no longer take up an appointment at the municipal conservatory in Berlin . In Waldshut and Tiengen he gave very individual performances of his works together with his wife, the song and oratorio singer Else Simon.

Grave of Hermann Simon and Else Simon in Tiengen

The sculptor Alfred Sachs took off his death mask . First he was buried near the grave of Philipp Manning and his wife, a Mozart singer. According to a new gravestone design by Ruth Schaumann, it now rests near the grave of Paul Kaminski , the father of the composer Heinrich Kaminski .

As a composer, Simon had a special stylistic and harmonious character, neither burdened by tradition nor by fashion trends. He has performed with oratorios in cantatas, choirs of all genres, vocal chamber music and song creations. Its specialty was the omission of the sentence and the combination of instruments, which was unusual at the time, e.g. B. flute and cello, vocals and horn, etc. a. m.

Works (selection)

  • A full-length opera Reinhold Lenz, the poet's end , created at a young age for a performance by Bruno Walter in Berlin , which deals with the unhappy life of Reinhold Lenz in symbolic visions, was never performed, the first three pictures were lost.
  • Altjahrslied (F. Woike)
  • Rise, yes you will rise (Klopstock)
  • On the way home (Rudolf Alexander Schröder) for a deep voice and violin, viola and cello, 1947
  • From the children's primer (Ottmar Gerster) for alto voice and viola, 1938
  • Crucifixus
  • Holiday music (E. Loindenborn) f. Male choir u. Blasorch., 1939
  • The carter f. 3stgn. Male choir
  • Imo Schäfer, fill everything that is named after you (G. Schüler)
  • Rich. Lion, prayer (Ad. Schlatter)
  • Prayer: Lord, whom I carry deep in my heart for singing and piano
  • Three Goethe songs
  • Faust I. Incidental music for Goethe's tragedy, 1932
  • Songs for Faust I (Goethe) f. 1 medium Male voice u. 4 solo instruments, 1939
  • Three hymn chants
  • Symphonic chants based on Nietzsche poems for baritone and orchestra
  • Heather (H. Anacker) f. 3stgn. Male choir
  • Die Liebende (text by Ruth Schaumann ) for 1 voice and piano, 1939
  • Song of the Faithful f. 1-2stgn. Choir with u. without instr.
  • Five Low German songs (Groth / Sühle) for mezzo-soprano, oboe, clarinet and piano
  • New songs for church and house for a medium. Voice and organ, 1939
  • The Way of the Cross, a musical devotion based on RS's paintings and poems, 1937
  • Luther Mass
  • Middle of life (text by Rudolf Alexander Schröder ), for 3stgn. Children's and women's choirs for chorales 3, 5, 7, 11, 13.
  • Pan's escape. Lyric humorous scene (Bierbaum) for soprano, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn
  • The duty (K. Eggers) f. 2-3stgn. Male choir
  • Psalm 24, 74, 121 (H. Vogel)
  • Father Wald (Joh. Linke) f. 3stgn. Women's choir
  • People want to people (H. Gutberlet) f. 2-3stgn. Male choir
  • Christmas message

Honors

A street in Waldshut-Tiengen was named after him.

Documents

Letters from Hermann Simon are in the holdings of the Leipzig music publisher CFPeters in the Leipzig State Archives .

The catalog raisonné contains over 100 works, 75 pieces from his wife's estate were given to the Klettgau Museum , 19 of them in manuscripts.

Web links

Music publisher website

literature

  • Matthias Herrmann (ed.): About Simon performances by the Dresden Kreuzchor . In: Dresdner Kreuzchor and contemporary choral music. World premieres between Richter and Kreile , Marburg 2017, pp. 67-68, 282-283, 299-301, 303, 305 (Schriften des Dresdner Kreuzchor, Vol. 2). ISBN 978-3-8288-3906-9 .
  • Eugen Rombach: Hermann Simon (1896–1948) in memory . In: Yearbook XIII. Home on the Upper Rhine . 1988

Individual evidence

  1. "Musica" Volume 4, 1956
  2. Werner Berg: Hermann Simon - a servant of the word , Die Tonkunst, No. 16, Berlin, June 1, 1940
  3. Otto Riemer: Music and Drama / Das Atlantisbuch der Musik , ed. Fred Hamel and Martin Hürlimann, Berlin + Zurich 1934, chap. VI, p. 820
  4. Heinz Tiessen: Hermann Simon , from "Musikblätter" No. 24, December 2, 1948
  5. Eugen Rombach: Hermann Simon (1896–1948) to commemorate In: Yearbook XIII. Home on the Upper Rhine. 1988 pp. 168 to 172 there pages 169 and 172.