Irene Greulich

Irene Elisabeth Greulich (born August 4, 1944 in Radebeul as Irene Elisabeth Lullack ; † August 28, 2017 in Naumburg (Saale) ) was a German organist and cantor . From 1971 to 2008 she was a church musician at the St. Wenzel Church in Naumburg (Saale). The preservation and restoration of the Hildebrandt organ from 1746 in the Wenzelskirche - an organ that Johann Sebastian Bach once examined and praised - is largely thanks to their decades of commitment .

Life

Musical training and studies

Irene Greulich came into contact with church music and the Christian faith during her time as a singer in the Magdeburg Cathedral Choir . Despite the fact that her parents were politically different, she decided to study church music at the Evangelical College for Church Music in Halle , which she finished in 1969. She then worked as an assistant at the Görlitz Church Music School .

Activity as organist and cantor

Irene Greulich's place of work: galleries of the St. Wenzel Naumburg town church , with Hildebrandt organ

In 1971, at the age of 27, Irene Greulich took over the office of cantor and organist at the town church of St. Wenzel Naumburg. There she had a decisive influence on church music until her retirement in 2008: in choir work, with new concert formats and with her permanent commitment to the Hildebrandt organ.

As an organist, she has given concerts in almost all European countries and overseas, her artistic work is documented in radio, television and CD recordings.

In 1991 Irene Greulich founded the Hildebrandt-Orgel Naumburg eV support group and was involved in organ restoration. After an international symposium in 1992, this was realized in 1993-2000 by the company Hermann Eule Orgelbau Bautzen . The concert series “Orgel Punkt Twelve”, “Internationaler Organ Summer Naumburg” and the “Hildebrandt Days” festival go back to Greulich's initiative. From 1999 to 2004 she was organ expert for the Evangelical Church of the Church Province of Saxony .

For Irene Greulich, church music was a lively proclamation with which she touched the audience. At the end of September 2008 Greulich retired after 37 years of service as organist and cantor of the Wenceslas Church. Afterwards she continued to give concerts in Naumburg as well as in Germany and abroad, and took over church services and organ tours in St. Wenzel. Her last public concert was on June 29, 2013 in St. Wenzel together with the Naumburg saxophonist Rüdiger Trosits. She found her final resting place in the Westfriedhof in Magdeburg .

For more than 30 years, Irene Greulich campaigned for the rescue of the organ from 1746 by Zacharias Hildebrandt in Naumburg's Wenzelskirche - with lasting success. Her successor was the 28-year-old organist David Franke from Freiberg .

Discography

• Organ point twelve - Irene Greulich on the positive back of the Hildebrandt organ at St. Wenzel in Naumburg. CD. Published by Schlangenbad-Georgenborn Bruno Hebestreit, 1999.
• The Hildebrandt organ in the St. Wenceslas Church in Naumburg - Irene Greulich plays Bach, Ritter, Buxtehude, Heiller, Liszt, Franck. CD. Naumburg 1996.
• An evening music in the Wenceslas Church in Naumburg. CD. Motette-Ursina-Schallplattenverlag, Düsseldorf 1996.
• The Hildebrandt organ of the S [ank] t Wenzels Church in Naumburg. Audio cassette. Metrix recording studio and music publisher, Halle (Saale) 1995.

Web links

• Works with Irene Greulich in the catalog of the German National Library
• Obituary for Irene Greulich, long-time cantor and organist at St. Wenzel Naumburg. PDF file, accessed October 3, 2017
• Mourning for Irene Greulich - long-time cantor and organist at St. Wenzel Naumburg. Obituary by David Franke , on the website of the city of Naumburg
• Irene Elisabeth Greulich's death notice from the family ( Mitteldeutsche Zeitung )
• Irene Greulich obituaries from the city and ev. Parish of Naumburg (Mitteldeutsche Zeitung)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Cathedral city of Naumburg an der Saale : Mourning for Irene Greulich - long-time cantor and organist at St. Wenzel Naumburg , accessed on November 14, 2017
2. ↑ ^{a b} Family obituary notice
3. ↑ St. Wenzel Naumburg: Hildebrandt-Orgel 1746 , accessed on October 6, 2017
4. ↑ David Franke, organist at St. Wenzel Naumburg: Obituary for Irene Greulich, long-time cantor and organist at St. Wenzel Naumburg , as a pdf file ( memento of the original from October 4, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed November 14, 2017.