Hermann Wenzel (composer)

Hermann Wenzel

Hermann Richard Wenzel (born December 16, 1863 in Großschönau , Saxony , † June 17, 1944 in Großschönau) was a German composer .

Life

Wenzel was born in Großschönau in December 1863 as the son of the damask weaver and amateur musician Carl Gottfried Wenzel. His musical talent was already evident in his youth when he joined the church choir at the age of eleven. The cantor of his home town recognized this talent and gave him lessons in counterpoint and organ playing. Soon he was able to replace his teacher on the organ. First he attended the so-called weaving school in Großschönau and learned his father's trade. For financial reasons he was only able to start studying music at the age of 21. He entered the Dresden Conservatory . There he received thorough training in piano and violin playing, singing, harmony theory and composition, the latter from Felix Draeseke . After completing his studies, he returned to his home town in 1887 and settled down as a freelance music teacher, choir director and composer. On April 17, 1913 was him by the Saxon King Friedrich August III. awarded the title of "Royal Music Director". Hermann Wenzel died after a stroke on June 17, 1944 in Großschönau. His birthplace and home in Obere Mandaustraße, which he shared with his wife Minna Paulina, nee. Marx, inhabited, still exists today and is privately owned. Of his four children, his only son Martin Wenzel should be mentioned as a musician in Zittau , who has revised and re-edited some of his works.

Works

His first composition for piano, the Salon Fantasy “Spring Sounds”, op. 12, was the beginning of a long creative period. His initially composed salon pieces, dances and marches for piano achieved great success. He wrote several thousand such easily comprehensible piano works. By the First World War , over 500 individual editions of salon pieces had appeared. Among them is the extremely popular Gavotte Veilchen from Abbazia , op. 214, which was arranged for both salon orchestras and choral works. After 1918, no further new salon pieces were published as a single edition.

Mention should also be made of the 12 volumes of the “Schweizer Salon Album”, which is still used today as ancillary material for early piano lessons. There are also a large number of secular and sacred works for male, female and mixed choirs. Some songs and arias for voice and piano or organ also include his work. There are also compositions for cello and piano and sonatinas for violin and piano. A violin school remained unpublished.

His compositions for harmonium are outstanding, especially the volumes Allerseelen, Choral Preludes and Organ Magic with fantasies about various Protestant chorales. In his compositions for harmonium he uses a wide range of harmonies. Wenzel himself wrote a piano and a harmonium school.

With the exception of op. 2, youth for male choir and baritone solo a cappella, all of his works were published by the publisher Fr. Portius, formerly in Leipzig (then in Stuttgart, Glonn near Munich, Zwiesel, Mauerkirchen in Austria and now extinct). This publishing house also published works under the pseudonyms Otto Fröhlich, Georg Blüthner (probably due to his grand piano from the house of Blüthner , Leipzig) and Emil Radi (not secured). His works were widely distributed worldwide and enjoyed great popularity. Due to the social changes after the First and especially the Second World War , his work was forgotten. Salon and popular music have been experiencing a renaissance over the past ten years, and Wenceslas' works are in greater demand again.

Bibliography / Compositions Available in Press

• Mood pictures. 60 lyrical clay pieces for harmonium composed by Hermann Wenzel. 4 volumes. Leipzig, Fr. Portius (Andr. Scherz) [around 1910] (Portius edition).

• Violets from Abbazia. Gavotte for piano composed by Hermann Wenzel. Op. 214. Ms. Portius Musikverlag Leipzig 1927.

• Hermann Wenzel: Choral pearls. A selection of the most beautiful and well-known chorales and sacred songs for harmonium by Hermann Wenzel with text and characteristic prelude, interlude and epilogue for the respective melody by Carl Schönherr. Fr. Portius Musikverlag Leipzig 1929 (Portius edition).

• Richard Wagner: Opera treasure. Melodies from Wagner's stage works, for harmonium solo with underlying text. Slightly edited by Hermann Wenzel. 2 volumes. Fr. Portius Musikverlag Leipzig [around 1930] (Portius edition).

• Practical harmonium school. Extensive course. To learn to play the harmonium safely and thoroughly from the very beginning, along with instructions for registering and with many exercise and entertainment pieces, edited by Hermann Wenzel. 13th thousand. Leipzig, Fr. Portius (Andr. Scherz) 1931 (Portius edition).

• Harmonium Etudes, 2 volumes

Web links

• Hermann Wenzel on klassika.info
• Personalities of Großschönau
• Sheet music and audio files by Hermann Wenzel in the International Music Score Library Project