Rolf Gerlach (writer)

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Rolf Gerlach (also: Johannes Rolf Gerlach ) (born March 17, 1935 in Leipzig ) is a German theologian and writer .

Life

Johannes Rolf Gerlach was born in Leipzig in 1935 as the son of a businessman. After elementary school he attended the commercial college up to the 10th grade in order to begin a commercial apprenticeship in 1950 , which he completed in 1953 with a skilled worker certificate. He also made up his Abitur at a secondary school in Leipzig in 1954. From 1954 to 1959 he studied theology in Rostock and Greifswald until he received the state examination . This was followed by freelance work for the Art History Institute of the University of Greifswald , which lasted until 1961 . With a church history issue, he was in 1962 for Dr. theol. PhD . From 1961 to 1965 he was an assistant at the Institute for Greco-Roman Classical Studies at the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin . He worked on the Grimm dictionary on a freelance basis between 1965 and 1967.

In 1967 he reoriented himself and began distance learning at the Hanns Eisler Music Academy in Berlin . He took the subjects piano, guitar and composition / composition. He settled in Zepernick near Berlin in 1968 ; this should be his adopted home. From 1971 he taught music theory at the special school for music , which was affiliated with the "Hanns Eisler" college. At that time he had finished the novel The Bridegroom , which was now published by the Nation's publishing house . In 1973 he passed the state examination at the music college.

A new career change took place in 1977, when he freelance writer, editor and moderator in the Department of Serious Music in GDR television was. In the mid-1980s, however, he no longer received any work orders. Shortly before, he had published his autobiographical novel Eselsbrücke with thoroughly socially critical undertones. In 1985 he wrote a libretto for a series of etudes by Ralf Hoyer , which was printed in 1987, a DEFA documentary for which he had written the screenplay was also shown in 1987, and in the following year his volume of short stories Cello under rubble was published .

After turning Rolf Gerlach was for 18 months in the municipality Zepernick as ABM - chronicler paid employment. That was the trigger for his subsequent preoccupation with local history topics.

style

Despite the many professions exercised, Gerlach always saw himself as a writer.

In his works of fiction he processed his own life, sometimes more and sometimes less concretely. The protagonist in Eselsbrücke has completed an unsatisfactory degree in theology and hopes, after further failed attempts, to finally achieve great success with small musical compositions valued in musical circles. His diary entries are a “self-tormenting record of his life” and unmistakably “autobiographical”. Similar basic structures can be found in the narratives of the cello volume, in which the people portrayed are afflicted with soul pain such as loneliness, disappointment, and suffering. The "exploration of inner well-being" is too often the focus, said Rainer Schütz in New Germany .

Works

Novels and short stories

  • Johannes Rolf Gerlach: The bridegroom. Novel. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1971.
  • Rolf Gerlach: Donkey Bridge. Diary novel. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1984, ISBN 3-373-00161-7 .
  • Rolf Gerlach: cello under rubble. Little stories. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1988, ISBN 3-373-00228-1 .

Local lore

  • Ask about trees in Zepernick, essays and documents on local history. Blankenburg, Bernau 1993.
  • Post war in Zepernick. Critical review of the north-eastern suburb of Berlin in the years 1945–1953. Götze, Berlin 1996.
  • Zepernick b. Berlin. The cathedral village in the mirror of old files. Lukas-Verlag, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-931836-60-6 .
  • Zepernick. Light and shadow images. Views to remember. Delanus, Panketal 2004.

Biographies

  • Mieze preach. The life of the Brandenburg pastor Ulrich Herzberg (1887–1962). Schelzky and Jeep, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-89541-128-0 .

Afterwords

  • ... read again and again DIFFERENTLY! In: Brigitte Burmeister: Different or from staying in a foreign country. A little novel. With a reading impression by Rolf Gerlach. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-373-00112-9 , pp. 282-288.

Libretti

  • About Ralf Hoyer (composer): 27 etudes for two. Chamber scenes for singers and string quartet (1985). Based on a text by Rolf Gerlach (= autograph edition ). 1985, published by Edition CF Peters, Leipzig 1987, world premiere at the Dresden Music Festival 1985.
  • About Helmut Zapf (composer): Kleiner Zepernicker Totentanz. Lyric requiem. 1991, performances in Zepernick and Berlin.
  • On Robert Grossmann (composer): Zauberberg. Great opera after Thomas Mann . 1993, first performance September 26, 2002, StadttheaterChur .

Scripts

  • Sounds and glosses. Kleines Journal (together with Peter Heinrich), 1980, first broadcast October 14, 1980, DFF 1.
  • The Human Has Two Legs (TV film about Kurt Tucholsky , director: Detlef Mohr), 1980, first broadcast January 9, 1981, DFF 1.
  • I grin in between. Rondo for Adolf Glaßbrenner (documentary about the humorist, director: Thomas Kuschel), 1986, first broadcast January 18, 1987, DFF 1.
  • Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin - Paths to new premieres (documentary with historical recordings, director: Wernfried Hübel), DEFA 1987, first broadcast October 7, 1987, DFF 2.
  • Zepernick. Light and shadow images. A portrait of the place (together with Nadine Muth), in-house production 2003.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Gerlach, Rolf. In: Kürschner's German Literature Calendar . Gruyter, Berlin 1988.
  2. a b c d e f g Brigitte Böttcher (Hrsg.): Inventory. Literary profiles . Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle (Saale) 1976, Johannes Rolf Gerlach, p. 38 f .
  3. a b c The author. (PDF; 141 KB) In: lukasverlag.com. P. 1 , accessed on October 24, 2019 .
  4. a b c d A thoroughly uncomfortable chronicler. “Nothing is forgotten” - Doctor Rolf Gerlach. In: stadtmagazinverlag.de. Stadtmagazin BS GmbH, accessed on October 24, 2019 .
  5. a b Jens Langer: A late discovery. In: das-blaettchen.de. Wolfgang Schwarz, September 25, 2017, accessed October 24, 2019 .
  6. Advertising text on Eselsbrücke in the blurb on cello under rubble .
  7. ^ ALZ: Life inventory . In: The morning . Berlin April 5th 1986.
  8. Wilfriede Eichler: This author is a captivating interpreter. Literary evening with Rolf Gerlach . In: National newspaper . Berlin December 7th, 1988.
  9. Rainer Schütz: Constant pain of the soul . In: New Germany . No. 48/1989 , February 25, 1989, pp. 14 .