Wolfgang Fricke (music teacher)

Wolfgang Fricke (born June 25, 1933 in Kiel , † August 21, 2005 in Hamburg ) was a German music teacher . He composed musicals during his service at the Wichern School in Hamburg-Horn. Well over 300 productions of his plays have been recorded so far.

His work includes the music theater pieces Emil und die Detektiven (1969), Hamburg - Rike und die Gauner (1978), Tom Sawyer (1980), Ali Baba, or ...? (1985), Klaus Störtebecker (1989), Till Eulenspiegel (1993), The Pied Piper of ... (1998), The Prodigal Son . The prodigal son , a Christmas cantata, a book of Christmas carols as well as poems and compositions for family and friends have not yet been published .

As a pioneer in school music theater, Wolfgang Fricke developed all of his student musicals, including libretti and song texts, for their own music lessons and tailored them to the performing skills of children and young people. Wolfgang Fricke coined the term student musical when he was looking for larger works in the 1960s that could be realized by students. The Broadway musicals that had become famous by then turned out to be far too difficult, so that he himself - paying attention to the musical competence of the children - wrote pieces in which every child can participate. His concept was to include all children - especially the supposedly unmusical - and in this way to let them participate in a musical project that, due to its size and catchy melodies, remains in the memory for a long time and thus sustainably keeps the desire for music alive . "Children should make good music." (Fricke)

He composed many student musicals himself and, as a lecturer in practical piano playing, encouraged the next generation of teachers to work in this direction.

Life

Fricke was the fourth son of the then corvette captain Otto Fricke and the artist Elisabeth Fricke, b. v. Gerlach.

After graduating from high school in 1954 at the Athenaeum Stade , he studied school and church music at the State University of Music in Hamburg from 1954 to 1957 (organ: Prof. Tramnitz; composition: Prof. Rudolf von Oertzen, Prof. Gernoth Klussmann). He then studied English and pedagogy at the University of Hamburg until 1960 .

From 1956 to 1964 Fricke worked as an organist at the main church St. Petri in Hamburg and from 1966 to 1993 as an OStR at the Wichern School (Rauhes Haus) in Hamburg (subjects: music and English), he also devoted himself to the composition of student musicals .

In 1971 he co-founded the children's and youth theater, later the " Klecks-Theater ". In 1972 he was speaker of Penderecki's St. Luke Passion at the main church of St. Michaelis. From 1973 to 1977 he worked as a dramaturge and speaker at children's concerts by the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra and from 1979 to 1983 as a lecturer for practical piano playing at the Lübeck University of Music . From 1983 to 1993 he worked as a retired composer.

He was married to the piano teacher Rosemarie Fricke, b. Seebaß (1931–2012) and had two daughters, Cornelia (* 1963) and Elisabeth (* 1967). His daughter Elisabeth Levkau has been running the Schülermusicals publishing house since Fricke's death.

literature

• Ingrid Bennewitz: "Each of us is Till." Till Eulenspiegel as a family and children's musical, commemorative publication: Of saints, knights and fools; Medieval studies for Hans-Joachim Behr on his 65th birthday, Reichert Verlag, Wiesbaden 2014, p. 191 ff.
• Burkhard Matthes: Wolfgang Fricke: Musicals in the school. Written housework as part of the first state examination for teaching at the upper level - general education schools - in the subject of music, 1.0A 1852, Hamburg 1996
• Gunther Reiss / Mechthild v. Schoenebeck: Music theater for children and young people - A list of plays with commentary. Association of German Music Schools, Bonn, ISBN 3-925574-03-4
• Eberhard Werdin: The musical youth game. Reflections and experiences. In: Music in Class. Volume 54, Issue 9, p. 274
• Gerd Beckmann: student-oriented musical theater: musical. In: Music and Education. 2/91, p. 45f.
• Ulrich Wüster: Complete work of art in miniature - Thoughts on the topic of music theater at music schools. In: Neue Musikzeitung. 12 / 89-1 / 90, p. 19
• Hans Bäßler: Tom Sawyer - a musical by Wolfgang Fricke. In: Music and Education. II / 84, pp. 55f.

Web links

• Wolfgang Fricke - composer, music teacher, church musician and author
• Student musicals by Wolfgang Fricke on bildungsserver.de
• History and development of the children's and youth musical on music-journal.com