Robert Carl (composer, 1902)

Robert Carl (born March 24, 1902 in Saarbrücken ; † June 9, 1987 in Ormesheim ) was a German composer, conductor, founder of the music publisher Carl and the Bad Godesberg Chamber Choir.

Life

Robert Carl was born in Saarbrücken in 1902 as the son of a merchant family. His musical talent showed up early, sounds and texts fascinated him. He attended elementary school and the Ludwigsgymnasium Saarbrücken from 1908 to 1921, until the Carl family moved to Bad Godesberg in 1921 after their son had finished school . Carl studied at the Cologne University of Music until 1925 and during this time he was organist, pianist, choir director in Bad Godesberg and already participated in large, orchestral performances, mainly trade fairs.

In 1927 times got tougher and the Carl family lost all of their fortune due to inflation. For financial reasons Robert Carl returned to Saarbrücken to take up a position as cantor of the Church of St. Michael. In the following years Robert Carl conducted numerous concerts and led choral societies. During these years he had started to write his own compositions and tried in vain to find a publisher for his works. Disappointed, he took over the previous activities such as choir conducting, concert accompaniment, organ playing and piano lessons.

After his marriage in 1930 he decided to found his own publishing house. The wish of his wife Hildegard and her relatives that he should buy a drugstore stood against this intention. He gave in and realized too late that the property was overloaded with debt. In 1932 he had to file for bankruptcy and pay this debt. The thirty-year-old was facing financial ruin in the economically very difficult years. This hit him all the more since his only son, Franz Robert (called Peter), was born on February 12, 1935.

In 1935 he became a freelancer for the Reichsender Saarbrücken and was able to contribute to the program as a pianist, conductor and his own compositions. The employment lasted until 1939 and the full-length composition The high song of work , which was written during this time, was a great success. The work was performed 70 more times in different cities.

During the war

Carl stayed in Bad Godesberg again until 1951. He continued his work as a composer and founded the Godesberg Chamber Choir, which together with him performed successful performances, including Mozart ( Requiem ), Handel ( Acis and Galatea , The Messias ), Haydn ( The Seasons ), Brahms ( Ein German Requiem ) . In addition, there were various conducting activities and collaboration with the NWDR Cologne. During this time he founded the music publisher Carl and returned to his home in Saarbrücken in 1952.

post war period

In Saarbrücken, Robert Carl was the training director for the Saarland Singers' Association. At the same time, he was the conductor of many powerful choirs with numerous concerts and radio appearances.

After the Saar vote in 1955, people loved to sing their Saar anthem . From 1951 to 1968 he was the district leader of the Thrush Singers Association in Saarbrücken, which was associated with an activity as a lecturer in training seminars and as an adjudicator at valuation singing. In 1962, on the occasion of his 60th birthday, he was not only given the laudation of the professor of musicology, Müller-Blattau. The radio also dedicated a program to Robert Carl, Singing, Sounding Dreiländereck . In 1961, Robert Carl suffered a severe blow: his son died of a brain tumor after a long illness. The treatments had cost a lot of money and his marriage broke up as well.

In 1968 Robert Carl's mother died in Bad Godesberg. In addition, especially in the following years, he was again faced with great financial worries. He, who had hoped to receive his pension from the GEMA pension fund, in which he had been a member since 1936 (at that time STAGMA), was mistaken. Because of the low income from his work, he was informed that he was not listed as a "full" member. So Robert Carl continued to work as a choir director. He directed a church choir until 1975, during which time he composed his German Mass in A minor , which premiered in 1970. From 1980 he lived on welfare.

His best friends, the Wesseling couple, took care of Robert Carl in their old age until he died of heart failure in 1987. Then Ursula Wesseling continued to run the Carl music publisher.

Requiem for John F. Kennedy

It was not until 1964 that Robert Carl reached a peak in his musical career. The assassination of John F. Kennedy in November 1963, which had deeply shocked him, led him to compose a requiem for John F. Kennedy . In part, this Requiem refers to a work he wrote for his brother during the war. The world premiere took place on November 22nd, 1964 in the Saarbrücken State Theater. “A work full of dignity and urgency, ... which at the same time testifies to the originality and the ability of a composer whom we proudly call our own,” wrote a music critic. Otherwise, the work received less attention in Germany. The composer was all the more astonished when he was promised a performance in Washington. He accepted this invitation. In March 1968 the opportunity arose to meet the then Secretary of State of the United States, Stewart Udall. He was the honorary chairman of a fundraiser for the Choir Association, which performed the Requiem in front of 1,500 listeners in the sold-out Washington concert hall. Hundreds stood in vain for a ticket. The press was only partly praiseworthy for the late Romantic style of the composition. As early as June 1965, Robert F. Kennedy , the brother of John F. Kennedy, was touched and expressed his gratitude to Robert Carl in writing.

Well-known choral works with orchestra by Robert Carl

• Requiem for John F. Kennedy
• German Mass in A minor
• Sadness and comfort
• Adeste fidelis
• To spring
• Opera "Master Andrea"
• Happy hour
• Regina Coeli
• Suite for orchestra

Awards

• 1977: Award of the Saarland Order of Merit
• Awarded the title "Choral Music Director DSB"
• Saarland certificate of merit for musical merit

Web links

• Literature by and about Robert Carl in the catalog of the German National Library
• Music publisher Carl
• Portrait of Robert Carl (PDF; 1.6 MB)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Announcement of awards of the Saarland Order of Merit . In: Head of the State Chancellery (Ed.): Official Gazette of the Saarland . No. 18 . Saarbrücker Zeitung Verlag und Druckerei GmbH, Saarbrücken May 9, 1977, p. 391–392 ( uni-saarland.de [PDF; 244 kB ; accessed on May 27, 2017]).