Wolfgang Lesser

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Wolfgang Lesser (born May 31, 1923 in Breslau ; † September 27, 1999 in Berlin ) was a German composer and music functionary of the GDR .

life and work

Lesser, son of a businessman, attended the secondary school in Berlin and then completed an apprenticeship as a metalworker. In 1938 he began studying music at the former Stern Conservatory in Berlin. As early as 1939, however, he emigrated to London as a Jew and worked in England as a varnisher and farm worker. The following year he was interned as an enemy alien on the Isle of Man . In 1942 he became a member of the FDJ and the KPD . Between 1943 and 1947 he was a member of the British Army .

In 1947 he returned to Berlin, became a member of the SED and worked in various functions for the FDJ. In 1949 he attended the SED state party school. In 1951 he became a member of the Kulturbund of the GDR . From 1950 to 1954 Lesser studied at the Berlin University of Music with Rudolf Wagner-Régeny , Hanns Eisler and Günter Kochan . From 1954 to 1961 he worked as a composer and teacher for the GDR State Folk Art Ensemble, and since 1961 he has been a freelance artist.

From 1964 to 1968 he was second secretary, from 1968 to 1978 first secretary of the Association of German Composers and Musicologists (VDK) and the Association of Composers and Musicologists of the GDR (VKM). Since 1971 he was a member of the culture commission at the Politburo of the Central Committee of the SED and a member of the People's Chamber (until 1989) and there member of the committee for popular education. From 1983 to 1985 he was chairman of the advisory board of the establishment for the maintenance of performance rights, as well as general secretary of the music council of the GDR . From 1985 to 1989 he was President of the Association of Composers and Musicologists.

Lesser composed especially political songs and chansons, but also stage (including for Friedrich Wolf's Thomas Müntzer ) and film music (including for the DEFA films Die Schönste from 1957, Description of a Summer from 1962 and King Drosselbart from 1965) and the school opera Oktoberkinder ( 1970).

Works (selection)

  • Song cycle (1957)
  • Violin Concerto (1962)
  • Sonata for solo violin (1963)
  • The year. Cycle for children's choir and instruments (1963, text: Jens Gerlach ).
  • We - the party (1971, text: Jens Gerlach)

Incidental music

Film music

Stumbling block for Wolfgang Lesser in Stralsund

Awards

Honors

In Stralsund , a stumbling stone in front of house number 21/22 on Ossenreyerstraße reminds of Wolfgang Lesser.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hansjürgen Schaefer: Committed to the new song (new Germany). Retrieved March 1, 2020 .
  2. ^ Eckart Schwinger, Lars Klingberg:  Lesser, Wolfgang. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
  3. ↑ Stumbling blocks in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: Wolfgang Lesser ( Memento from February 12, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
personal data
SURNAME Lesser, Wolfgang
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German composer and music functionary, MdV (SED)
DATE OF BIRTH May 31, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH Wroclaw
DATE OF DEATH September 27, 1999
Place of death Berlin