Werner Rackwitz

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Kurt Hager , Ruth Berghaus , Werner Rackwitz, Paul Dessau and Hans-Joachim Hoffmann (from left to right) at a solidarity concert for Paul Dessau in the Berliner Ensemble (December 1974)

Werner Rackwitz (born December 3, 1929 in Breslau ; † March 14, 2014 in Berlin ) was a German opera director, cultural politician and SED functionary.

Life

Rackwitz first began studying the piano with Sigfrid Grundis at the Halle University of Music . Then he switched to musicology at the Martin Luther University (MLU) Halle-Wittenberg , where he worked as an assistant from 1957. In 1963 he received his doctorate as Dr. phil. From 1963 to 1969 he was head of the music department in the Ministry of Culture of the GDR and from 1969 to 1981 Deputy Minister of Culture. In 1976 Rackwitz was promoted to Dr. sc. phil. PhD.

In 1981 he succeeded Joachim Herz as artistic director of the Komische Oper in Berlin , where he worked with chief director Harry Kupfer , general music director Rolf Reuter and chief choreographer Tom Schilling . Under his leadership, the countertenor Jochen Kowalski developed into an international star. Rackwitz made possible productions that were recognized as critical music theater beyond the borders of Berlin. Critics accused him, on the other hand, of having "pushed through SED cultural policy downwards". In January 1994, he asked the non-party Berlin Senator for Culture, Ulrich Roloff-Momin, to terminate his contract prematurely because of “political defamation”, even though a staff meeting of the opera in autumn 1992 had given him confidence. His successor as artistic director was the then operations director of the Cologne Opera , Albert Kost. Harry Kupfer received the status of opera director.

In addition to his work as an opera director, he continued to be politically active and engaged in various cultural organizations. Further stations in his political career were the Berlin city council , of which he had been a member since June 1981, and the SED district leadership in Berlin, of which he had been a member since 1984.

He was also a member of the Central Board and the Presidium of the Association of Composers and Musicologists of the GDR , the Executive Board of the Georg Friedrich Händel Society , the Music Council of the GDR and the International Society for Musicology . At the same time he was an honorary professor for musicology at the MLU Halle-Wittenberg and taught at the Berlin University of the Arts from 1986 .

Rackwitz retired in February 1994. He died on March 14, 2014 after a short, serious illness in Berlin.

Awards

Publications

  • with Helmut Steffens: Georg Friedrich Händel. Personality, environment, legacy. , VEB Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1962
  • History and present of the Halle Handel Renaissance / Part 1: 1809–1929 . Händelhaus, Halle an der Saale 1977
  • Past and present of the Halle Handel Renaissance / Part 2: 1929–1976 . Handelhaus, Halle an der Saale 1979
  • Georg Philipp Telemann - Singing is the foundation of music in all things. A collection of documents . Philipp Reclam jun., Leipzig 1967, 1981, 1985.

Holdings

  • Il caro sassone, Georg Friedrich Handel: Description of his life in pictures . VEB German publishing house for music, Leipzig 1986
  • Il caro sassone, Georg Friedrich Handel: Description of his life in pictures . 2nd updated edition. VEB German publishing house for music, Leipzig 1988

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Werner Rackwitz died at the age of 84 , Berliner Zeitung, March 17, 2014
  2. ↑ Berliner Zeitung , February 27, 1971, p. 4
  3. ^ Neue Zeit , October 3, 1989, p. 2
personal data
SURNAME Rackwitz, Werner
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German opera director and cultural politician
DATE OF BIRTH December 3, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Wroclaw
DATE OF DEATH March 14, 2014
Place of death Berlin