Rudolf Ewerhart

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Rudolf Ewerhart (born June 15, 1928 in Lebach ) is a German university professor , musicologist , organist , harpsichordist , conductor , editor and collector of instruments .

life and work

Rudolf Ewerhart grew up in Trier and sang in the choir of the Trier Cathedral Boys' Choir as a teenager . He studied church music as well as conducting and musicology in Cologne and Freiburg im Breisgau . In 1953 he received his doctorate in Cologne. In 1955 he took on a lectureship at the Episcopal Church Music School in Münster, which he oversaw for 20 years and of which he was temporarily director. From 1972 to 1992 he taught organ and choir conducting at the University of Church Music of the State University of Music in Cologne . Among his students were Odilo Klasen , Burkhard Pütz, Thomas Sorger, Willem Winschuh.

In addition, he gave countless concerts and made "hundreds of recordings of baroque music" for radio and sound carriers , where he played both as a soloist and in an ensemble . He made music "with modern orchestras as well as ensembles that maintain historical performance practice , such as the Collegium Aureum or the German Baroque Soloists ."

In addition, Ewerhart conducted the Trier motet choir and the Santini chamber choir , published scientific essays and brought out "countless editions of works from the 17th and 18th centuries". As an organ expert, he also participated in the restoration of the organ in the St. Joseph Chapel in Düsseldorf in 1992 .

The castle house in Wassenach

Ewerhart has lived with his wife Helena since 1982 in the late Baroque castle house in Wassenach , which he himself renovated and was a noble residence of the Barons von Kolb from 1772 to 1775. He put on a large collection of historical keyboard instruments there. The former moated castle on Lake Laacher See , Rhineland-Palatinate , which was renovated by Ewerhart, was used as an inn until 1982 . Ewerhart has been hosting concerts in the music series in the Burghaus Wassenach since 1996 in the house's former dance hall . Here you will also find the exhibition room with organs , clavichords , harpsichords , spinets and pianos . For example, Ewerhart rescued a harpsichord from the year 1682 “from an Italian chicken coop, where it served as a feed box. The oldest instrument in his collection is a spinet from the first half of the 17th century. ”The musical instrument collection can be viewed during the concerts or by prior arrangement.

Research priorities

Ewerhart's research focus is baroque music , and he recorded many works for the first time, including works by Georg Friedrich Handel , which he himself had tracked down. The complete recording of concerts for organ and orchestra by Handel with the Collegium Aureum for the German label Harmonia Mundi made him known worldwide as an organist. He also published articles on the history of (key) instrument making in the Middle Rhine region.

Publications

  • The manuscript 322/1994 of the Trier City Library as a musical source (= Cologne Contributions to Music Research, VII). Dissertation. Regensburg 1955.
  • The Handel manuscripts in the Santini library in Münster. In: Georg Friedrich Handel Society (ed.): Handel Yearbook, 6th year 1960, Leipzig 1960, pp. 111–150.
  • The Episcopal Santini Library. Munster 1962.
  • The organ and piano maker Senft in Koblenz and Augsburg. 2011, ISBN 978-3-86296014-9 .

Editorial activity

in a selection

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Deutschlandfunk
  2. ↑ a b c d website Bach Cantatas
  3. ↑ Ahrweiler Online Encyclopedia
  4. ↑ a b c d Article A passionate collector in rundschau-online.de from April 16, 2004.
  5. ^ Verlag Ernst Kuhn, Berlin: Author's Handbook for Music , Version 2015/2016.
personal data
SURNAME Ewerhart, Rudolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German university professor, musicologist, musician, publisher and instrument collector
DATE OF BIRTH June 15, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH trier