Jan Bender

Jan Oskar Bender (born February 3, 1909 in Haarlem ; †  December 29, 1994 in Hanerau-Hademarschen ) was a church musician and composer of Dutch origin who worked in Germany and the USA .

Life

Bender was born shortly after his father's death. His mother, who came from Lübeck , returned there with her four children in 1922. He received his first organ lessons in the Marienkirche with Karl Lichtwark and Walter Kraft and became one of the first members of the Lübeck singing and playing group founded by Bruno Grusnick in 1928 . 1930–1933 he studied church music in Leipzig , among others with Karl Straube . After he went to Amsterdam after the National Socialists came to power in 1933 , he returned to Lübeck in 1934. Here he studied mainly with Hugo Distler and became his first composition student.

After taking the church musician A exam , Bender got a job at the St. Gertrud Church in Lübeck . Here he got involved in the clashes of the church struggle when, at the end of 1936, he refused to play the organ at a church service that a pastor belonging to the German Christians was supposed to hold. When the organ failed due to an operating error by the sexton, Bender, who belonged to the Confessing Church , was accused of organ sabotage . He was arrested on New Year's Day 1937 and taken to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp , where he was held in protective custody until April 20, 1937 . In autumn 1937 he was offered a position as a church musician at the Lamberti Church in Aurich . He was drafted into the Wehrmacht and lost an eye in 1941 at Leningrad . In 1944 he was taken prisoner of war on the Western Front. While in captivity, he wrote simple choral pieces for camp services, which were published as Aurich Singbüchlein by Bärenreiter-Verlag after his release .

Further stations in his professional life were initially Langen (Hessen) near Frankfurt am Main and St. Michaelis in Lüneburg . Visiting professorships led him to Valparaiso University and University of Denver in the USA. In 1960 he accepted a position as assistant professor of church music at Concordia Teachers College in Seward ( Seward County, Nebraska) , an institution of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod . In 1965 he moved to Wittenberg University in Springfield (Ohio) , where he stayed until 1976. He was a member of various hymn book commissions of the Lutheran churches in the USA.

He returned to Germany with his wife in 1976 and spent his retirement in Hanerau-Hademarschen.

estate

Bender's estate, which includes more than 1,500 compositions, is in the Lübeck City Library .

Works

Organ compositions

• Fantasia on Awake, My Heart, with Gladness , Missouri: Concordia 1956, No. 97-4467
• Organ Settings for the Hymn of the Week, Missouri: Concordia 1956, No. 97-1444
• Phantasy on the Chorale Come, Holy Ghost, God and Lord . For Organ, Brass Choir, Tympani, and Cymbal, Missouri: Concordia 1956, No. 97-1443
• Processional on All Glory, Laud, and Honor , Missouri: Concordia 1956, No. 97-1396
• Toccata, Aria, and Fugue, Missouri: Concordia 1956, No. 97-4396
• Twenty Short Organ Pieces, Missouri: Concordia 1956, No. 97-3948

Choral songs

• The Lord Is My Light. Motet for double chorus, Missouri: Concordia 1956, No. 97-6339
• Psalm 130, For four- to six-part mixed chorus with brass choir accompaniment and organ (ad libitum), Missouri: Concordia 1956, no. 97-6325
• Psalm 150. For five-part mixed chorus with brass choir accompaniment, Missouri: Concordia 1956, no. 97-6278
• Te Deum laudamus (We Praise Thee, 0 God). For mixed voices, Missouri: Concordia 1956, no. 97-6273
• God So Loved the World (SATB), Missouri: Concordia 1956, No. 98-1078
• He Hath Done All Things Well (SATB), Missouri: Concordia 1956, No. 98-1067
• He Which Hath Begun a Good Work (SAB), Missouri: Concordia 1956, No. 98-1068
• Hodie Christ natus est (Christ Is Born Today) SATB, Missouri: Concordia 1956, No. 98-1430
• Lord, Save Us (SSAB), Missouri: Concordia 1956, No. 98-1160
• Many Shall Come from the East and West (SAB), Missouri: Concordia 1956, No. 98-1096
• Now Unto Him That Is Able (SATB), Missouri: Concordia 1956, No. 98-1079
• The Word Was Made Flesh (SATB), Missouri: Concordia 1956, No. 98-1431
• Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain (SA), Missouri: Concordia 1956, No. 98-1565
• Collection - Sing to the Lord a New Song. A Primer of Christian Song Full Music Edition, Missouri: Concordia 1956, No. 97-1420

Liturgical material

• Introits for Lent and Holy Week, Missouri: Concordia 1956, No. 98-1365
• Sentences for the Seasons, Missouri: Concordia 1956, No. 98-1461
• The Order of Holy Communion (Full Score), Missouri: Concordia 1956, No. 97-1434
• The Order of Holy Communion (Melody Edition), Missouri: Concordia 1956, No. 97-6322

Fonts

• Bruno Grusnick, Hugo Distler and me. In: Rolf Saltzwedel / Klaus D. Koch: Festschrift for Bruno Grusnick: for his 80th birthday , Stuttgart: Hänssler 1981, ISBN 3-7751-0637-5 , pp. 23-25

literature

• Arndt Schnoor: Jan Bender - an eventful life. In: Der Wagen 1995 ISBN 3-87302-086-6 , pp. 101-107
• David Fienen: Jan Oskar Bender - A Church Musician of the 20th Century. Biographical Essay and Catalog of Compositions online

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Schnoor (Lit.), p. 102

Web links

• Works by and about Jan Bender in the catalog of the German National Library