Werner Wemheuer
Werner Wemheuer (born February 5, 1899 in Wiesbaden ; † December 14, 1977 ibid) was répétiteur and Kapellmeister at the Hessian State Theater in Wiesbaden as well as composer and arranger of numerous popular songs, singspiele and revues.
Life
Werner Wemheuer was born as Werner Walter Eugen Luckow in Wiesbaden in 1899. His parents were Erich Wemheuer (1869–1925, solo double bass player and chamber musician with the municipal orchestra in Wiesbaden) and Natalie Katharina Luckow, née Hering (1863–1925). His parents did not get married until 1917 and took the family name Wemheuer, which is why first reports and newspaper articles still refer to a "Werner Luckow".
Through his father's line - his grandfather Wilhelm Wemheuer (1834–1918), for example, was a "royal mountain musician" - he became familiar with music at an early age and made a name for himself as a "child prodigy" at the piano at the age of 5. At the age of 8 he performed a piano concerto by Mozart and at the age of 11 with a piano concerto by Beethoven in public with great success in the Kurhaus Wiesbaden. He was even supposed to go on tour to America at that time. But that was not put into practice because his mother feared the sea voyage: "Water has no beams". Instead, the musical education and training was placed on a broad basis: Studies at the Conservatory and the Musikhochschule in Frankfurt with Professors Hochstädter and Höhn (piano), Professor Weidemann (organ) and Iwan Knorr (composition).
In 1919 he began to work in the spa town at the State Theater as a répétiteur and conductor under the general music directors Arthur Rother , Otto Klemperer , Karl Elmendorff and later Wolfgang Sawallisch . He has repeatedly conducted "Nabucco", "Traviata", "Fliegender Holländer", "Carmen", "Wildschütz", "La Boheme" and almost all operettas from "Fledermaus" to "Saison in Salzburg".
On November 22nd, 1922 he married Irmgard Lang, with whom he had 2 children: Ingeborg (* 1925, † 2018) and Erich (* 1930).
In the 1920s he composed a revue "Bei uns", which saw many performances in Wiesbaden with great success, a Singspiel "Constanze" with Erna Sack in the title role and a concerto for cello tenore, which was performed several times by Professor August Eichhorn . More than 100 songs were created (including poems by Rabindranath Tagore and "Lärm im Spiegel" by Erich Kästner ), a large collection of Hessian folk dances and folk songs was built, which he orchestrated very sensitively for a small orchestra, also enriched with his own folk compositions .
From 1939 to 1941 he worked as a freelancer for what was then the Reichsender Frankfurt , where he wrote the accompanying and background music for so-called audio pictures, e.g. B. "Goethe", "Bannforst Dreieich", "Jungfrau von Orleans" and "der Rhein". He also conducted the station's symphony orchestra on special occasions. He carried out these activities without any political ambitions, but from a purely artistic point of view.
After the war, in which he worked as a medical sergeant, there was a professional ban until denazification. Classified as a follower, he could soon be employed again at the State Theater.
Until his retirement in 1964, he worked on their roles with the opera soloists, placing particular emphasis on clear pronunciation and implementation, which was very popular with the singers. He also took over the direction of several Wiesbaden choirs and of the Wiesbaden Orchestra Association for 10 years. He was also very popular as a piano accompanist at song recitals.
Werner Luckow at the age of 11 at the Wiesbaden Conservatory
Werner Wemheuer working on a score
Werner Wemheuer as a pensioner
Works
- With us (revue), libretto by actor Bernhard Anton Herrmann, premiered in Wiesbaden in 1926
- Germany's current (Chorisches Festspiel), text by Edwin Redslob, premiered in Wiesbaden in 1930
- D'Webermädln (Singspiel), WP 1933 Wiesbaden
- Der Ball der Diebe (Lumpenball), libretto by Jean Anouilh (ballet comedy), Premiere 1948 Wiesbaden
- Incidental music for the play "Hanneles Himmelfahrt" by Gerhart Hauptmann, premiere 1952 Wiesbaden
- Incidental music for the play “Melusine” by Yvan Goll, premiered 1955 Wiesbaden
literature
- Herbert Henck : Hermann Heiss. Supplements to a biography, page 130, Deinstedt, Kompost-Verlag, 2009, ISBN 978-3-9802341-6-0
Individual evidence
- ↑ Elke Hack: STAATSTHEATER WIESBADEN records and publications 1810-1996; Biographical data and works by Werner Wemheuer (= repertories of the Hessian Main State Archives ) holdings 428 (PDF; 1.22 KB). In: Archive Information System Hessen (Arcinsys Hessen), status: July 2006, accessed on September 22, 2016.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Wemheuer, Werner |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Luckow, Werner (maiden name); Wemheuer, Werner Walter Eugen (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German Kapellmeister, composer and arranger |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 5, 1899 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Wiesbaden |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 14, 1977 |
| Place of death | Wiesbaden |