Walter Michael Klepper

Walter Michael Klepper, around 1970

Walter Michael Klepper (born July 27, 1929 in Lugoj , Kingdom of Romania ; † August 9, 2008 in Geinsheim am Rhein , Trebur ) was a Romanian-German composer from the Banat .

Life

Walter Michael Klepper ( Romanian Walter Mihai Klepper ) was born the son of a musically gifted carpenter. He attended the German elementary school and grammar school in Lugoj, where he stood out as the director of the school choir. Because of the closure of the German schools in post-war Romania , he switched to the technical college for metallurgy in Reșița as an apprentice , which he left with a degree as a lathe operator.

Klepper attended the music school in Reșița, where he was trained in playing the violin and piano as well as in music theory. He also appeared as an orchestra conductor. In the meantime he worked as a technician and director of a choir in Reșița. In 1954 Klepper received a scholarship to visit the Ciprian Porumbescu Music Conservatory in Bucharest , where he was instructed in composition by Marțian Negrea and received his diploma in 1958. His piano sonata and his first symphony have meanwhile been awarded prizes. In the same year he took over the position of artistic director at the Romanian Symphonic Film Orchestra in Bucharest. In 1958 he married the Banat painter and graphic artist Hildegard Klepper-Paar .

With his admission to the Romanian Composers' Union (rum: Uniunea Compozitorilor din România ), Klepper established himself as a freelance artist and musician in Romania in 1960. From 1962 to 1972 he worked as a composer, piano teacher, director of a chamber orchestra, lecturer in form theory and orchestration, and as director of the music studio at the Bucharest Conservatory (1968-1970). From 1970 to 1972 he was a lecturer for form theory, harmony and instrument studies at the music faculty of the University of Transylvania Brașov . For a short time he held the post of artistic director and deputy artistic director of the Opera Na Bională Bucureşti . A lifelong friendship developed with the director, the writer Mircea Horia Simionescu .

In 1977 Klepper received the composition prize of the Romanian Composers' Union for his 2nd symphony .

In 1983 he moved to Germany and after a few years of searching, he became professional choir director in the Rhine-Main area (including Hochheim am Main , Groß-Gerau , Trebur, Geinsheim). Here he wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements for amateur and professional choirs. In the last years of his life he was invited by the radio station Radio Reșița to create a program about classical music. This then resulted in four popular series of programs on music over two years, some of which were also published as books. While working on the last pages of the book for the program on "The Secrets of Classical Music" (Rum .: "Tainele muzicii clasice") he lay down for the afternoon rest and died on August 9, 2008 in his house in Geinsheim. He was buried in his hometown of Lugoj, of which he was an honorary citizen.

Works

• Symphony No. 1 Op. 1, 1958
• Die Gesänge Hiroshima (original rum .: Cântecele Hiroşimei ), cantata for solo alto, mixed choir and large orchestra (text by Klaus Kessler) Op. 2, 1959
• Impressions from Reschitza , (original rum .: Impresii din Reșița ) Symphonic triptych for large orchestra Op. 3, 1962
• Divertimento for Strings and Timpani Op. 4, 1963
• Duo sonata for flute (violin) and viola Op. 5, 1963
• The season of beauty (orig.rum .: Anotimpul frumuseţii ), cantata for solo tenor, mixed choir and large orchestra Op. 6, 1964
• Concertino for winds, piano, celesta and percussion Op. 7, 1965
• Three Organ Movements Op. 8, 1968
• Remember , Chamber Cantata for Soprano and Chamber Orchestra on a poem by Ana Blandiana , Op. 9, 1969
• Three Lenau songs Winter Night , To the Distant , Night Op. 10, 1970
• La Steaua ("Zum Stern"), Madrigal for mixed, male and female choir of 4-9 voices Op. 11 No. 1, 1970 Text: Mihai Eminescu
• Five songs for mixed choir Op. 11 No. 2, 1972 Texts: Mihai Eminescu (rum.)
• Sonatina for violin and piano , Op. 12, 1973
• Symphony No. 2 Op. 13, 1974
• Du mildes Licht (orig. Rum. Lumină lină ) In memoriam Liviu Glodeanu, Ode in the Byzantine style for mixed choir of 4-7 voices Op. 14, 1977 Text: Ioan Alexandru
• From the Banat (orig.rum. Din Banat ) Five Romanian folk song settings from the Banat for mixed and male choir Op. 15, 1974.
• Sonata for Cello and Piano Op. 16, 1979
• We go Christmas singing (orig. Rum. Noi umblăm şi colindăm ) Small Romanian Christmas cantata for mixed choir, using rum. Christmas carols (Colinde) from Transylvania; Op. 17, 1981
• Mein Mahl im Paradies (orig.rum. Masa mea de rai ) Madrigal for mixed choir Op. 18 No. 1, 1983
• Just like this autumn ( Întocmai ca această toamnă ) Madrigal for Mixed Choir Op. 18. No.2-1983
• Wind quintet Op. 19, 1985
• Sonata for piano Op. 20, 1956 (Revised 1986)
• Incidental music , film music , extensive work for choral music 1987-2008.

Publications

Scores

• 1st Symphony, Editura Muzicală - Bucharest 1965
• 2nd Symphony, Editura Muzicală - Bucharest 1978
• Concertino for winds, piano and percussion, Editura Muzicală - Bucharest 1977
• Sonata for viola and flute, Editura Muzicală - Bucharest 1969
• Sonatina for violin and piano, Editura Muzicală - Bucharest 1980

Publications

• Klepper, Walter Michael, "Mozart, un copil al cerului", Radio Reșița - Pro Marketing, 2010, ISBN 978-606-8022-07-9
• Klepper, Walter Michael, "Tainele muzicii clasice", editorial and edition Ralf D.Klepper (Munich) - Verlag Banatul Montan 2010, ISBN 978-973-1929-34-7

Choral works

• for male choir , female choir , mixed choir, children's choir , gospel choir and others self-published

Sound carrier

• 1st Symphony and Symphonic Triptych Impressions from Reschitza , [Electrecord] - Bucharest on LP
• Praise God, my harp playing , anthology of East German music, German Harmonia Mundi
• My home country , Banaterland, edition-musik-suedost, EMSO 2006

Broadcast recordings

• all works up to 1983 are in the sound archive of Radio Bucharest
• Concertino for wind instruments, piano and percussion, Bayerischer Rundfunk Munich, 1999

Broadcasts

• Series mysteries of classical music (orig. Rum. Tainele muzicii clasice ) series Mozart, a child of the sky (rum. Mozart, copil al cerului ) series The hour of music lover (rum. Ceasul melomanului ) series Lumea Operei (rum. : World of Opera ), Radio Reșița , Romania

literature

• From blast furnace to music, Walter Michael Klepper on his 70th birthday , in Der Donauschwabe Aalen September 12, 1999, Banater Post Munich May 11, 1999
• The unifying force of Banat choral music - the composer WM Klepper , in the Banater Post , May 11, 2005
• And his music lives on, On the death of the Banat composer Walter Michael Klepper (1929-2008) , in: Allgemeine Deutsche Zeitung (ADZ) Bucharest, August 29, 2008
• Frank Paul, Abbreviated Tonkünstler Lexicon , continued by Burchard Bulling, Florian Noetzel, Helmut Rösner. Part 2: Additions and extensions since 1937, Wilhelmshaven: Heinrichshofen, 1974
• Bull, Storm: Index to biographies of contemporary composers, Vol. II , Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1974, p. 567.
• Lexicon, Muzicieni romăni Bucharest: Editura Muzicală a Uniunii Compozitorilor, 1970
• Scurtulescu, Dan, Mic concert pentru suflatori, pian si baterie de M. Klepper [Small concert for wind instruments, piano a. Percussion] Trade journal Muzica No. 10, Bucharest 1966, pp. 20–22.
• Cosma, Viorel, Compozitori si muzicologi romăni: mic lexicon sub redactia lui Viorel Cosma , Bucharest: Editura Muzicală a Uniunii Compozitorilor din RPR, 1965, page 386.
• Beckmann, Klaus, Repertory Organ Music 1. Organ solo Composers - Works - Editions 1150-2000. 57 countries - a selection., 3rd edition from 2001, 1062 pages, p. 831, Schott Music Int. ISBN 3-7957-0500-2
• Rohr, Robert, Unser kingendes Erbe - From the musical life of the Danube Swabians from 1918 to the present, Volume II; Donauschwäbische Kulturstiftung Munich 1994; ISBN 3-926276-20-7 , pages 162/359/369
• Music lexicon "Universul muzicii românesti" by Lazar Octavian Cosma (Editura Muzicala, 1995); ISBN 9734201670

Web links

• Works by and about Walter Michael Klepper in the catalog of the German National Library
• edition-musik-suedost.de , Franz Metz : List of publications (selection) , references to biographical articles in the “Banater Post”, Munich and “Der Donauschwabe”, Aalen
• edition-musik-suedost.de , Franz Metz: biography Walter Michael Klepper