Michael Schneider (organist)

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Michael Schneider (born March 4, 1909 in Weimar ; † November 26, 1994 in Cologne ) was a German organist , choir director , music teacher and musicologist .

Life

Michael Schneider studied from 1927 to 1930 at the Musikhochschule Weimar with Bruno Hinze-Reinhold piano , with Friedrich Martin organ and with Richard Wetz composition . He then went to the church music institute in Leipzig for a year , where Karl Straube (organ), Kurt Thomas (choir director) and Robert Teichmüller (piano) were his teachers.

After completing his studies, he was appointed organist at the city ​​church of St. Peter and Paul (Herder Church ) in his hometown and also taught at the local music college . In 1934 he became the main organist and cantor at the Matthäuskirche in Munich and in 1935 a teacher at the State Academy of Music .

From 1936 to 1941 Schneider was professor for organ and head of the department for evangelical church music at the Cologne University of Music and at the same time took over the artistic direction of the Cologne Bach Society . At the University of Cologne he received his doctorate in 1940 on the organ playing technique of the early 19th century in Germany, presented at the organ schools of the time and thus completed his musicological studies, which he had started in Jena ( Werner Danckert ) and Munich ( Rudolf von Ficker ) . During the war, from 1942 to 1944 he directed the Berliner Kantorei (Singgemeinschaft Rudolf Lamy), and from 1944/45 the Bruckner Choir in Linz . In 1945 he went back to Munich and became organist and cantor at the Markuskirche ( church music director in 1949 ); from 1948 he taught again at the Munich Conservatory .

In 1951 he spent three months with Marcel Dupré in Paris and in the same year he was appointed to the Detmold Academy of Music , where he in turn became professor of organ and head of the department for evangelical church music and from 1953-57 he held the position of deputy director. At the same time, he conducted the Bielefelder Musikverein from 1951 to 1959.

From 1958 he taught at the Berlin Conservatory and from 1961 to 1965 also directed the student choirs of the Technical University and the Free University . He was also the organist at the Church of Salvation . In 1965 he moved again to the Cologne University of Music and was once again head of the department for Protestant church music, organ professor and organist of the Gürzenich Orchestra . After his retirement in 1975 he continued to teach in Cologne. In addition, he continued his extensive concert and free teaching activities at home and abroad, including as a visiting professor at several American universities.

meaning

Connected directly to the Reger tradition through Karl Straube , he tried to unite the principles of the Leipzig School of Straube with those of the Paris School of Duprés in his playing and teaching practice . He was always open to new musicological findings and the resulting developments for organ playing. He is considered to be one of the most important representatives of the German neoclassical organ school. Works by Johann Nepomuk David , Karl Höller , Max Baumann , Hermann Schroeder (Organ Concerto op. 25) and Frank Michael Beyer owe their premieres to him. Since the 1950s he has also made numerous radio and vinyl recordings, including music by Scheidt , Buxtehude , Pachelbel , Bach and Schroeder .

As a teacher at five major music colleges, Michael Schneider shaped organist training for decades. His students included Jürg Baur , Paul Damjakob , Egidius Doll , Hans Eugen Frischknecht , Johannes Geffert , Klaus Germann , Karl Hochreither , Rudolf Innig , Klaus Dieter Kern , Bernhard Klapprott , Jon Laukvik , Heinz Lohmann , Stefan Palm , Roland Ploeger , Norbert Richtsteig , Andreas Rothkopf , Almut Rößler , Hartmut Schmidt , Ernst Triebel and Gerd Zacher .

literature

  • Thomas-M. Langner: Schneider, Michael . In: Friedrich Blume (Ed.): The music in past and present . Volume 16 [Suppl.], Bärenreiter, Kassel [et al.] 1979, p. 1669 f.
  • Festschrift for Michael Schneider for his 65th birthday , presented by Friends and students. Merseburger, Kassel 1974.
  • Organ, organ music and organ playing: Festschrift Michael Schneider for his 75th birthday , ed. by Christoph Wolff. Bärenreiter, Kassel [et al.] 1985.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ published in Regensburg 1941, 2nd edition 1964, 3rd edition 1973
personal data
SURNAME Schneider, Michael
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German organist, choir director, music teacher, musicologist and university lecturer
DATE OF BIRTH March 4, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Weimar
DATE OF DEATH November 26, 1994
Place of death Cologne