Oscar Schönherr

Oscar Schönherr

Oscar Emil Schönherr (born March 4, 1903 in Dresden ; † August 30, 1968 in Marienberg ) was a German pedagogue, composer and musician from the Erzgebirge .

Life

The Schönherr, who comes from a long-established family in Lauterbach , attended primary school in Neuhausen / Erzgeb. and the 15th citizens 'school in Dresden and then from 1916 to 1923 the teachers' seminar in Dresden-Plauen . Based on this good education, he was able to complete his entire specialist training in music in 1932 with the examination as a full musician. From 1923 he was employed in the school service and was first an assistant teacher in Olbernhau , Blumenau and Großolbersdorf . From 1924 he worked as a teacher in the statutes and moved to the school there.

During this time he devoted himself extensively to musical activity and composed some Erzgebirge songs based on texts by the well-known dialect poet Luise Pinc . From 1929 to 1939, as cantor in the statutes, he was the successor to Ernst Edmund Lang, the father of Erich Lang , who also composed well-known Erzgebirge songs.

Memorial plaque in statute

Drafted into military service in 1939, he was first released as a father with many children. From the beginning of 1942 he was drafted again and served on the Western Front in Holland, Belgium and France. During his imprisonment in Belgium, he wrote notes for the camp choir and orchestra from memory. During this time he composed two operettas or Singspiele (“Rheinlandmädel”) based on his own and well-known melodies, which are no longer preserved.

Back from captivity in 1947, he was released from school due to his membership of the NSDAP and worked for a short time in the Fischer cardboard box factory in Reitzenhain. From December 1947 he was forced to work in uranium ore mining for the SDAG Wismut . Even during this time he remained connected to music. Schönherr was a co-founder of the male choir in Reitzenhain and remained its director until 1955. From 1952 he returned to school and worked at the primary school in Marienberg until 1953. From 1953 to 1963 he also taught the instruments recorder and accordion at the Volksmusikschule Karl-Marx-Stadt (Olbernhau branch).

During the time of his teaching activity there was an extensive activity for music and the endeavor to spread it. He was temporarily head of the police choir in Marienberg, orchestra director and pianist in the Marienberg Chamber Orchestra, pianist and singer in the district council choir and in the home choir. In 1966 he retired early for health reasons.

He composed music for everyday use, brass music, several singers' sayings and made numerous arrangements for choirs, male quartet and orchestra. A number of songs were created based on texts by Luise Pinc , Karl Schreiter and Artur Krauss , which, among many others, were performed by the famous Caldarelli siblings or by the chamber singer Elfriede Gerber . Several records or CDs contain songs whose composer he was. The entire musical oeuvre of Oscar Schönherr was never completely compiled and published. He himself never had a particular interest in marketing his work profitably.

On the occasion of his 105th birthday, a memorial event was held in the articles of association in the spring of 2008. On September 20, 2008, a memorial stone was ceremoniously unveiled in the statutes. In 2009 a musical event with music by Oscar Schönherr took place in the city's culture and leisure center in Marienberg , the "Baldauf Villa".

Private

Memorial stone in statute

On August 9, 1924, he married Rosa Fanny, née Ullmann (born January 15, 1904 - † December 26, 1960). This marriage resulted in seven children: Rudolf Oscar, Elsbeth Johanna, Roland Karl, Leonore (Lore) Rosa, Thea Gudrun, Ludwig Ernst and Dietrich Walter. In his second marriage, he married Gertrud, nee Findeisen, on November 3, 1962.

Friends described Oscar Schönherr as sociable, fond of traveling and closely connected to his home in the Ore Mountains. In addition to his musical works, his selfless commitment, through which many residents were introduced to music, is particularly praised.

Works

61 compositions or arrangements have been preserved and clearly assigned . These include 13 Erzgebirge songs based on texts by Luise Pinc . The most famous works include:

• Greetings from the Hirtstein
• De Haamit
• Su is with us
• Winterobnd in the Arzgebirge
• Dr Lindenbaam
• Let us rest!
• Is is spring worn
• With us drham

A music book, which was created between 1950 and 1954 for his daughter Lore's Erzgebirge group, has been preserved in the original handwriting. The songs are based on texts by Karl Schreiter and, although performed regularly since then, have not been published any further. It includes:

• farewell
• Reproach
• It's early morning
• Unner greeting
• From love
• Song of the ore mountains. Forest workers
• Sign up!
• Is Wannern is su schie!

Publications containing his songs

• Christmas carols from the Ore Mountains , Walther, Gitta , 2002
• My Christmas Dream , Joachim Suess and his Ensemble, 2000
• Merry Christmas , Gitte and Klaus
• Christmas Eve in the Ore Mountains , Erzgebirge Group Ehrenfriedersdorf
• Christmas in the Ore Mountains , siblings Caldarelli
• Winterobnd in the Arzgebirge , Erzgebirgsgruppe Ehrenfriedersdorf, 1998
• Christmas Land Erzgebirge - The most beautiful Christmas carols from the Erzgebirge , various artists, 2012

swell

• Marienberger Wochenblatt No. 47/1993
• Frithjof Hedrich: Singer of the Erzgebirge , in: Erzgebirgische Heimatblätter 25 (2003), Heft xx, pp. 15-16
• Marienberger Wochenblatt No. 20/2008
• Free press 30./31. August 2008 (page 14, local section Marienberg)
• Glück auf Nr. 12/2008 (magazine of the Erzgebirgsverein eV Schneeberg, pages 229 and 230)

Web links

• SLUB Saxon State and University Library