Winfried Pesch

Winfried Pesch conducts Brahms German Requiem in the Old Church in Wupperfeld

Winfried Pesch (born July 3, 1928 in Barmen , today Wuppertal , † June 17, 2006 there ) was a German church musician .

Life

After graduating from high school in Stuttgart in 1948, he studied Protestant church music , orchestral conducting and music education at the Cologne University of Music . His teachers included Hans Hulverscheidt , Gerhard Schwarz and Hans Klotz . In 1956 he passed the A exam .

As a music student, he worked from February to November 1953 as an organist and choirmaster at the Alte Langerfelder Church in Wuppertal. With the rededication in June 1953 of the church, which was completely destroyed in the last war, the choir of the Old Wupperfeld Church was founded. On the recommendation of Pastor Dr. Friedrich Diening, the young music student Pesch was commissioned to lead this choir. In order to rebuild the church music tradition of his predecessors ( Gottfried Grote , Fritz Bremer, Hans Hulverscheidt ) at the Alte Wupperfeld Church, Winfried Pesch was hired as a full-time church musician on December 1, 1953. After his A-exam he was appointed cantor . In 1968 he was appointed district church music warden and in 1971 by the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland he was appointed head of training courses for part-time church musicians (choir direction, organ, theory). In 1980 Pesch also became a lecturer for organ at the Cologne State University of Music , Wuppertal department. In total, Pesch trained over 250 church musicians, choir directors and organists. In addition to the Wupperfeld Kantorei , he also led various other choirs in the large community of Wupperfeld as well as a youth, children's and trombone choir . He designed the disposition for several organs in the Wuppertal area and was also a jury member of “ Jugend musiziert ” and a member of the cultural committee of the city of Wuppertal.

In 1981 he was awarded the title of Church Music Director for his services to church music .

As early as 1954 he founded the Geistliche Abendmusiken, which he later renamed the internationally known Wupperfeld Abendmusiken (over 500 concerts), of which he was also the artistic director. Under his leadership, the Wupperfelder Kantorei also became one of the leading choirs in the region. Numerous world premieres and premieres were performed in Wupperfeld. Almost 100,000 visitors came to the concerts. In addition to the well-known oratorios, a special focus was also on rarely performed works such as B. falsely Johann Sebastian Bach attributed Luke Passion , the oratory for two choirs Israel in Egypt by George Frideric Handel , the Mass Solennelle by Louis Vierne , Lauda Sion by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy or the Te Deum by Otto Olsson . Pesch worked with the Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra for almost 50 years . Another focus was performances by the French organ composers, above all Olivier Messiaen , Marcel Dupré , with whom Pesch was originally supposed to continue his studies in Paris, Charles-Marie Widor or the somewhat less known Jacques Ibert or Gabriel Pierné . Unusual combinations were also offered, such as organ and speaker, harpsichord and vibraphone or organ and saxophone , on which Pesch played several times with the American Jackson Crawford . The entire musical palette ranged from Gregorian to the avant-garde . One of his last major concerts was for the 125th anniversary of the choir in the Wupperfelder Kantorei Ein deutsches Requiem by Johannes Brahms .

On December 1, 1992, Pesch retired. Carsten Zündorf was his successor in Wupperfeld until 2005 .

In 2001 a 135 year old choral tradition was given up. In 2005, the A-Kantor position in Wupperfeld was terminated. The Wupperfeld evening music will be continued thanks to the support association “Music and Church eV”.

Winfried Pesch died on June 17, 2006 at the age of 77.

Audio documents

• 200 years of the Evangelical Congregation on the Wupperfeld . Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra, Wupperfelder Kantorei (conductor Winfried Pesch), Joachim Dorfmüller , organ
• Music for organ and trumpet . Winfried Pesch, organ, Thomas Schroedter, trumpet

literature

• Heinrich Lücke: Episodenbilder Figures from 200 years of history of the Evangelical Lutheran parish Wupperfeld in Wuppertal-Barmen . Wuppertal 1978.
• Fritz Mehnert (ed.): Oberbarmer community history . Wuppertal 2002.
• Joachim Dorfmüller: 300 years of organ building in Wuppertal . Wuppertal 1980.
• Joachim Dorfmüller: 250 evening music and before that a whole century . Wuppertal 1988.

Web links

• Obituary on the death of Winfried Pesch ( memento from November 7, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), in Protestant in Wuppertal from June 20, 2006
• Performance by Johannes Brahms: How lovely are your apartments