Wilhelm Berger (composer)

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Wilhelm Berger, portrait by R. Wernicke

Wilhelm Reinhard Berger (born August 9, 1861 in Boston , † January 16, 1911 in Jena ) was a German composer , pianist and conductor .

Life

The father, originally a businessman in Bremen, worked as a music dealer in Boston and made a name for himself as a writer when he returned to Bremen in 1862. The son showed musical inclination and talent very early on. When the fourteen-year-old gave a public concert for the first time, he was already able to present a large number of songs and piano works. From 1878 to 1884 Berger was a student of Ernst Rudorff ( piano ) and Friedrich Kiel ( counterpoint ) at the Royal University of Berlin , from 1888 to 1903 teacher at the Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory and from 1899 conductor of the Berlin "Musical Society". In addition, he developed a successful activity as a concert pianist. In 1903 Berger became professor and member of the Royal Academy of Arts and in the same year he succeeded Fritz Steinbach's court conductor in Meiningen . He worked at the famous court orchestra there until his early death. He died at the age of 49 as a result of gastric surgery. His successor was Max Reger .

style

Like most of the other composers from the circle of so-called Berlin academics, Wilhelm Berger also developed masterful compositional skills. Stylistically, his music is close to Johannes Brahms , but through the occasional use of more dissonant harmonies and a preference for contrapuntal styles, it already points to Max Reger, who was Berger's successor as Meininger Hofkapellmeister. Measured against his short lifetime, the composer's catalog raisonné is very extensive with over 100 opus numbers. The piano quintet op. 95, the second symphony and the late choral compositions are considered his masterpieces. Conservative music lovers like Wilhelm Altmann , who praised Berger in the third volume of his “Handbook for String Quartet Players”, held his work in high regard long after his death.

Rediscovery

After Berger's early death, his musical work fell into oblivion. None of his works were reprinted after his death. Only in the 1980s began a gradual renaissance of symphonic, chamber music and choral works by Berger.

The musicologist Wolfgang Schult from Dillenburg made a major contribution to the renaissance of Berger's choral music as the director of the Marburg University Choir . He studied Berger's estate archive in the Meiningen museums and began to present all of the important works to the public. Berger's works have been on the program of the university choir almost every semester since 2001. A highlight was the performance of Berger's Goethe poem Der Totentanz (op.86), which was performed for the first time in 2013 since its premiere in Berlin in 1902.

Interest in Wilhelm Berger's work grew and on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his death in 2011 led to a multi-day symposium in Meiningen. In 2015 the Cologne Chamber Choir Consono released a CD with a cappella choral works by Berger, followed in autumn 2016 by the University Choir of Marburg and in autumn 2017 by the State Youth Choir of Thuringia .

Works

Vocal music

  • Six chants for mixed choir op.25
  • Three songs for mixed choir op.44
  • Four sacred songs and chants op.54
  • "Song of the spirits over the waters" for mixed choir and orchestra op. 55 (based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe )
  • "My Goddess" for male choir and orchestra op. 72 (based on Goethe)
  • “Euphorion”, scene for solos, choir and orchestra based on Goethe's Faust II op. 74
  • "Die Tauben" for soprano, mezzo-soprano, mixed choir and orchestra op. 83 (after Gerhart Hauptmann )
  • "To the great dead" for mixed choir and orchestra op. 85 (after Gustav Schüler)
  • "The Dance of Death" for mixed choir and orchestra op. 86 (based on Goethe)
  • Three chants for 6- and 8-part choir op.103
  • "Sun Hymn" for baritone, mixed choir and orchestra op. 106 (based on Richard Zoozmann )
  • numerous songs for voice and piano

Orchestral works

  • Symphony No. 1 in B flat major, op.71
  • Symphony No. 2 in B minor, Op. 80
  • Variations and fugue on a theme of their own in F minor, Op. 97
  • Serenade for twelve wind instruments op.102

Chamber music

  • Violin Sonata No. 1 in A major, Op. 7
  • Piano quartet No. 1 in A major op.21
  • Cello Sonata in D minor op.28
  • Violin Sonata No. 2 in F major op.29
  • String Trio in G minor, Op. 69 (1898)
  • Violin Sonata No. 3 in G minor, Op. 70
  • String Quintet in E minor, Op. 75 (1899)
  • Clarinet Trio in G minor, Op. 94
  • Piano quintet in F minor, Op. 95
  • Piano Quartet No. 2 in C minor, Op. 100

Piano music

  • Introduction and Fugue in G minor op.42
  • Variations on an own theme for two pianos op.61
  • Sonata in B major op.76
  • Suite in B flat major, op.82
  • Four fugues, op.89
  • Variations and fugue on a theme of their own in B flat minor, Op. 91
  • numerous smaller pieces

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b booklet for the CD "Sturmesmythe. Wilhelm Berger: Chorwerke" by the chamber choir CONSONO, SRL4-15144
  2. ^ University Choir Marburg - orchestral projects. Retrieved March 28, 2016 .
  3. ^ Wilhelm Berger (1861-1911). Composer - conductor - pianist . In: Irmlind Capes, Maren Goltz (Hrsg.): Contributions to the cultural history of music . Allitera, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-86906-491-8 .
  4. ^ University Choir Marburg - Discography. Retrieved March 28, 2016 .
  5. ^ CD recording by Wilhelm Berger. Website of the Landesmusikakademie Sondershausen, accessed on February 19, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Berger, Wilhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Berger, Wilhelm Reinhard (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German composer, pianist and conductor
DATE OF BIRTH August 9, 1861
PLACE OF BIRTH Boston
DATE OF DEATH January 16, 1911
Place of death Jena