Wolfgang Trommer

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Wolfgang Trommer (born July 10, 1927 in what is now Wuppertal ; † September 13, 2018 in Aachen ) was a German conductor and university professor .

Study time

Wolfgang Trommer, from Wuppertal, attended the Musisches Gymnasium in Frankfurt am Main until the end of the war in 1945 . He enjoyed a profound musical education at this school, which, under the responsible direction of Prof. Kurt Thomas , looked after a large number of highly musical students, also popularly known as “Sons of the Muses”, and imparted a broad and intensive basic musical knowledge to them. Many of the school leavers later made great careers, for example Alfred Koerppen , Helmut Kretschmar , Wolfgang Pasquay , Siegfried Strohbach . Some followed their teacher in 1946 to the newly founded Northwest German Music Academy in Detmold .

Wolfgang Trommer was one of this group of students. He first took conducting lessons with Günter Wand in Cologne before he followed Kurt Thomas to the Detmold University. In addition to piano, he also majored in choral conducting (with Kurt Thomas) and orchestral conducting (with Rolf Agop ). In collaboration with Prof. Frederik Husler, the head of a Detmold master class for singing, Trommer set up an opera school in Husler's branch in Steinhude am Meer. This activity provided him with a broad knowledge of the opera repertoire at an early stage.

In the summer of 1949, Trommer completed his university entrance qualification in Detmold. His exam workload included the preparation and implementation of a public concert with the Detmold Municipal Orchestra as well as rehearsals and performance of the Handel opera “ Acis and Galathea ” with soloists, choir and orchestra from the university.

Theater years

Wolfgang Trommer worked for six years as Kapellmeister at the Dortmund Opera House from 1949 . From 1955 he was first conductor at the Hanover Opera House for a further six years . In these twelve years he has developed and conducted an extensive opera repertoire.

In 1961 he moved to the Theater Aachen , where to him in 1962 as a successor to Hans Walter Kämpfel the music director called - to the theater, which used to Herbert von Karajan began rise and where, in the 1950s, Wolfgang Sawallisch , the Aachen Symphony Orchestra conducted .

Trommer devoted himself to this task in Aachen for 12 years with great commitment and success. In the opera, he continuously built an opera ensemble with young singers, some of whom achieved world fame. Each season he brought out an opera from the modern classical repertoire together with the renowned director Hans Hartleb, so u. a. Wozzeck , Lulu , Cardillac , Charles V and The Young Lord , which were enthusiastically received by the audience. Another focus was the operas by Mozart and Richard Strauss.

In addition to the large classical-romantic repertoire, the concert schedule also included works of classical modernism and performances by younger composers. A major concern for him was the continuous work with the municipal choir, with which he regularly performed at the Eifel Music Festival in Steinfeld Monastery in addition to the concerts in Aachen . One focus of the programs was on the works of Anton Bruckner .

University professor and guest conductor

In 1974, Wolfgang Trommer decided to put his 25 years of theater experience at the service of young talent and to work as a guest conductor, including with the following orchestras: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra , RSO Berlin , Berlin Symphony Orchestra , Munich Philharmonic Orchestra , Bamberg Symphony , and Württemberg Philharmonic Reutlingen , Orchester Lamoureux Paris, Orchestra dell 'Accademia Filarmonica Romana, Orchestra della RAI Roma, Orchester National de l'Opera de Monte Carlo, Wiener Sinfonietta , Limburgs Symphonie Orkest, South African Broadcasting Corporation Symphony Orchestra Johannesburg, Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar , Caracas. In addition to numerous television and radio productions at home and abroad, guest performances have taken him to Hamburg, Stuttgart, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Rome, Monte Carlo, the Netherlands and Belgium.

In 1974, Trommer accepted an appointment at the Robert Schumann University of Applied Sciences in Düsseldorf , where he took over the conducting class as professor, from which a large number of his students now work in well-known opera and concert halls at home and abroad.

During his time in Aachen, Wolfgang Trommer was head of the conducting, orchestral and opera classes at the Maastricht Conservatory, where he worked for 20 years.

In 1980 Trommer founded the "Düsseldorfer Ensemble" for new music. This instrumental ensemble was composed of the first winds of the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra and outstanding young up-and-coming string players. Trommer's primary concern was to offer young composers a platform. In his programs he liked to combine works of modern classical music (including the 7 chamber music by Paul Hindemith) with the world premiere of a work by young composers. As early as the early 1980s, he conducted works by the then still unknown Russian composers Sofia Gubaidulina, Alfred Schnittke and Edison Denissov, who are now among the most famous composers of our time. The "Düsseldorfer Ensemble" performed under his direction until 1999.

In connection with his university activities, Trommer trained the future music officers of the Bundeswehr from 1977 to 2001. Until 2008 he headed the orchestra training of the Bundeswehr training music corps. In 2002 he was awarded the Gold Cross of Honor of the German Armed Forces for his many years of successful work.

In Germany, Trommer was musical director of the "PlatinScala" since 2001. So he has u. a. the now famous "Platinum Tenors" and the "Sopranos of the Platinum Scala" merged. He also wrote the respective arrangements especially for the artists of the PlatinScala and directed the concerts in Europe and overseas. He worked with young singers and instrumentalists who appreciate his many years of musical professional experience.

From 2010 to 2012 he worked at the Wailea Music Academy as musical director.

Since 1996, Trommer has been invited to Venezuela four times for conducting courses and orchestral concerts. He personally took part in the boom that the musical life of this country has had in recent years through the invaluable initiative of Dr. José Antonio Abreu has taken. In the meantime, Trommer has conducted some of the country's most important orchestras and has continued to train a large number of talented young conductors. The best reward for him was the repeated wish of the young conductors and orchestra musicians to return to Venezuela soon and to continue working with him. This intensive cooperation with the enthusiastic South American musicians has always been a confirmation for Wolfgang Trommer of how important it is to be able to pass on experience gained to young people.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Obituary notice on aachen-commemorates from September 22, 2018
personal data
SURNAME Trommer, Wolfgang
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German conductor and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH July 10, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Area of ​​today's Wuppertal
DATE OF DEATH 13th September 2018
Place of death Aachen