Marie Vandewart-Blaschke

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Marie Vandewart-Blaschke (born July 27, 1911 in Berlin , † March 1, 2006 in Auckland ) was a New Zealand cellist and music teacher of German origin.

Life

Marie Vandewart grew up as the second of three daughters of the Berlin shipbuilding engineer Eugen Vandewart (September 21, 1885– November 10, 1941) and his wife Anna Vandewart, nee. Markus (December 28, 1885– November 10, 1941) together with her two sisters Eva and Gertrude in Berlin-Charlottenburg . The liberal Jewish parents gave his children a comprehensive education and, above all, promoted their musical interests. At the beginning of the 1930s, Marie Vandewart began studying music at the Berlin University of Music a . A. with Otto Niedermeyer and Enrico Mainardi , she also took private lessons with Emanuel Feuermann. During her studies she belonged to the circle of friends of the music-interested family Peschko , in whose house in Berlin-Lichterfelde she met her future husband Alfons Blaschke (1906–2002) at a party in 1933, a social worker who sublet there.

Increasing repression by the National Socialist regime in the 1930s, which ultimately led to Marie's forced de-registration at the Berlin Music Academy, made her and Alfons Blaschke decide to emigrate . A chance encounter with two New Zealand tourists in Berlin set the goal. Marie Vandewart first emigrated to England in April 1939, where her two sisters were already living at the instigation of her parents, and she arrived in Wellington , New Zealand in July 1939 . Alfons Blaschke wanted to follow her a little later, but made it - a few days before the outbreak of war - only to England, where he was interned as an "enemy foreigner" and prevented from traveling to New Zealand until the end of the war.

Marie Vandewart's parents could no longer leave Germany in time and in November 1941 they evaded the deportation order through their joint suicide in Berlin-Charlottenburg . In memory of the Vandewart couple, two “ stumbling blocks ” were laid in front of the house at Kirschenallee 5 in Berlin-Charlottenburg on August 9, 2014 . The farewell letter to the three daughters written on the day of their death was only found in 2012 as part of a research project at Berlin's Humboldt University .

Marie's beginnings in New Zealand were difficult. To secure her livelihood, she took on various jobs, including in the University Library of Wellington and as a nurse at the "Wellington Hospital", was temporarily supported by a farmer from Gisborne as part of the New Zealand refugee aid and was able to resume her musical work that had been interrupted in Berlin. She gave a number of concerts, some of which were broadcast on New Zealand radio. In 1942 she founded the "Dorothy Davies Trio" together with the New Zealand pianist Dorothy Davies (1899–1987) and the violinist Erika Schorss (1908–2009), who also came from Berlin .

Even after the war ended in 1945, Alfons Blaschke was not able to follow his fiancé to New Zealand immediately. So Marie returned to Europe in May 1946 and they married in London . After the birth of their first son, Anthony, the family lived in poor conditions outside of London, at times also near Birmingham . In March 1951 the family was finally able to travel to New Zealand together.

The new beginning of the family, which had grown in New Zealand after the birth of their second son Paul, was not easy. Marie taught a lot in Wellington and the surrounding area, including (from 1960) at the Chilton St James School in Lower Hutt . She also took part in public concerts again, was a founding member and “principal cellist” of the Alex Lindsay String Orchestra , with whom she sometimes appeared as a soloist . She played a lot of chamber music , including as the cellist of the Francis Rosner Quartet , New Zealand's first professional string quartet ensemble, but also gave solo recitals and performed - probably for the first time in New Zealand - all six suites for solo cello by Johann Sebastian Bach . She also took part in several tours of Donald Munro's newly founded New Zealand Opera Company and occasionally played in the National Orchestra, now the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra .

In 1961 Marie Vandewart accepted a position at the newly established Music Department at the University of Auckland , where she was a member for 15 years. She expanded her teaching activities to include Ron Dellow's Cambridge Music Schools. A free semester in 1968/69 enabled her to stay with Suzuki Shin'ichi in Matsumoto / Japan, where she got to know the Suzuki method named after him , which decisively influenced her further teaching.

After retiring from college due to old age, Marie Vandewart continued to teach privately and devoted herself more to early music, played various viols , and Alfons Blaschke built the harpsichords necessary for the corresponding performance evenings based on historical models from Europe.

Marie Vandewart and Alfons Blaschke have also been involved in the peace movement since the 1950s, especially against the Vietnam War and the South African apartheid regime - Marie was an active member of the " Women's International Movement for Peace and Freedom " - as well as in the field of environmental protection , what expressed himself in voluntary engagement for Greenpeace and the " Green Party " of New Zealand.

After the death of their parents, their two sons founded the Marie Vandewart memorial award in 2007 , which is given annually to young musicians in New Zealand.

literature

  • Maja Beutler and Kathryn Smits: Marie Vandewart Blaschke, in: James N. Bade (Hrsg.): Out of the shadow of war - the German connection with New Zealand in the twentieth century ", Oxford University Press, 1998, pp. 118 ff (German version: Jameas N. Bade (Ed.): In the shadow of two wars - Germans and Austrians in New Zealand in the 20th century, Bremen 2005, p. 168 ff.)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stolpersteine ​​Kirschenallee 5. Retrieved on October 18, 2016 .
  2. ^ Laying the stumbling block in the Westend: Odyssey of a farewell letter. Retrieved October 18, 2016 .
  3. ↑ Vandewart family. Archived from the original on September 27, 2016 ; accessed on September 21, 2019 (original website no longer available).
  4. ↑ Photos of the trio ensemble
  5. ↑ Photos of the trio ensemble
  6. ^ School of Music. Retrieved October 18, 2016 .
  7. ^ Suzuki Memorial Hall and Talent Education Institute (Suzuki Method). Retrieved October 18, 2016 .
  8. ^ The Gift of Music. Retrieved October 18, 2016 .
personal data
SURNAME Vandewart-Blaschke, Marie
BRIEF DESCRIPTION New Zealand cellist and music teacher
DATE OF BIRTH July 27, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH March 2006
Place of death Auckland