Johannes Driessler

Johannes Driessler (born January 26, 1921 in Friedrichsthal (Saar) ; † May 3, 1998 in Detmold ) was a German composer and university professor.

Life

After school and high school, Driessler was drafted into the Reich Labor Service in April 1939 . In October 1939 he began studying at the Pedagogical Academy in Dortmund, which he continued in January 1940 at the Cologne University of Music . A short time later, in November 1940, he was drafted for military service. In 1944 he married Gertrud Ledermann.

After the Second World War , in 1945, Johannes Driessler became a teacher at the South German Landerziehungsheim in Schondorf am Ammersee . In 1946 he worked as a lecturer at the Northwest German Music Academy, today's Detmold University of Music . It was here in 1950 that he began building up the academy's church music department. On August 25, 1950, his oratorio Your Kingdom Come (op. 11) was premiered. In 1953 he interrupted his work for the academy in order to devote himself more to composition. In 1954, however, he resumed his activity at the music academy. In 1956 he received the Maletz scholarship from the cultural group in the Federal Association of German Industry. In 1958 he was appointed professor at the music academy and in 1959 deputy rector. His last composition, Op. 64, appeared in 1971. In 1972 he resigned from the post of deputy rector.

In 1983 Johannes Driessler retired.

meaning

The two choral works Sinfonia Sacra, Op. 6 and Your Reich Come, Op. 11 were a singular success in the early 1950s . Johannes Driessler became known far beyond the borders of Germany overnight. Although none of his later works can build on this early success, Driessler has a significant influence with them on the modern sacred music that followed.

In 1959 he received the Westphalian Music Prize , and in 1962 the Saarland Art Prize .

Works

• Sinfonia Sacra op.6
• Thy kingdom come , Oratorio op.11 (1950)
• Claudia amata , lyric opera op.17 (world premiere 1952 Münster)
• Princess Hochmut , fairy tale opera op.21 (first performance 1952 Kassel)
• Der Unfried , youth opera (first performance 1957)
• Doctor Lucifer Trux Opera (first performance 1958)
• Piano Concerto op.27 (1953, rev. 1956, first performance in Detmold on December 19, 1971 with Klaus Schilde)
• Sonata for violoncello and piano op.41 no.2
• Three small pieces for violoncello and piano op.8
• Duo for violin and violoncello
• Fantasia for violoncello and piano op.24 no.2
• Sonata for viola alone (1946)

literature

• Michael Heinemann : Choral as a transcendental structure. To the organ music by Johannes Driessler. In: Ars Organi 44, 1996, issue 2.
• Markus Kiefer: Johannes Driessler - Life and Work Mainz 2002 (Dissertation, full text )
• Platen, Emil : Johannes Driessler's oratorio “Your Kingdom Come” . In: Music and Church 1951
• Karl Heinrich Schweinsberg: Johannes Driessler . In: Music and Church 1950
• Karl Heinrich Schweinsberg: Johannes Driessler's "De Profundis" . In: Music and Church 1954
• Cäcilie Kowald: The German-language oratorio libretto 1945-2000 . Berlin 2007 (dissertation, PDF )
• Renewal of the community . In: Die Zeit , No. 21/1951
• About Driessler performances by the Dresden Kreuzchor, in: Matthias Herrmann (ed.): Dresdner Kreuzchor and contemporary choral music. World premieres between Richter and Kreile, Marburg 2017, pp. 79–80, 233–234, 309, 311, 318 (Schriften des Dresdner Kreuzchor, Vol. 2). ISBN 978-3-8288-3906-9

Web links

• Johannes Driessler in the Saarland biographies
• Literature by and about Johannes Driessler in the catalog of the German National Library