Mathieu Lange

Mathieu Lange (born January 28, 1905 in Düren ; † May 25, 1992 in Bochum ) was a German musician, conductor and director of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin from 1952 to 1973 . (He hasn't had his first name Carl since 1950.)

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Lange comes from a family of musicians and theaters in the Rhineland . He gained his first experience as a theater conductor at the Cologne Opera and in Münster and then came to Göttingen as general music director . From there he went to Hanover as opera director and general music director until the opera house was destroyed by bombs. After the war he started again as general music director in the Darmstadt Orangery , the alternative quarter of the Landestheater Darmstadt , whose house had been destroyed in the war.

Even then, Mathieu Lange liked to seek out forgotten valuable works for his performances. In Göttingen it included Alessandro Scarlatti's Il Trionfo dell'Onore (the first performance of a Scarlatti opera in Germany), Monteverdi's Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda (German first performance) and - another excavation by Lange - Luigi Cherubini's opera Démophoon . In Darmstadt, which was completely destroyed by the war in 1945, Mathieu Lange, together with Wolfgang Steinecke, played a decisive role in setting up the International Summer Courses for New Music , as he always - even later - allowed composers of contemporary music to have their say. As musical director for opera, symphony and choral concerts, he achieved a high reputation.

In 1948 Walter Felsenstein brought him to the Komische Oper in East Berlin . Berlin's German Opera House had hired him for guest performances as early as 1941/42 .

In 1950 Mathieu Lange was appointed director of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin as successor to Georg Schumann . He was at the conductor's podium for the first time on November 20, 1949 at the Brahms Requiem . (Georg Schumann was acting director until his death in 1952.)

In Berlin, Lange devoted himself not only to intensive work with the Sing-Akademie, but also to other musical tasks: in the stands at the end of 1950 he performed Stravinski's story of the soldier in a remarkable series of over 60 performances; In 1951, Boris Blacher's Romeo and Juliet was heard in the same theater, and the world premiere of Wolfgang Fortner's pantomime The Widow of Ephesus a year later . During the Berliner Festwochen in 1952 he brought out Claudio Monteverdi's Marienvesper as a German premiere, and in 1953 in the Hebbeltheater Die Krönung der Poppäa . During the Berliner Festwochen he performed - a small sensation - he had discovered sensational works by 13-year-old Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy that were previously unknown.

Mathieu Lange was married to actress Elli Hall.

Work as director of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin

Annual performances of Bach's oratorios on traditional holidays (St. Matthew Passion, Mass in B minor, Christmas Oratorio), performances of well-known works from the great choral literature, etc. a. by Johannes Brahms , Anton Bruckner , Georg Friedrich Handel , Joseph Haydn , Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , Robert Schumann , Igor Stravinsky , as well as performances of almost forgotten works, e.g. B. The Israelites in the Desert by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and sensational premieres by Joseph Haydn, Claudio Monteverdi , Otto Nicolai , Giovanni Battista Pergolesi , Giacomo Puccini , Alessandro Scarlatti and the world premiere of Te Deum, which had been lost until then and was discovered by Mathieu Lange in Paris by the young Georges Bizet , as well as performances of contemporary works such as Max Baumann's German Vespers and Hans Werner Henze's Muses of Sicily (commissioned composition) outline Lange's broad repertoire. The accompanying orchestras were alternately the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra . Concert tours have taken him to Germany and abroad, for example to Sweden, France and Poland.

What Mathieu Lange has achieved culturally in a quarter of a century was recognized by the award of the German Critics' Music Prize (1952), the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon (September 18, 1967) and the Handel Ring (1971). Long recordings and several recordings, especially on the North German Broadcasting Corporation (NDR) , also bear witness to Lange's wide-ranging work .

Recordings (selection)

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: A musical fun, Le Chant du Monde LDX 8017 (Mono)
• Carl Maria Von Weber: Der Freischütz (opera cross-section) RIAS Chamber Choir , Orchestra of the Städtische Oper Berlin , Lieselotte Cloos (soprano), Sonja Schöner (soprano), Peter Roth-Ehrgang (bass), Horst Wilhelm (tenor), Mathieu Lange (Management)
• Carl Maria von Weber: Der Freischütz (large cross section), 1964, BACCAROLA 77 869 ZR (stereo); Lieselotte Cloos (soprano), Sonja Schöner (soprano), Peter Roth-Ehrgang (bass), Horst Wilhelm (tenor), Günther Arndt Choir and Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin , conductor: Mathieu Lange
• Baroque Flute Concerts, 1976, participation with the Concerto for Flute, Strings and Continuo in G major; B. Schaeffer (flute), North German Chamber Orchestra, Mathieu Lange (conductor)
• Otto Nicolai, Te Deum, 1966, Singakademie zu Berlin , Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Mathieu Lange (conductor), Deutsche Grammophon , No. 104 479, vinyl, LP, album (stereo)
• Giovanni Battista Pergolesi: Stabat Mater; Margot Guilleaume (soprano), Jeanne Deroubaix (alto), Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester , Carl Gorvin (preparation), Mathieu Lange (conductor), Label: Archiv Produktion, 14 098 APM, Series: VIII. Research Area - The Italian Settecento - Series B: The Neapolitan style circle, vinyl, LP (mono)
• Alessandro Scarlatti: Endimione E Cintia, Reri Grist (soprano), Tatiana Troyanos (soprano), Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg, Mathieu Lange (conductor), label: Archiv Produktion - 2533 061, vinyl, LP
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Symphony in D major KV 385 ( Haffner Symphony ), Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 83 in G minor (La Poule), Horst Richter (text editing), Kammerorchester Berlin, Mathieu Lange (conductor), Label: ETERNA , 720 042, vinyl, LP (mono), German Democratic Republic
• Albert Lortzing: Tsar and Zimmermann (opera cross-section), Paul Douliez (text editing), Sonja Schöner (soprano), Helmut Krebs (tenor), Martin Vantin (tenor), Walter Hauck (baritone), Manfred Jungwirth (bass), choir and Orchestra of the Städtische Oper Berlin, Mathieu Lange (conductor), Label: Opera, 3111, vinyl (LP)
• Franz Konwitschny , Horst Stein , Meinhard von Zallinger and Mathieu Lange (conductors): great operas, label: Falcon, L-ST 7069, vinyl, (LP); Lange's involvement: Carl Maria von Weber: Freischütz (Jägerchor), Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin , Richard Wagner: The Flying Dutchman (helmsman, let the watch), Choir of the Komische Oper Berlin , Rundfunk-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Neues Deutschland from January 17, 1964, p. 2