Michael Münzer

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Actor Michael Münzer portrait 1969

Michael Münzer (actually Fritjof Helge Artur Münzer ; born May 29, 1936 in Karlsruhe ; † July 23, 2012 in Roses , Catalonia ) was a German actor , author , director , lecturer and voice actor .

family

Michael Münzer was born as the son of the senior teacher and musician Artur Anton Münzer (1904–1992) and his wife Luzia Meta Luise, b. Flörke (1908–1975) born. Münzer grew up in Meßkirch (Upper Swabia) and Gengenbach (Black Forest). In his parents' house (mother interested in theater and literature, father conductor of various choirs and chamber musicians, brother Holger Münzer a well-known composer and actor), regular contacts were maintained with well-known artists and authors, for example with the philosopher Martin Heidegger , who was also from Meßkirch . Michael Münzer developed a keen interest in German and French literature, theater and acting at an early age. Already at school and later also at the University of Heidelberg he worked in theater groups.

Educational pathways

Michael Münzer passed his Abitur in 1955 at the Schiller-Gymnasium in Offenburg in order to then enroll at the University of Heidelberg for a law degree. Soon, however, he followed the call of the theater and broke off his law studies in favor of the subjects of German literature, theater studies and German studies as well as speaking technique and recitation. He then attended the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe (acting lessons and dramaturgical training) and the Paris Conservatory (acting and directing training with Marcelle Tassencourt and Yves Brainville ). He passed his acting exams in Paris and Munich. Münzer then worked for three years at the Théâtre Hébertot , Paris, as an actor and assistant director. From Jacques Hébertot he got his name Michael , which was originally his baptismal name.

Michael Münzer had an above-average talent for languages ​​and, in addition to his mother tongue, was fluent in spoken and written French, English, Japanese, Spanish, Italian and fluent in Dutch and Swiss German.

From the theater to Goethe

Michael Münzer appeared in several German and French film productions and television series in the 1960s. He worked full-time in Germany - but occasionally also in France - as a theater and film actor as well as assistant director and director. In ten different theaters in Munich, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Hamburg and Zurich, Münzer played a total of around 50 plays and 3000 performances. He was also a spokesman for the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation and national speaker at the Goethe Institute in Munich. He also worked as an assistant director to well-known directors such as Jean Cocteau , Arthur Maria Rabenalt and Hans Heinz Franckh . He had his own productions in Cologne, Düsseldorf and Munich. His last production was Die Schöne Helena at the Regensburg Theater .

Adventure Japan

In the summer of 1971, at the instigation of the Goethe Institute, he went to Japan on a merchant ship with a destination port of Yokohama and a broken shoulder in plaster of paris. As a great linguist, he learned Japanese during the crossing and after his arrival worked on September 15, 1971 with the Goethe Institute Tokyo and the Japanese radio station NHK for the series German for Japanese . Michael Münzer revolutionized the German language program in Japan by combining the humorous with learning. Learning should be fun was his credo.

As early as 1973, Münzer was in charge of the production of four different German programs, for which he wrote the texts, staged and spoke or played the programs, arranged the publication of text books and a monthly record collection with radio texts.

Münzer not only brought the Japanese closer to the German language in his own personal and self-sacrificing way, but also conveyed a culturally extensive and interesting image of Germany with great sympathy. For the Japanese, he was the Münzer-san and the most famous German in Japan at the time. He played in Japanese feature films, appeared in puzzle and charity programs, was very often a guest in other programs, interviews and press conferences and was involved in theater and opera productions, cooking programs, exhibitions and in discussion evenings and speech competitions. The German language program in Japan suddenly reached an audience of millions through Münzer and aroused great interest in German music, culture and art among the Japanese.

Michael Münzer was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon by the German ambassador on August 9, 1976 in Tokyo for his particularly successful educational work with the aim of spreading German as a foreign language (see awards ).

Michael Münzer finished his work in Japan in September 1979 in order to break new ground in Europe.

As an author, Michael Münzer co-designed bilingual reading books for learning the German language for Japanese.

Overview of activities in Japan

  • NHK TV shows Hello and Hello, how are you? :
From 1971 to 1976 six programs per week
  • NHK radio broadcasts:
From 1971 to 1979 twelve programs per week
From 1971 to 1979 a monthly text booklet with the radio texts
From 1971 to 1979 one record tape per month without interruption
  • NHK-Verlag:
Since spring 1979 also tapes or cassettes with the same texts.
  • Lessons at the branch of the Goethe-Institut (language department):
  1. Productions with theater groups from the Goethe-Institut and partner organizations:
    1971–1975 theater workshop with one production per year: Hauptmann von Köpenick , Curt Goetz, Jedermann and others
    1974 a happening group one evening a week, e.g. B. against environmental pollution, against air pollution, against garbage deposits, etc.
  2. For the partner organization Euro-Japanese Society - German Seminar:
    Since 1976 a theater group (only Japanese in German). 1976 Goethe's Faust (1st part) in Osaka and Tokyo
    1977 Schiller's Cabal and Love in Osaka and Tokyo
    1978 Curt Goetz one-act play and dangerous weekend , Münzer's crime play in Osaka and Tokyo
    1979 Lessing's Minna von Barnhelm in Kobe-Osaka and Tokyo
  3. 1973 and 1974 theater workshops and productions with professional actors in Sapporo (Hokkaido):
    Our little town (Wilder)
    Public abuse (Handtke)
    Minna von Barnhelm (two performances)
  4. In collaboration with Musashino University of Music and Fine Arts:
    1975 in Japanese Figaro's wedding
    (Mozart) conductor: Sossi
  5. In collaboration with Opera-Nikikai:
    1979 in German Magic Flute : Conductor: Sawallisch, dialogue director, guest: Peter Schreier
  6. In cooperation with the Japanese State Theater Kokoritsu-Gekijo:
    In the National Theater (in German) the modern Noh play: Aoi no ue by Mishima, on the occasion of the International Theater Festival first prize for direction
  7. In cooperation with the Sophia University:
    1975 don juan
  8. In cooperation with Japanese universities:
    Since 1971 about 70 camps and speech competitions
  • NHK feature film department and other television stations:
Has worked as an actor (in Japanese) in numerous television films
as Count Coudenhove-Callergi ( Kokyo non ai denki )
as Dr Siebenold , as Dr Kampfer , as H. von Siemens ( Siemens-jiken ) etc.
  • State University of Music and Fine Arts (Geijutsu-Daigaku):
From 1976 to 1979 lecturer in phonetics, German song and recitation

Challenge Spain

Michael Münzer worked from September 1979 until his retirement in 2001 as a consultant for pedagogical liaison work for the Goethe-Institut Barcelona with activities in northern and eastern Spain. Here, his work included institutions such as high schools and vocational schools, to which he taught German as a foreign language and the number of which rose from 50 to 500 during his 22 years of activity. His tour Aleman Magico , on which he visited the stages of Spain with a magician and got people excited about the German language, was legendary and famous throughout Spain . In 1999 people in Russia became aware of this famous tour and invited Münzer to the country. For weeks he also made guest appearances in various cities and theaters in Russia with his team and the Aleman Magico show.

Münzer tried to establish school and town partnerships between Catalonia and Germany, initiated competitions, cultural programs and 25 years of summer courses in German at the University of Freiburg .

In gratitude for his particular success in teaching the German language and for his work for the Goethe Institute in Barcelona, ​​he was awarded the Klaus von Bismark Prize in 1999 (see Awards ).

Special companions

For many years Michael Münzer maintained friendly contacts with a wide variety of artists, such as Jaques Hébertot, Jean Cocteau, Christian Dorn , Henry Miller , Kristina Söderbaum , Olga Chekhova and many more. He had a very special relationship with Hildegard Knef throughout his life .

Awards

On August 9, 1976, Münzer received the Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon for his very special services, which he had acquired in teaching the German language, but also German art and culture in Japan.

In 1999 Michael Münzer was awarded the Klaus von Bismarck Prize by the Goethe Institute in Munich for his extremely successful work for the Goethe-Institut Barcelona.

Filmography (selection)

Stage roles (selection)

  • 1958: Procès à Jésu (drama by Diego Fabbri , edited by Thierry Maunier , directed by Marcelle Tassencourt , role of the blind, Théâtre Hébertot, Paris)
  • 1959: The doors slam (comedy by Michael Fermaud , role of Georges , Theater unter den Arkaden Munich)
  • 1961: Annunciation (drama by Paul Claudel , role of assistant, Theater in der Brienner Straße, Munich)
  • 1961: Saint Johanna (drama by GB Shaw , role of Bertrand von Poulengey , Neues Theater Munich)
  • 1962: Irma la Douce (musical by M. Monnot and A. Breffort, role of Jojo , Die Kleine Freiheit Munich)
  • 1963: The Path into Light (drama by W. Gibson , role of James , Schauspielhaus Hansa Berlin)
  • 1963: Getting married is always a risk (crime play by Saul O'Hara , Neues Theater Munich)
  • 1964: The Merchant of Venice (drama by W. Shakespeare , role of Salarino , Neues Theater Munich)
  • 1965: Marriage in Paris (musical by Serge Weber , role of Fernand Dubreux , Theater in Brienner Straße Munich)

Director and assistant director (selection)

  • 1963: Foundation festival of the busy bees (TV music film, assistant director to AM Rabenalt)
  • 1964: Phi-Phi (operetta by AM Rabenalt, Deutsches Theater Munich, assistant director to AM Rabenalt)
  • 1964: Doddy and the Musketeers (TV music film, assistant director to AM Rabenalt)
  • 1965: Literature (feature film based on A. Schnitzler , assistant director to AM Rabenalt)
  • 1970: The beautiful Helena (operetta by J. Offenbach in a new version by Peter Hacks , Stadttheater Regensburg, direction)

Works (selection)

  • Michael Münzer: A weekend on the Rhine: German reading book for beginners , 1976
  • Kozo Hirao and Michael Münzer: Introduction to New German , 1976
  • Touzou Hayakawa and Michael Münzer: The Dräger case: German reading book for beginners , 1996, ISBN 978-4808610883

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Beer, Beethoven, Hitler. Retrieved September 6, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Michael Münzer, currently "most famous German in Japan" . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . October 28, 1976.
  3. ↑ Goethe heroes. Retrieved October 8, 2018 .
  4. ^ Procès à Jésus. Retrieved July 20, 2020 (French).
personal data
SURNAME Münzer, Michael
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Münzer, Fritjof Helge Artur
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German actor, voice actor, director and author
DATE OF BIRTH May 29, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Karlsruhe
DATE OF DEATH July 23, 2012
Place of death Roses , Spain