Rolf Alexander Wilhelm

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Rolf Alexander Wilhelm (born June 23, 1927 in Munich ; † January 17, 2013 ) was a German composer , film composer , arranger and conductor .

Life

At the age of seven, Wilhelm received piano lessons. He then attended high school in Berlin and Vienna . From 1942 he studied piano and composition with Joseph Marx at the Vienna University of Music with a special permit from Grete Hinterhofer .

His military service as an air force helper and the ensuing imprisonment interrupted the musical career of Wilhelm, who returned to the devastated Munich in 1945 with a secondary school diploma. There he was able to continue his studies at the University of Music in Munich from 1946 and in 1948 pass the school leaving examination. His teachers included Heinrich Knappe (conducting), Joseph Haas (composition) and Hans Rosbaud (master class).

Even before that, in 1946, Radio Munich , the forerunner of Bavarian Broadcasting , produced one of its first radio plays after the Second World War with “ The Canterville Ghost ” . Through the mediation of his brother Kurt Wilhelm , who acted as assistant director for the piece , the composer, who was only nineteen, received his first commission. The work was convincing and Wilhelm became a very busy freelancer for the station. He also composes music for various drawing stories by Reiner Zimnik for the still young medium of television , for example for Jonas der Angler (1954) or Der Kran (1956).

Wilhelm wrote his first major film music in 1954 for the first film in the 08/15 trilogy, which are among the most successful films of the post-war period . By the 1990s, the music for around 60 feature films followed , including classics such as And Eternally Sing the Woods (1959), It Doesn't Always Have to Be Caviar (1961), The Black-White-Red Canopy Bed (1962), Scotland Yard is chasing Dr . Mabuse (1963), Lausbubengeschichten (1964), six films in the Lümmel series (1967 to 1972), The Flying Classroom (1973), The Snake Egg (1977), Ödipussi (1988) and, most recently, Pappa ante portas (1991).

One of his most complex film works is the music for the German large-scale production Die Nibelungen (1966/67). The rhythm and sound schemes of Mars processed in it from the cycle of symphonic poems The Planets by Gustav Holst are now part of the standard stylistic repertoire of Hollywood film composers .

In addition, Wilhelm has so far composed the music for more than 250 radio plays, over 350 television productions and approx. 300 advertising films. In addition, numerous stage music , orchestral suites and literary chansons were created . For example, he set texts by Kurt Tucholsky to music .

As a young man he also composed Schlager under the pseudonym Alex Rolf Ander . His best-known work under this name was Der kleine Eisbär , published in 1951. The use of this pseudonym was not made public during his lifetime and was only made known by his daughter Catharina Wilhelm after his death.

He was married to the actress Helga Neuner , who, in addition to numerous theater appearances and the television series Die Firma Hesselbach, became known to a wide audience.

Rolf Wilhelm died at the age of 85 on January 17, 2013 with his family. The artistic estate is in the German Composers Archive in HELLERAU - European Center for the Arts Dresden .

Filmography (selection)

Feature films

watch TV

Radio plays (selection)

Awards

Discography

  • German film composers, episode 4, Rolf Wilhelm , Bear Family Records, 2001, BCD 16484 AR
  • Rolf Wilhelm 1: Tarabas / Hiob (Director: Michael Kehlmann), 2006 Alhambra (A 8957)
  • Rolf Wilhelm 2: Escape without End / Radetzkymarsch (Reie: Michael Kehlmann), 2006 Alhambra (A8958)
  • The Nibelungs , 2001 Cobra (CR 006A / B)
  • Loriot: Pappa ante Portas (Soundtrack)
  • Loriot: Oedipussi (Soundtrack)
  • Hugo Hartung - I often think of Piroschka. Director: Kurt Wilhelm ISBN 3-550-09092-7
  • Rascal stories by Ludwig Thoma. As told by Willy Rösner (speech plate)
  • Kurt Wilhelm - The Brandner Kaspar and eternal 'life. Comedy based on a story, motifs and poems by Franz von Kobell. Music: Rolf Wilhelm (speech plate)
  • Jonas the Angler / Lecturer: The missing melody. Joachim Fuchsberger reads modern fairy tales by Reiner Zimnik. (Speech plate)
  • Gisela May sings Tucholsky
  • The singing war of the heather rabbits. A radio play for young and old by James Krüss .

literature

  • Rolf Wilhelm - "Sometimes the music is pasted up ..." , Interview with Raimund Saxinger and Matthias Büdinger, in: Filmharmonische Blätter . Issue 7 / October / November 1987, pp. 28-37
  • Rolf Wilhelm - "Music means everlasting asylum" , interview in two parts with Stefan Schlegel, in: Cinema Musica . Issue 1 / July 2005, pp. 53–58 and Issue 2 / October 2005, pp. 50–58

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Obituary notice in the Süddeutsche Zeitung
  2. ^ Catharina Wilhelm: Ode to a life's work: The quiet tones of Rolf Alexander Wilhelm. (November 28, 2013)
  3. ^ Entry in the German Composers' Archive
  4. ↑ Lifetime Achievement Honorees from ITEA
personal data
SURNAME Wilhelm, Rolf Alexander
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wilhelm, Rolf A.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German film composer
DATE OF BIRTH June 23, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich , Bavaria, German Empire
DATE OF DEATH 17th January 2013
Place of death Munich , Bavaria, Germany