Willi Layh

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Willi Layh (born October 12, 1903 in Berlin , † December 25, 1977 in Zepernick , Brandenburg ) was a German teacher and headmaster as well as a writer and songwriter .

Life

Layh was born in Berlin in 1903 as the son of a factory worker. From 1917 to 1924 he attended the Kölln high school . In 1922 he started an apprenticeship in a bank, finished his training in 1924 and then worked as a bank clerk until 1945. Also in 1922 he began to write poetry; In 1939 it was first published in the Berliner Börsen-Zeitung and in the Berliner Lokal-Anzeiger . In 1942 he did military service, from which he was released in May 1943 as unfit. He escaped being drafted again in September 1944 through surgery. After the war, he joined the KPD in August 1945 and was initially in the service of the Soviet troops before teaching elementary school students as a so-called new teacher in Kienbaum from October 1945 . In 1949 he was promoted to headmaster in Zepernick. For health reasons, he left school as early as 1951. He stayed in Zepernick and from then on devoted himself to writing. In 1952 he became a member of the German Writers' Association .

Layh wrote reports, agitational songs, poems and adaptations . He published in the newspapers and magazines Neues Deutschland , Der Morgen , Daily Rundschau (with which he worked as a freelancer for over two years), Berliner Zeitung , BZ am Abend , Märkische Volksstimme , Neuer Tag , Sächsische Zeitung , Free Press , Lausitzer Rundschau , Das Volk , Tribüne , Junge Welt , Sonntag , Die Weltbühne , Be Happy and Sing , Eulenspiegel and many other press products. His contributions can also be found in anthologies , choir and song books , school primers , brochures, and calendars of the GDR and its socialist neighboring states. For his cycle of poems, Happy Holidays for All Children , dedicated to the young pioneers in the holiday camps, the Office for Literature and Publishing at the Government of the German Democratic Republic awarded him first prize in the category “Children's and Youth Songs and Poems” in 1953. It was set to music in 1957 by Ernst Hermann Meyer . EH Meyer processed a total of almost 60 of his poems into songs and cantatas . Almost all composers living in the GDR, whether Leo Spies or Siegfried Köhler , even Paul Dessau , set at least one of his lyrical models to music. Songs written by Layh were often included at public events such as television. The Berliner Rundfunk played them and the VEB Deutsche Schallplatten Berlin published regular recordings of these songs on its sublabels. His song about the plan , set to music by EH Meyer, has been reprinted many times in books and newspapers. The 1963 text of Mein blaues Tuch (Mein Schmuck ist mein Halstuch) , also set to music by Meyer and distributed in newspapers and magazines, was also used in school books, which makes the pioneer song one of the best known to this day, and in reunified Germany it is used in various pioneer songs - Found compilations . The opening line “My jewelry is my scarf” was chosen as the title for a study on the pioneer scarf . During the GDR era, the recordings of the Christmas poem Winter Night were repeatedly reissued in the musical version by Hans Naumilkat . On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the founding of the GDR , Layh, together with Siegfried Köhler, carried out the commissioned work by the Bernau District Council in the form of the song sequence The work is growing in a wide circle . The pompous performance with hundreds of participants took place in the officers' house in Bernau. Exactly five years later he was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver.

Willi Layh died on December 25, 1977. His grave is in the cemetery in Zepernick. The archive of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin manages his estate .

plant

Books

  • 1953: Forward, our path is good. Poems . Dietz Verlag , Berlin.
  • 1953: I'll take part - you too. Poems. Dietz Verlag [?], Berlin.
  • 1958: "Everyone saw with horror that something must be wrong where" . (Ascribed to him by the German Literature Lexicon and the German National Library , but not by other directories.)

Song sequences and cantatas

  • 1957: Happy holidays for all children! Cantata based on words by Willi Layh , music by Ernst H. Meyer, WP 1958
  • 1960: Friendship, the loving sister of peace. A small cantata in four chants based on words by Willi Layh , music by Ernst H. Meyer, premiered July 23, 1960 in the children's holiday camp at Werbellinsee
  • 1965 (?): Of the new bread. Cantata , music by Hans Naumilkat, excerpts presented on September 11, 1965 in Seelow , premiered on November 7, 1965 in the district culture house in Bernau
  • 1968: Experienced friendship. Cantata for mezzo-soprano (baritone), children's choir, speaker and small Orchestra , music by Ernst H. Meyer, WP 1969
  • 1968: The plant grows across the board. A song sequence for the 20th anniversary of the German Democratic Republic , music by Siegfried Köhler, premiered October 7, 1969 in the House of Officers in Bernau

Song contributions on records

  • ?: Farewell (The day is silent ...) on The spoken word ( Eterna )
  • 1963: Winter night to Christmas carols (Eterna)
  • 1965: Die Taube (pigeon flight on white wings) on We love life. Youth and children's songs (Eterna)
  • 1966: The hero on Our New Music 47 (Nova, Nachaufl. Eterna)
  • 1967: A song on our lives to Build the streets of the future (Eterna)
  • 1968: Happy holidays for all children and friendship, the dearest sister of peace on Our Life in Song 19 (Eterna)
  • 1969: Song for young athletes (compete ...) on athletes advance (Eterna)
  • 1969: Winter night (the night is cold and clear ...) on New songs and cantatas at Christmas time (Eterna)
  • 1971: A song for our life on friends, comes with (Nova) or Our day is full of happy songs (Eterna)
  • 1971: I can carry the flag to be happy and sing (Nova)
  • 1971: Christmas Eve (Christmas is, and every room shines in the candlelight) on Are the lights lit (Eterna)
  • 1972: The picture on Lenin has spoken (Nova)
  • 1973: Our country on Greetings, her majestic mountains ( Amiga )
  • 1974: Striding we lined up on My Friendship belong with Frau Musica (Eterna)
  • 1974: Lullaby (sleep child, about bush and tree ...) on music for children (Nova) or our new music 26 (Eterna)
  • 1977: The song does not end on Our New Music 49 (Nova, Nachaufl. Eterna)
  • 1986: Christmas Eve (forest and fields covered in snow ...) on Ernst Hermann Meyer: Lieder (Eterna)
  • 1998: My blue scarf (my jewelry is my scarf) on Be Happy and Sing (The Most Beautiful Pioneer Songs) (Amiga)
  • 2011: My blue tie (My jewelry is my kerchief) on Songbook, pioneer! The most beautiful songs of the young pioneers (Amiga)

Awards

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d R.P .: Layh, Willi . In: Gabriele Baumgartner, Dieter Hebig (Hrsg.): Biographisches Handbuch der SBZ / DDR 1945 - 1990 . tape 1 . Abendroth - Lyr. KG Saur Verlag , Munich / New Providence / London / Paris 1996, ISBN 3-598-11176-2 , pp. 466 .
  2. ↑ a b Willi Layh Archive. In: adk.de. Retrieved March 14, 2017 .
  3. ↑ a b A [nna] S [tüssi]: Layh . In: Heinz Rupp, Carl Ludwig Lang (ed.): German Literature Lexicon. Biographical-bibliographical manual . Founded by Wilhelm Kosch. Ninth volume: Kober - Lucidarius. Francke Verlag, Bern / Munich 1984, ISBN 3-7720-1538-7 , Sp. 1062 .
  4. ↑ a b c Zepernick (Barnim). Layh, Willi . In: Peter Walther (Ed.): Muses and Graces in the Mark. 750 years of literature in Brandenburg. A historical lexicon of writers (=  muses and graces in the Mark. 750 years of literature in Brandenburg ). 1st edition. tape II . Lukas Verlag for Art and Intellectual History, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-931836-69-X , p. 301 .
  5. ↑ Forward, our way is good! Willi Layh was honored by the Office for Literature and Publishing . In: New day . No. 3/1953 . Frankfurt (Oder) January 4, 1953, p. 5 .
  6. ^ Ernst Hermann Meyer: Artistic engagement in music. Targeted commissioning of the State Committee for Broadcasting on the 30th anniversary of the liberation from Hitler's fascism. A heavy day . In: FF included . No. 17/1975 , April 21, 1975, literature. Review. Conversation.
  7. ↑ Various - Be happy and sing (The most beautiful pioneer songs). In: discogs.com. Retrieved March 14, 2017 (English).
  8. ↑ My jewelry is my scarf. The pioneer scarf in the GDR. In: dnb.de. Retrieved on March 14, 2017 (search hit).
  9. ↑ 1 - 6 of 6. In: discogs.com. Retrieved March 14, 2017 .
  10. ↑ Pictures of joy and optimism. Highlight of the day: world premiere of the song sequence . In: New day . Frankfurt (Oder) October 9, 1969, reported from the Bernau district, p. 8 .
  11. ↑ Honor roll. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the founding of the German Democratic Republic, in appreciation of extraordinary services […] In: Neuer Tag . Frankfurt (Oder) October 4, 1974, p. 4 .
  12. ↑ Willi Layh. In: zeitstimmen.de. Brandenburgische Literaturlandschaft eV, accessed on March 14, 2017 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Layh, Willi
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German headmaster and writer
DATE OF BIRTH October 12, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH December 25, 1977
Place of death Zepernick