Rudolf Ewald Zingel

Rudolf Ewald Zingel (born September 5, 1876 in Liegnitz ; † February 20, 1944 in Greifswald ) was a German musician, composer and music teacher at the University of Greifswald .

Life

The son of a businessman was already taught to play the violin and piano at the age of five . At the age of 18 he studied at the Royal University of Music in Berlin . A year later he became organist at the Garrison Church in Berlin-Spandau . In 1897 he made a successful concert tour through Silesia and Switzerland as a pianist .

Rudolf Ewald Zingel received the post of main organist of the municipal churches in Frankfurt (Oder) in 1899 and at the same time became director of the Singakademie . Here, in addition to his full-time work, he devoted himself to composition. His opera "Margot" was premiered in 1902 and his oratorio "Der wilde Jäger" in 1906.

In 1907 he became an academic music teacher in Greifswald . In this function he gave lectures on church music, music history and music theory and taught church singing and organ playing. He also received the position of organist at St. Nikolai Cathedral . His duties also included leading the student choirs.

Outside the university he led several choirs and regularly gave concerts in which he led the town band and the town orchestra. In 1915 he was appointed Royal Music Director. During the First World War he was called up for military service, which he performed as a military musician in a battalion stationed in Greifswald. During this time he continued his musical activities in the city. Among other things, he organized charity concerts. In 1917 he was honored with the Cross of Merit for War Aid for his work .

After the war, Zingel continued concerts with the municipal orchestra and also worked as a conductor at the municipal theater. In 1920 he took over the office of cantor at Greifswald Cathedral in addition to his work as an organist. In the same year he was significantly involved in the founding and the course of the Greifswald Music Festival. Zingel's public lectures on Ludwig van Beethoven , Franz Schubert , Richard Wagner and Johannes Brahms , among others , made him known, but also drew criticism from experts. He led the Bach Foundation, which he co-founded, from 1924 to 1926 during its heyday.

In 1925 he was awarded the "Red Cross Medal 3rd Class". Two years later he became director of the church music seminar, which had been newly founded at the theological faculty. In 1932, Zingel received the "Honor Plate for Services in Western Pomerania".

After a stroke on March 10, 1935, he had to keep his previous activities to a minimum. On March 5, 1936 he was appointed honorary professor of the theological faculty. At the end of the month he had to resign from his positions as organist and cantor at the cathedral. Despite great efforts on the part of Zingels and the concurrence of the university management, it was no longer possible to continue his musical teaching activities due to severe irreparable handicaps. Zingel's dismissal, originally in 1937, was delayed until March 1939 at the request of the Rector, mainly referring to Zingel's poor financial situation.

Rudolf Ewald Zingel died in 1944. We only know about his wife that she was musically educated. His son Hans Joachim Zingel (1904–1978) completed his music studies with a doctorate . He wrote several musicological works on the harp , played in various orchestras and was a lecturer at the Cologne University of Music from 1947 .

rating

Rudolf Ewald Zingel shaped and determined the musical and cultural life in Greifswald for more than 25 years. The quantity of his official obligations as well as his numerous self-set artistic goals, however, impaired the quality of his artistic work. While his personal piano and organ playing did not give rise to criticism, the pieces by important composers rehearsed with amateur choirs or orchestras were often not performed in a musically or technically mature manner.

Mostly praised by the university management and the theological faculty, on the other hand, some musicologists and critics rated it negative or even scathing. In terms of musicology , Hans Engel described him as a layman, his compositions as "absolutely insignificant" and also criticized the quality of the music at academic celebrations. Zingel's compositions are seen as imitations of famous models, for which he preferred the possibility of being used by ensembles of amateur musicians over artistic expressiveness.

Compositions (selection)

• Margot . Opera, 1902
• Persepolis . Opera
• Love spell . operetta
• Joyful and sorrowful . Symphonic poetry
• The wild hunter . Oratorio, 1906

Zingel also composed various works for piano, violin, choir and orchestra.

literature

• Zingel, Rudolf Ewald . In: Grete Grewolls: Who was who in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania? A dictionary of persons . Edition Temmen, Bremen 1995, ISBN 3-86108-282-9 , p. 484.

Web links

• Works by and about Rudolf Ewald Zingel in the catalog of the German National Library
• Literature about Rudolf Ewald Zingel in the state bibliography MV
• Zingel, Rudolf Ewald at Rathay biographies
• Sheet music and audio files by Rudolf Ewald Zingel in the International Music Score Library Project