Robert-Alexander Bohnke

Robert-Alexander Bohnke (born March 21, 1927 in Berlin ; † October 17, 2004 in Tübingen ) was a German pianist and university professor .

Life

Bohnke was born in 1927 as the son of the composer, conductor and violist Emil Bohnke and the violinist Lilli Bohnke , b. von Mendelssohn was born in Berlin. His parents died in a traffic accident in 1928. Robert-Alexander Bohnke and his two older siblings grew up with their grandparents Marie and Franz von Mendelssohn in Berlin. The grandfather, a direct descendant of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn and relative (grandson of the cousin) of the composer Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy , was a banker and president of the Berlin Chamber of Commerce.

Grave at the city cemetery Tübingen (2016)

Bohnke started playing the piano at the age of 7. First he was taught by Schnabel's student Hansi Graudan-Freudberg , then, after she left Germany in 1935, by Hans Erich Riebensahm , another Schnabel student. From 1939 to 1941 he was a student of Vladimir Horbowski . After graduating from high school in 1946 at Uhland-Gymnasium Tübingen , Bohnke studied piano with Wladimir Horbowski and composition with Georg von Albrecht at the Stuttgart Music Academy . As a student of Vladimir Horbowski, he was the grandchildren of Rachmaninoff and Busoni . He received further lessons from Edwin Fischer and Eduard Steuermann .

At the age of 22 he won 2nd prize in a competition organized by Hessischer Rundfunk , in 1953 the Kranichsteiner Music Prize (shared 2nd prize with Patricia Carroll ) and in 1956 the first prizes at the international piano competitions in Munich (ARD), Geneva and Veralli. He also got a lot of concert engagements and offers for radio and vinyl recordings. However, there are only a few, albeit top-class, recordings by Bohnke, as he soon focused his work on university activities.

Bohnke had already received a piano professorship at the Freiburg Music Academy in 1965 , which he held until the early 1990s. Since he kept his first residence in Tübingen, where his family lived, he commuted weekly between Tübingen and Freiburg by train through the Black Forest. He was married for a second time and has five children.

literature

Ingo Harden : Robert-Alexander Bohnke . In: Ingo Harden, Gregor Willmes: Pianist profiles: 600 performers: their biography, their style, their recordings . Bärenreiter, Kassel 2008, ISBN 978-3-7618-1616-5 , pp. 88f.
Neue Musik Zeitung, 54th year 2005, nmz 2005/02, page 47

Web links

Works by and about Robert-Alexander Bohnke in the catalog of the German National Library
Robert-Alexander Bohnke at Discogs (English)
Bohnke remembers his childhood
Obituary in the Neue Musik Zeitung

Individual evidence

↑ Ingo Harden : Robert-Alexander Bohnke . In: Ingo Harden, Gregor Willmes: Pianist profiles: 600 performers: their biography, their style, their recordings . Bärenreiter, Kassel 2008, ISBN 978-3-7618-1616-5 , pp. 88f.

personal data
SURNAME	Bohnke, Robert-Alexander
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German pianist and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH	March 21, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH	Berlin
DATE OF DEATH	October 17, 2004
Place of death	Tübingen

[1] Ingo Harden : Robert-Alexander Bohnke . In: Ingo Harden, Gregor Willmes: Pianist profiles: 600 performers: their biography, their style, their recordings . Bärenreiter, Kassel 2008, ISBN 978-3-7618-1616-5 , pp. 88f.