René Giessen

René Giessen , actually Rainer Gernert (* 1944 ) is a German musician , composer and conductor . He is one of the world's most famous harmonica players and, among other things, plays the well-known film scores for the Winnetou films in concerts . The original music, however, was recorded by jazz musician Johnny Müller . Today Giessen lives in Maierhöfen in the Allgäu .

biography

The Waldorf pupil Giessen chose the harmonica as his instrument as early as his childhood . He was finally discovered by the star conductor Rafael Kubelík , on whose advice he studied classical clarinet as well as composition and conducting at the University of Music and Theater in Munich . After decades of success as a solo clarinetist in various symphonic orchestras, however, he returned to the harmonica. For this he developed his own notation system , the "happy harmonica system", which uses dots and lines to show how tones can be created by breathing in and out. According to Giessen's own statement, anyone can use this system to learn a first song on the harmonica within a few minutes, even without knowledge of musical notes.

Works

As a player

Giessen claims to have been asked in 1968 by a Munich recording studio to refine a film score with his harmonica. Giessen agreed and recorded several versions within 45 minutes. A few months later he himself was surprised by the popularity this film music received: It was Ennio Morricone's "Play Me a Song of Death". According to the information in the film, however, the melody that is finally heard in the film is not Giessen's version, but one that was recorded by Franco de Gemini . A legal dispute has been going on for several years to decide whether Giessen can continue to claim that he has recorded the melody. Ennio Morricone himself confirmed that the version used in the film was made by de Gemini.

Giessen was also often active outside the studio , he played solo parts with many renowned orchestras , including the Berlin Philharmonic , the Munich Philharmonic , the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra , the NDR Radiophilharmonie and the Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra .

As an author and educator

With its "happy harmonica" system, Giessen also trains young people on the harmonica. For this he has also published schools . His most famous works are:

• Master of Harp, Ama-Verlag, 2004; ISBN 3-899-22005-6
• Super action for your harmonica, Ama-Verlag, 2002; ISBN 3-899-22004-8

In 2005 he also founded a summer academy for highly talented clarinetists in his home town of Maierhöfen, where the clarinet is related to other instruments year after year.

As a composer

Selection of Giessen's works:

• "Help, Help the Globulinks", dedicated to the American composer Giancarlo Menotti
• Flute concert "The Bird"
• Windjammer suite for large orchestra
• Der Eisenhans, symphonic poem for large orchestra
• Violin Concerto "Jennysey Concerto"
• Rhapsody for clarinet and string orchestra "Mandragora".

instrument

Giessen mainly plays a Saxony Chromatik from CA Seydel Söhne .

Sources and web links

• Works by and about René Giessen in the catalog of the German National Library
• The official website of Rene Giessen
• Report by Hessischer Rundfunk from March 18, 2004 ( Memento from October 1, 2007 in the web archive archive.today )
• Giessen on the website of the Seydel company ( Memento from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), version from the Internet Archive, accessed on October 9, 2012
• René Giessen in the Terra Human portal
• The harmonica soloist in Play Me a Song of Death
• No Cohn-Bendit type (taz article from September 17, 1993)