Justus Hermann Wetzel

Justus Hermann Wetzel, lithograph by Emil Orlik , 1919

Justus Hermann Wetzel (born March 11, 1879 in Kyritz ; † December 6, 1973 in Überlingen ) was a German composer , writer and music teacher .

Life

Justus Hermann Wetzel, painting by Erich Büttner , 1929/30; Berlin, New National Gallery

Wetzel was born in Kyritz, Brandenburg, the son of a postal secretary. After graduating from high school, which he passed in Potsdam in 1897, he studied biology in Berlin , Marburg and Munich from 1897 to 1901 . In Marburg he also did philosophical studies with Hermann Cohen and Paul Natorp . In 1901 he received his doctorate there with a zoological thesis. He then turned to music and deepened his knowledge with private studies in Berlin. The Friedrich Kiel Society recorded him as a student of Friedrich Kiel . He earned his living as a music consultant for various daily newspapers. From 1905 to 1907 he taught at the Riemann Conservatory in Stettin . In 1910 he finally moved to Berlin, where he initially taught at the Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory and in 1926 moved to the State Academy for Church Music in Berlin-Charlottenburg .

Although Wetzel lived relatively withdrawn and hardly committed himself to his work, a large circle of friends and admirers surrounded him. They included not only musicians, but also visual artists such as Emil Orlik and his pupil Gunter Böhmer , the poet Hermann Hesse and Anna Spitteler, the daughter of the Swiss Nobel Prize winner for literature, Carl Spitteler . Wetzel's pupils were the composers Mark Lothar and Friedrich Metzler and the pianist Gerhard Puchelt . On the occasion of Wetzel's 50th birthday, a concert took place on March 16, 1929 in the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin , which was exclusively dedicated to his work.

In 1937 Wetzel was dismissed from his teaching post because he refused to leave his Jewish wife Rose nee. Separate miner. In March 1943 she was one of those who were imprisoned on Rosenstrasse, but were released again through the famous Rosenstrasse protest . In 1945 Wetzel became a professor at the University of Music in Berlin ; In 1948 he moved with his family to Überlingen on Lake Constance .

family

The only child from Wetzel's marriage to Rose Bergmann is their daughter Ruth (born December 14, 1924 in Berlin). After the war she moved to Paris and was married there to the Spanish composer Antonio Ruiz-Pipó . The marriage remained childless.

estate

In 1999, Wetzel's estate was donated to the archive of the Berlin University of the Arts by his daughter Ruth Ruiz-Pipó . In 2004 and 2005 it was used for Wetzel exhibitions in Berlin and Überlingen . Both exhibitions were curated by the art historian Nancy Tanneberger, who also processed the estate. The Hesse songs found in the estate were published by Klaus Martin Kopitz in 2006 by Saier & Hug .

Compositions

Wetzel devoted himself almost exclusively to the solo song with piano accompaniment. More than 600 songs have come down to us, about 100 of which have appeared in print. Stylistically, they have their roots in Romanticism and tie in with Johannes Brahms and Hugo Wolf . The folk song was also an important source of inspiration. Numerous interpreters have campaigned for Wetzel, among the most famous are Emmi Leisner , Heinrich Schlusnus , Paula Salomon-Lindberg , Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau , Peter Schöne as well as the pianist Sandra Droucker and the accompanist Franz Rupp . Out in print:

• Eleven poems with music for one voice and piano , Berlin, self-published, 1911
• Op. 1, Six poems for a high voice and piano , Cologne, Tischer & Jagenberg, 1917 ( digitized version)
• Op. 2, Eight folk songs with new ways for a medium voice and piano , Cologne, Tischer & Jagenberg, 1917 ( digitized version )
• Op. 3, six poems for a high voice and piano , Cologne, Tischer & Jagenberg, 1919 ( digitized version )
• Op. 4, Six poems for a high voice and piano, Cologne, Tischer & Jagenberg, 1919
• Op. 5, seven poems for medium voice and piano , Cologne, Tischer & Jagenberg, 1919 ( digitized version )
• Op. 8, four poems for a high voice and piano , Cologne, Tischer & Jagenberg, 1919 ( digitized version )
• Op. 9, three poems for a medium voice and piano , Cologne, Tischer & Jagenberg, 1919 ( digitized version )
• Op. 10, four poems for a deep voice and piano , Cologne, Tischer & Jagenberg, 1917 ( digitized version )
• Op. 11, Fifteen poems by Hermann Hesse , Berlin, RIes & Erler, 1925; 2nd edition 1960
  • No. 5, Spring Day , dedicated to Corry Nera
• Op. 12, Transformations of an own theme for piano , Berlin, Ries & Erler, 1929, dedicated to Sandra Droucker
• Op. 13, 21 poems by Joseph Freiherrn von Eichendorff , Berlin, Albert Stahl, 1931
  • No. 2, In Danzig , dedicated to Heinrich Schlusnus
  • No. 4, Morgenstandschen , dedicated to Mark Lothar
  • No. 18, Der Kehraus , dedicated to Franz Rupp
• In the quiet realm. Seven songs for a voice and piano , ed. by Werner Dürr , Berlin, Ries & Erler, 1959 ( digitized )
• Songs based on poems by Hermann Hesse , 4 booklets, ed. by Klaus Martin Kopitz , Berlin, Saier & Hug, 2006

Scientific work (selection)

• The refusal of military service and the condemnation of war and conscription in the history of mankind , Potsdam, self-published, 1905 - reprint in: Justus Hermann Wetzel, Briefe und Schriften , ed. by Klaus Martin Kopitz and Nancy Tanneberger, Würzburg 2019, pp. 232–285
• Die Liedformen , Berlin, Vieweg, 1908
• Beethoven's violin sonatas , Berlin, Hesse, 1924
• Carl Spitteler . A life and work report , Bern, Francke, 1973, ISBN 3-7720-1058-X
• Justus Hermann Wetzel, letters and writings , ed. by Klaus Martin Kopitz and Nancy Tanneberger, Würzburg 2019 (p. 25–32 correspondence with Paul Bekker , p. 33–44 correspondence with Werner Wolffheim , p. 79–143 correspondence with Hermann Hesse , p. 151–173 correspondence with Friedrich Metzler , Pp. 189–198 correspondence with Margarete Klinckerfuß , pp. 207–221 correspondence with Mark Lothar , pp. 223–229 correspondence with Hildegard Wegscheider ) ; ISBN 978-3-8260-7013-6

literature

• Friedrich Welter , Justus Hermann Wetzel. The artist and his work , Berlin 1931
• Margarete Klinkerfuß, Aufklänge aus Sonnemer Zeit , Urach 1947, pp. 211–212
• Mark Lothar , Justus Hermann Wetzel on his 90th birthday , in: Neue Zeitschrift für Musik , vol. 130 (1969), p. 137
• Guntram Brummer, Justus Hermann Wetzel - Outlines of a picture. Review of the Überlingen composer , in: Ekkhart , Freiburg i. Br. 1983, pp. 81-85
• Klaus Martin Kopitz , On the compositional work of Justus Hermann Wetzel , in: Nancy Rudloff et al. (Ed.), Justus Hermann Wetzel. Composer, writer, teacher , University of Arts, Berlin 2004 (= writings from the University of the Arts Archive, Volume 7), pp 9-26, ISBN 3-89462-100-1 , with accompanying CD of songs by Justus Hermann Wetzel interpreted, by Gesine Nowakowski (soprano) and Manfred Schmidt (piano) as well as Peter Schöne (baritone) and Arnaud Arbet (piano)
• Rainer Cadenbach , art-oriented science. Justus Hermann Wetzel's publications on music , in: ibid., Pp. 27–34
• Dietmar Schenk, Justus Hermann Wetzel and the time around 1900 , in: ibid., Pp. 35–49
• Nancy Rudloff (= Nancy Tanneberger), Rose and Justus Hermann Wetzel 1933–1945. On the fate of a “mixed marriage” under National Socialism , in: ibid., Pp. 50–69
• Nancy Tanneberger, Justus Hermann Wetzel (1879–1973). A portrait of the late romantic song composer , in: musica reanimata , No. 55 from March 2005, pp. 6-17

Discography (selection)

• Aftertaste. Songs by Justus Hermann Wetzel , interpreted by Olivia Vermeulen (mezzo-soprano), Peter Schöne (baritone), Liana Vlad (piano) and Eduard Stan (piano); GENUIN & Deutschlandradio , 2012

Web links

• Works by and about Justus Hermann Wetzel in the catalog of the German National Library

• Estate of Justus Hermann Wetzel at the Berlin University of the Arts