Rudolf Utermöhlen

Rudolf Utermöhlen (born December 21, 1906 in Prezelle ; † December 6, 1982 in Hanover ) was a German Lutheran theologian and musicologist .

Life

Utermöhlen, son of a pastor, attended the humanistic high school in Stade and from 1920 to 1925 the Johanneum in Lüneburg before he began studying theology in Tübingen in 1925 . To continue his studies, he later moved to Berlin and Göttingen. In 1929/30 he also completed a musicological and church music training at the Music Academy in Leipzig. Among other things, he was the organ student of the Thomaskantor Karl Straube . In March 1929 he passed the first and, after attending the preachers' seminary at the Erichsburg , in March 1932 the second theological exam.

Utermöhlen was ordained in Bardowick on April 21, 1932 . He began his first pastor in 1932 as an assistant pastor in Harburg-Wilstorf. On July 1, 1933, he became a pastor in Elliehausen . In 1935 he appeared as a part-time laborer in the national church office Hanover of the Hanover church and was in substitution for the Reich Church Committee appointed Oberlandeskirchenrat Christian Mahrenholz entrusted mainly with sacred music tasks. His work included the reorganization of church music work and training and the expansion of organ monument maintenance. Later he was also involved in the preparatory work for the Protestant church hymn book and the creation of the chorale book for it. During the Second World War he carried out the inventory of church bells. In 1939/40 and 1942 to 1945 he did military service himself. After returning from captivity , he was first pastor again in Elliehausen, and in 1949 he switched to church administration as pastor of the regional church and regional church music warden. He had his official seat in Göttingen.

Utermöhlen was one of the founders of the church music school and took over the chairmanship of the board of trustees. He represented the Hanover regional church in the Lutheran Liturgical Conference of Germany and in the ecumenical bell advisory committee. In 1959 he was appointed to the Oberlandeskirchenrat. At the end of 1971 he retired.

Fonts

• The liturgical use of the song. Hanover 1950
• The organ at St. Johannis in Lüneburg. Lueneburg 1952
• Thoughts on current organ building. Shown using the example of the new organ in the Johanneskirche in Düsseldorf. Düsseldorf 1954
• Liturgical organ sets on the agenda for Evangelical Lutheran churches and parishes. Kassel 1956
• Choral book for the Evangelical Church Hymn book (as editor, with Christhard Mahrenholz). Kassel 1960
• Liturgical organ sets on the agenda for evang.-luth. Churches and parishes . Kassel 1980

literature

• Florian Hoffmann: Christhard Mahrenholz, Rudolf Utermöhlen and Helmut Winter. Organ building and organ monument maintenance as a regional church task (1928-1983) . In: Yearbook of the Society for Lower Saxony Church History 113 (2015), pp. 313–328
• Christhard Mahrenholz : Thank you to Rudolf Utermöhlen . In: The message. January 9, 1972, p. 10