Wilhelm Radich
Wilhelm (Willem) Rettich (born July 3, 1892 in Leipzig , † December 27, 1988 in Sinzheim ) was a German composer and conductor.
Life
Wilhelm Rettich's father came from Tarnów ( Galicia ) and was a businessman in Leipzig. His mother, who was born in the Riga area , came from the Idelsohn family. Abraham Zvi Idelsohn , who was one of the most important collectors and researchers of Hebrew music, also belongs to this group . At the age of 17, Rettich was accepted at the Leipzig Conservatory , where he studied composition with Max Reger , piano with Karl Wendling and conducting with Hans Sitt . In 1912 he became a répétiteur with Otto Lohse at the Leipzig City Theater , then Kapellmeister at the Wilhelmshaven City Theater . During the First World War , radish was taken prisoner by the Russians as early as 1914 and spent several years in Siberian camps. There he founded a prisoners' orchestra and wrote an opera, which was premiered years later, in 1928 in Szczecin. He was released after the October Revolution in 1917 and lived for some time in the Russian city of Chita . In 1920 he went to China and worked briefly as a music teacher in Tientsin . Via Shanghai , Trieste and Vienna he came back to Leipzig, where he worked again at the city theater. Further stations were from 1924 Plauen , Stolp , Königsberg , Bremerhaven and Stettin . From 1928 he worked for the Mitteldeutsche Rundfunk AG (MIRAG), where he composed music for radio plays and conducted the Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra . In 1930/31 he moved to Berlin, worked at the Schillertheater and conducted the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra .
Already early after the Nazis came to power, Wilhelm Rettich decided to emigrate because of the professional ban imposed on him as a Jew and pacifist; he found acceptance and protection in the Netherlands. Here he adopted the Dutch version of his first name "Willem", first worked in Amsterdam and from 1934 taught at the Haarlem Muziek Instituut . After the attack by the German troops in 1940, he was initially able to work as a private music teacher and organize house concerts; from 1942 he lived in isolation in an underground hiding place. His younger brother and mother were betrayed, deported and murdered in 1943. He survived the occupation and the war. In the years after 1945 he became a Dutch citizen and worked in The Hague and Amsterdam a. a. for the broadcasting company VARA and as conductor of the Hoofdstad operetta . In 1964 he returned to Germany and settled in Baden-Baden. He received the Federal Cross of Merit .
plant
Wilhelm Rettich's numerous works include symphonies (including “Sinfonia Giudaica” op. 53), an opera (“König Tod” op. 11), a violin concerto (op. 51), cantatas (“Lettisches Liederspiel” op. 65, “Fluch des Krieges "op. 10), works for symphony orchestra and many songs and choirs (including" Synagogue Choirs for Mixed Choir "op. 63a).
Web links
- Rainer Licht: Wilhelm Rettich in the Lexicon of Persecuted Musicians of the Nazi Era (LexM), as of November 28, 2017
- Setting of the Else Lasker-Schüler cycle op.26A, 26 songs and chants for one voice and piano ( memento from April 1, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), composition by Wilhelm Rettich, text by Else Lasker-Schüler
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Rainer Licht: Wilhelm Rettich in the Lexicon of Persecuted Musicians of the Nazi Era (LexM), as of November 28, 2017
- ↑ a b c Diet Scholten: Wilhelm Rettich. A survival artist. In: Forbidden Music Regained. Accessed December 1, 2019 .
- ^ Jürgen Schaarwächter: The Reger student Wilhelm Rettich . In: Messages. International Max Reger Society, IMRG . No. 4 , 2002, ISSN 1616-8380 , p. 12–14 ( imrg.de [PDF; accessed December 1, 2019]).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Radish, Wilhelm |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Radish, Willem |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German composer and conductor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 3, 1892 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Leipzig |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 27, 1988 |
| Place of death | Sinzheim |