Lothar Windsperger

Lothar Windsperger (born October 22, 1885 in Ampfing ; † May 30, 1935 in Frankfurt am Main ) was a German composer and long-time editor and editor at B. Schott's Sons .

Live and act

Lothar Windsperger, son of a local organist and school teacher, received his first basic musical training from his father, who he lost when he was five years old. Windsperger nevertheless remained loyal to music, even when he started his training as a primary school teacher at a preparatory institute in Rosenheim , where he had moved with his mother in 1898 . In 1900 he finally moved to the State Academy of Music in Munich. Here he was taught composition and harmony by Josef Rheinberger and Rudolf Louis and piano by August Schmid-Lindner . Later he studied with Hugo Riemann in Leipzig and worked weeks with Hermann Abendroth at the Rheinische Musikschule in Cologne .

In February 1905 Windsperger went public in Munich with an orchestral concert in which he performed his one-hour, one-movement “Symphony of Sehnsucht”. According to the judgment of H. Teibler in the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung of February 24, 1905 (p. 151), however, he “only provoked the displeasure of all well-meaning people; this concert was an assassination attempt on the goodwill of the audience ”.

In 1913 he accepted the offer to start as a lecturer at the music publisher B. Schott's Sons in Mainz . This enabled him to influence the clarification of specific questions in the context of the publication of various works as well as the structure, structure and technique of the compositions of other musicians. Among other things, he was also editor of the works of Josip Štolcer-Slavenski , Ernst Toch and Carl Orff . Windsperger was particularly fascinated by Orff's ideas on music education, whose works were subsequently published in full by Schott from 1923 onwards, and he therefore introduced Orff's school work in its original version from 1930 in various kindergartens in Mainz. Windsperger often transcribed entire operatic and choral works by other composers from his position. For example, he converted a large part of the Verdi or Wagner operas as well as difficult solo or chamber music compositions by other composers into easily playable piano scores. He finally published these new editions as well as all of his own compositions in the form of anthologies at Schott. He also published arrangements, arrangements and his own compositions under the pseudonym Leo (or Louis) Artok.

In addition to his job at Schott-Verlag, Windsperger taught theory and piano in Mainz and Wiesbaden and finally followed a call to the Peter Cornelius Conservatory in Mainz in 1933 , where he succeeded the, due to his Hungarian-Jewish descent the takeover of the Nazis emigrated Hans Gál took over the position of director. Rudolf Desch was one of his most famous students here . But just two years later, Windsperger died on May 30, 1935 at the age of 49.

Anton Würz writes about Windsperger's work as a composer of the late Romantic period on the way to contemporary music in Volume 14 of the music lexicon The Music in Past and Present :

“The varied work of Lothar Windsperger testifies to the creative power and character of a serious, internalized artistic personality. Like the larger ones, M. Reger , H. Pfitzner and H. Kaminski , standing between the ages, he endeavored from his late romantic starting point, which was determined by the epoch, to penetrate the traditional forms with new means of expression. His tonal language is often harsh, hardly ever persuasive by external effects, but rich in fine expressive-poetic features. A strong ethical will to confess speaks from his main works. H. Engel calls his V [iolin] concerto 'often full of Bruckner consecration and religiosity, even more of the manner of G. Mahler ' . His two great choirs, Missa Symphonica and Requiem , were seen as very significant contributions to contemporary music when they were published in 1926 and 1930, respectively, and were recognized as testimony to an outstanding creative potential. The Kl [avier] pieces op. 37 offer characteristic examples of his gift of saying something memorable even in the smallest of forms, and at the same time his way of dealing with new musical language means (eg bitonality ). "

Compositions (selection)

• What the German children sing - a blossom picking of local children's songs , compiled by a German mother. Arranged for piano by L. Windsperger. B. Schott's Sons, Mainz 1914.
• German children's songs. With rules for the game songs , set for piano by L. Windsperger. After the original by H. Willebeek Le Maire. B. Schott's Sons, Mainz 1916.
• The book of motifs from all of Richard Wagner's operas and musical dramas , edited for piano with overlaid text by Lothar Windsperger. B. Schott's Sons, Mainz 1920.
• Verdi album. Selected pieces from the most popular operas by Giuseppe Verdi , compiled and arranged for piano for 2 hands by Lothar Windsperger. Mainz, B. Schott's Sons 1920.
• Ode in c minor for viola solo op.13.2. B. Schott's Sons, Mainz 1919.
• 15 improvisations for violin solo. B. Schott's Sons, Mainz 1920.
• String Quartet in G minor. B. Schott's Sons, Mainz 1920.
• Prélude, aria et final for piano by César Franck . Adaptation by Lothar Windsperger. B. Schott's Sons, Mainz 1921.
• The mythical fountain , cycle of 7 piano pieces op.27.B. Schott's Sons, Mainz 1921.
• 21 songs with piano accompaniment op.25.B. Schott's Sons, Mainz 1922.
• Rhapsody sonata for violoncello and piano op.20 B. Schott's Sons, Mainz 1924.
• Fantasietten-Suite for piano op.35.B. Schott's Sons, Mainz 1926.
• Missa symphonica for mixed choir, soloists, orchestra and organ op.36.B. Schott's Sons, Mainz 1926.
• Small Piano Pieces op.37.B. Schott's Sons, Mainz 1926.
• Requiem . A symphonic funeral mass for mixed choir, 4 solo voices, orchestra and organ op.47.B. Schott's Sons, Mainz 1929.
• Sketchbook for the album for the youth by Robert Schumann . B. Schott's sons, Mainz.
• Catalog raisonné (extracts) from B. Schott's Sons

Web links

• http://www.ampfing.de/shared/data/pdf/ampfing/gemeindeschreier-1-07.pdf (PDF file; 1.65 MB)
• http://www.di-arezzo.at/Noten-von-Lothar+Windsperger.html