Rolf Kleinert

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Rolf Kleinert (born November 24, 1911 in Dresden , †  January 20, 1975 in Berlin ) was a German conductor .

life and work

Kleinert, son of a porcelain maker, studied violin, piano and conducting with Fritz Busch at the orchestra school of the Saxon State Orchestra in Dresden from 1931 to 1933 . Further teachers were Kurt Striegler , Hermann Kutzschbach and Johannes Schneider-Marfels . He also played the oboe and trumpet. He initially worked as Kapellmeister at the Freiberg Theater and as musical director and conductor of the symphony concerts at the Brandenburg City Theater. In 1941 Kleinert had to interrupt his career because he was drafted into the Wehrmacht. At the end of the war he was taken prisoner by the French. 1947–1949 he directed the Central German Radio Orchestra at the Leipzig transmitter. 1949–1952 he took on the role of music director at the Görlitz Theater . The GDR first performance of the Polish national opera " Halka " was initiated and performed by him.

1952 began a long-term collaboration with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra . Only as first conductor alongside the chief conductor H. Abendroth. After his death in 1956, Kleinert led the orchestra. In 1959 Kleinert was appointed general music director in the GDR and took over as chief conductor of the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 1960 he received the title of professor. With the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, the orchestra lost a third of the musicians. The orchestra was about to break up. Kleinert and Hanns Eisler fought vehemently for the orchestra to exist. Due to his intensive commitment in the search for suitable musicians, it was possible to make the orchestra playable again and to maintain its specific sound. Concert tours with the orchestra took Kleinert to Italy, England, West Germany, the Soviet Union, Poland and Bulgaria. He has been repeatedly invited to guest conductors by the National Orchestra of Chile, the Belgrade Philharmonic, Leningrad (Petersburg), Moscow, the Czech Republic, Riga, Budapest, Bratislava, Cairo and the RSO Helsinki.

Kleinert received the Patriotic Order of Merit and the National Prize of the GDR .

In 1972 Kleinert fell ill and had to give up conducting. He died in 1975 and was buried in the Striesener Friedhof in Dresden.

In the German Broadcasting Archive 800 conducted by him are record.

meaning

“Kleinert was a conductor of the 'faithful' school, coming from the Leibowitz, Toscanini and Scherchen tradition. He knew how to elicit tempo, accuracy, clarity and dance elegance from every score. ”Dr. M. Meyer, in radio symphony orchestra 1923–1998 . An excellent striking technique, a great sense of sound and perfect pitch were Kleinert's essential characteristics.

Discography (selection)

literature

  • Rundfunk-Orchester und -Chöre gGmbH Berlin (Ed.): Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester 1923–1998 . Berlin 1998
  • Meyers Neues Lexikon , Vol. 7. VEB Bibliographisches Institut Leipzig, 1973
  • State Administration Office Berlin

Web link

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ June 8 (1959) in: Daily facts of the Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein (at the DHM )
personal data
SURNAME Kleinert, Rolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German conductor
DATE OF BIRTH November 24, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Dresden
DATE OF DEATH 20th January 1975
Place of death Berlin