Manfred Gurlitt

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Memorial plaque for Manfred Gurlitt in Bayreuth

Manfred Gurlitt (born September 6, 1890 in Berlin ; died April 29, 1972 in Tokyo ) was a German composer and conductor . He became known primarily through operas .

Life

Manfred Gurlitt was the son of Willi Waldecker, the managing director of the art dealer Fritz Gurlitt , and Annarella Gurlitt, nee. Imhof, Fritz Gurlitt's wife. Shortly after Fritz Gurlitt's death, his parents married. His older half-brother was the art dealer Wolfgang Gurlitt .

After attending the Königlichen Wilhelms-Gymnasium in Berlin, Gurlitt studied music theory with Hans Hermann and Hugo Kaun , piano with Moritz Mayer-Mahr and Rudolf Maria Breithaupt and composition with Engelbert Humperdinck from 1907 onwards . As a conductor he took Karl Muck as a role model, whom he accompanied to the Bayreuth Festival as an assistant .

From 1908 to 1910 he gained his first experience as a répétiteur at the Berlin Court Opera . In 1911 he was the theater conductor in Essen , in 1912/13 in Augsburg, and from 1914 to 1927 first conductor at the city ​​theater in Bremen . There he founded the " Society for New Music " in 1920 and directed it. In 1924 he was appointed general music director of Bremen. Two of his operas were premiered in Bremen: In 1920 Die Heilige based on a theater text by Carl Hauptmann , with Maria Bernhard-Ulbrich in the title role , Elsa Jülich de Vogt , Maria Hartow , Carl Stralendorf and Georg Becker as reciter. In 1926 his opera Wozzeck after Georg Büchner was premiered. At the beginning of 1927 he moved to Berlin, where he worked as a guest conductor at the State Opera and radio from 1928 . He made numerous recordings for the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft and the Odeon. His claim that he held a professorship at the Berlin Conservatory in the 1930s has not been substantiated.

After the seizure of power of the Nazis Gurlitt with effect from 1 May 1933 member of the NSDAP . Due to alleged Jewish origin, however, his membership was declared null and void on May 3, 1937. Increasingly he worked as a guest conductor abroad, for example in 1938 at the Vienna State Opera . Finally he emigrated to Japan in 1939 . In Tokyo he worked as an opera, concert and radio conductor, at the same time he taught at the Imperial Music Academy. But he was also harassed there at the instigation of the National Socialists and in 1942 dismissed by the government until the end of the war. He has now written music reviews for an English-language newspaper. In 1953 he founded the Gurlitt Opera Company with the aim of making the European opera repertoire known to the Japanese audience. Efforts to regain a foothold in Germany after the war failed. In 1969 he was appointed professor at the Showa Academy of Music in Tokyo. He died three years later.

In 1973 his fourth wife, the opera singer Hisako Gurlitt, née Hidaka, donated a Manfred Gurlitt scholarship to the Showa University.

Works

Stage works

  • The island . Music for Herbert Eulenberg's drama (1918)
  • The saint . Musical legend in 3 processes according to Carl Hauptmann
    January 21, 1920 Bremen
  • Wozzeck . Musical tragedy 18 scenes, 1 epilogue op. 16 after Georg Büchner
    April 21, 1926 Bremen
  • Soldiers . Opera in 3 acts after Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz
    November 9, 1930 Düsseldorf (artistic director Walter Bruno Iltz , conductor: Jascha Horenstein )
  • Nana . Opera 4 acts (1931/32) after Émile Zola / Max Brod
    April 16, 1958 Dortmund (banned before the scheduled premiere in Mannheim in 1933, rehearsal and complete recording in the Erfurt Theater under Enrico Calesso )
  • Seguidilla Bolero (Night Spook) . Opera in 3 acts (1934–1936) after Paul Knudsen
  • Why (Feliza) . Opera 1 prelude, 4 acts, episode (1934–1936 / 1942–1945)
    Libretto by the composer
  • Nordic ballad . Opera 4 acts (1934/44) after Selma Lagerlöf / Manfred Gurlitt
    May 4, 2003 Trier
  • We step out . Fairy tale drama (1945/1958, unfinished)
    Libretto by the composer

Orchestral works

  • Symphonic music for large orchestra (1922)
  • Piano Concerto in A major (Chamber Concerto No. 1) op.20 (1927
  • Chamber Concerto No. 2 for Violin in A major (1929)
  • Concerto in F major for violin and orchestra (1934)
  • Cello Concerto in F major (1937–38)
  • Goya Symphony (1938-39)
  • Nobutoki Variations
  • 3 political speeches for baritone, male choir and large orchestra (1946–47)
  • Four dramatic chants for soprano and orchestra (1950–51)
  • Shakespeare Symphony for soprano, mezzo-soprano, alto, baritone, bass, bass buffo ad.lib. and orchestra (1952–54)

Chamber music

  • Piano quintet (1912)
  • Piano Sonata (1913)
  • Song settings with chamber orchestra (1923 and 1925)

Recordings

  • Wozzeck , Roland Hermann , Celina Lindsley, Anton Scharinger, Robert Wörle, Endrik Wottrich , Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Gerd Albrecht , Capriccio 1993.
  • Wozzeck , Roland Hermann , Mari Midorikawa, Akiya Fukushima, Mitsuya Okubo, Saturo Omachi, Nikikai Chorus Group, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Gerd Albrecht , Tokyo November 7, 2000, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra 2000.
  • Soldiers , Michael Burt, Michelle Breedt , Claudia Barainsky , Katherina Müller, Thomas Mohr, Thomas Harper, Urban Malmberg, Celina Lindsley, Robert Wörle, Rundfunkchor Berlin, Deutsches SO Berlin, Gerd Albrecht , Orfeo 1998.
  • Nana , Peter Schöne, Ilia Papandreou, Dario Süß, Julia Neumann, Opernchor Erfurt, Philharmonisches Orchester Erfurt, Enrico Calesso, Crystal 2010.
  • Goya Symphony , Christiane Oelze , Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Antony Beaumont, Crystal 2007.

Awards

  • 1957 Grand Cross of Merit of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ January 27, 1920: "The Holy One". In: L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia ..
  2. ↑ Manfred Gurlitt in the Lexicon of Persecuted Musicians of the Nazi Era (LexM)
personal data
SURNAME Gurlitt, Manfred
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German author and composer
DATE OF BIRTH September 6, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH April 29, 1972
Place of death Tokyo