Julius Weismann

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Julius Weismann (born December 26, 1879 in Freiburg im Breisgau , † December 22, 1950 in Singen ) was a German composer .

Life

Julius Weismann was the son of the zoologist and important evolutionary biologist August Weismann . As early as 1891/92 he received composition lessons from Josef Gabriel Rheinberger in Munich. After piano lessons in Freiburg and language studies in Lausanne , he studied music in Berlin in 1898/99 (among others with Heinrich von Herzogenberg ), then for three years with Ludwig Thuille in Munich. In 1902 he married the singer Anna Hecker and settled in Munich as a freelance composer. In 1906 he returned to Freiburg and worked as a composer, conductor and pianist. Weismann, who had long been valued as a pianist, achieved a broad breakthrough in the public cultural scene in the 1920s, but no later than 1925/26. Between 1919 and 1930 he wrote five operas alone. Particularly noteworthy are the works based on texts by August Strindberg (Schwanenweiß op. 75, Ein Traumspiel op. 83, Gespenstersonata op. 100). His work found wide distribution in these years.

From 1934 Julius Weismann was one of the honorary chairmen of the "Working Group of National Socialist Composers". In 1935 he wrote a new incidental music for Shakespeare's comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream on behalf of the National Socialist Cultural Community , which was supposed to replace the composition by Mendelssohn , but which did not establish itself in the theaters. On the Fuehrer's birthday on April 20, 1936, Adolf Hitler appointed him professor. He received this title again in 1950 from the state of Baden . In 1938 he wrote his most successful opera, Die Pfiffige Magd, based on a text by Ludvig Holberg . In 1939 he became an honorary citizen of Freiburg and in the same year he was awarded the Leipzig Johann Sebastian Bach Prize . In the same year he moved to Nussdorf near Überlingen (Lake Constance) and stopped teaching, but continued to compose.

His late works include the composition for piano Der Fugenbaum op. 150 (1943–45), a cycle of 24 preludes and fugues, and the choral work with solos and orchestra Der Wächterruf op. 151 (1946–49). In this work, Weismann processed "the horrific events of the last decade" and the destruction of his hometown Freiburg in November 1944 .

After his death, a Julius Weismann archive was set up in Duisburg in 1954 at the suggestion of Wieland Wagner . The archive last kept in the Duisburg City Library was handed over to the Duisburg City Archives in 2014. The estate was re-recorded there and can now be researched using an online finding aid.

Julius Weismann had four children, among them the dancer Ursel Weismann.

plant

Weismann left behind more than 150 works with opus numbers (as well as numerous unnumbered works). These include six operas, three symphonies, three piano concertos, four violin concertos, eleven string quartets, piano music and around 250 songs.

Stylistically, Weismann followed German Romanticism, especially Schumann and Brahms , but there are also influences from his teacher Thuille , elements of Impressionism , echoes of Reger and, especially in his late work, a turn to Johann Sebastian Bach's counterpoint . Despite these influences, Weismann's work, with its sensual sound, which is often accompanied by laconic dryness and aphoristic conciseness, represents an independent and significant contribution to the music of the 20th century.

Honor

In Freiburg im Breisgau, a street in the Waldsee district is named after Julius Weismann and his father, August Weismann. The reason for the naming by the Freiburg city council in 1956 was the 75th birthday of Julius Weismann, whereby August Weismann should be honored after there had been resistance in the 1930s against August-Weismann-Straße in the clinic district.

In 2016, a "Commission for the Review of Freiburg Street Names" headed by the historian Bernd Martin proposed that Weismannstrasse be renamed "Julius-Weismann-Strasse" and given a supplementary sign with the following text. "Julius Weismann (1879-1950), composer. Formerly named after his father August Weismann (1834-1914), zoologist and pioneer of 'racial hygiene'".

In the justification of the commission, the following is stated about Julius Weismann: "Julius W. met the taste of leading Nazis with his late and post-romantic music. He willingly accepted commissioned compositions; without being a fanatical supporter of the Nazi ideology himself, he supported this the regime." In 2017 the Commission revised its assessment and its original proposal was not followed.

literature

  • Franz Hirtler: Julius Weismann: For the 100th birthday of the German composer . In: Duisburger Forschungen , Volume 27, Duisburg 1979, pp. 164-176.
  • Fred K. Prieberg : Music in the Nazi State , Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1982, ISBN 3-596-26901-6
  • Gerd Rataj: Julius Weismann - one life . In: Julius Weismann - Life and Work . Edited by the Julius Weismann Archive. Duisburg 1990.
  • Julius Weismann 1879–1950: Catalog raisonné . Created by Ursel Küppers-Weismann and Wilm Falcke, ed. from the Weismann Archive eV Duisburg 1990.
  • Horst Ferdinand: Julius Weismann . In: Badische Biographien , New Series, Volume IV, Stuttgart 1996, page 314ff.
  • Sibylle Lützner: Use and abuse: Julius Weismann - a composer in the area of ​​tension between National Socialist aesthetics and cultural politics . In: The Dark Load: Music and National Socialism . Edited by Brunhilde Sonntag, Hans-Werner Boresch, Dieter Gojowy. Writings on musicology and music theory, Vol. 3. Cologne 1999, pp. 199ff.
  • Fred K. Prieberg: Handbook of German Musicians 1933–1945 , CD-ROM Lexicon, Kiel 2004, pp. 7637–7638.
  • Rudolf Lück: Julius Weismann . In: MGG ², person part, vol. 17, Kassel 2007, col. 717-718.
  • Carola Wiegand: Julius Weismann and his piano music . Frankfurt am Main 2007.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sibylle Lützner : Use and Abuse: Julius Weismann - a composer in the field of tension between National Socialist aesthetics and cultural policy , in: The dark load: Music and National Socialism , ed. by Brunhilde Sonntag, Hans-Werner Boresch, Dieter Gowoj; Writings on musicology and music theory, Vol. 3, Cologne 1999, pp. 199ff.
  2. ↑ Rudolf Lück : Julius Weismann in MGG ², personal section, vol. 17, Kassel 2007, col. 717–718.
  3. ↑ Fred K. Prieberg: Music in the Nazi State , Frankfurt 1982, p. 171
  4. ^ A b Fred K. Prieberg : Handbook of German Musicians 1933–1945 , CD-Rom-Lexikon, Kiel 2004, pp. 7637–7638.
  5. ↑ Fred K. Prieberg: Music in the Nazi State , Frankfurt 1982, page 150ff.
  6. ^ Program booklet for the premiere, Duisburg January 11, 1950
  7. ↑ Short biography
  8. ^ Final report of the commission to review the Freiburg street names
  9. ↑ Citizens' Association Oberwiehre-Waldsee: Justice for August Weismann
personal data
SURNAME Weismann, Julius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German composer
DATE OF BIRTH December 26, 1879
PLACE OF BIRTH Freiburg in Breisgau
DATE OF DEATH December 22, 1950
Place of death Singing (Hohentwiel)