Robert Saar

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Robert Saar (born May 24, 1925 in Bad Kissingen , † September 21, 1976 in Cologne-Porz ) was a German composer , pianist and organist .

Life

Robert Saar, blind at the age of twelve, received piano lessons from an early age . He studied first at the music school in Bad Kissingen, later at the University of Music Würzburg - u. a. with Franz Xaver Lehner . He attended the Darmstadt summer courses and received suggestions from Hans Werner Henze and Wolfgang Fortner . He had a sponsor in Willy Spilling , the head of the music department at the Nuremberg studio of Bayerischer Rundfunk , which is why he recorded a lot there.

At a young age as a student (1953) he composed works that were also performed. At that time, however, the musical braille was not yet so widespread, and he did not master it either. Saar recorded the music played by a répétiteur - he worked closely with his friend Karl Haus at the Würzburg University of Music - according to his specifications with a small dictation machine for the blind and found everything on the piano. He composed his works using the same method.

In 1958, Saar received the advancement award from the City of Nuremberg in the amount of 1500 DM. Despite early successes, however, the changing musical taste from free tones to atonal , serial or electronic music pushed his compositions off the repertoire.

The composer lived in Cologne-Porz from 1967 until his death (1976). Out of resignation over persistent failures, he stopped composing in 1968. In the last years of his life he worked as a critic, piano teacher, répétiteur at a ballet school and occasionally as a freelance artist. He died in 1976 of complications from cancer .

Works

  • Concerto for chamber orchestra and violoncello, 1960.
  • Four antiphons based on biblical prophecies for cello and organ
  • A cappella mass, 1953.
  • Concerto for oboe and orchestra, 1956.
  • Happy homecoming
  • Song cycle When the children want to cry. All sorts of funny ways in all sorts of terrible pictures by Heinrich H. Roggendorf
  • "Unter den Linden" musical story based on Walther von der Vogelweide for SATB choir

Honors

  • In Bad Kissingen there was the Robert Saar Singing Competition from 1992 to 1998 as part of the Bad Kissinger Klaviertage founded and directed by the composer Gernot Tschirwitz . Among its award winners were a beginner a. a. the opera singer Markus Eiche .

literature

  • Peter Ziegler: Memories of Robert Saar. In: Kur-Zeitung Bad Kissingen. Issue 19, Bad Kissingen 1985, p. 4f.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Silvia Handke: Presence and dynamics of regional music cultures in the broadcasting concepts of the WDR radio. (Contributions to Rhenish Music History, Volume 158). Verlag Merseburger, 1997, ISBN 3-87537-277-8 , p. 208. (Excerpt from: books.google.de )
  2. ^ "Darmstadt was a different world": Prof. Karl Haus on his studies at the State Conservatory of Music in Würzburg. ( Memento of the original from March 31, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the website of the University of Music Würzburg @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.hfm-wuerzburg.de
  3. ↑ Westermanns monthly notebooks . Volume 100, part 1, Magazinpresse-Verlag, 1959, p. 117. (Excerpt from: books.google.de )
  4. ^ Portrait of the composer Gernot Tschirwitz
personal data
SURNAME Saar, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German classical composer
DATE OF BIRTH May 24, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Bad Kissingen
DATE OF DEATH September 21, 1976
Place of death Cologne-Porz