Otmar Gerster ( German: Ottmar Gerster ; June 29, 1897 , Braunfels , Hesse - September 1, 1969 , Borsdorf , East Germany ) - German composer, musician, conductor and teacher. Professor. Member of the German Academy of Arts in Berlin (since 1950). Chairman of the Union of Composers of the GDR (1951-1960). Laureate of the National Prize of the GDR, 2nd degree (1951).
| Otmar Gerster him. Ottmar Gerster | |||
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| A country |  German Empire  Germany  Germany  | ||
| Professions | composer , performer, conductor music teacher | ||
| Instruments | alto | ||
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Content
Biography
Born in the family of a neurologist and pianist. Since 1913 he studied at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt am Main , where his teachers were B. Zekles (composition, 1913-1916) and A. Rebner (violin, 1919-1921).
In the years 1916-1918. his musical education was interrupted, in connection with a draft for military service, he graduated in 1920.
From 1921 he worked in the Frankfurt Symphony Orchestra, initially as a concertmaster , and in 1923-1927 as a solo violist .
In the 1920s he joined the labor movement, participated in the organization of workers' choral groups. Until 1933 and after 1945 - the head of the workers choirs.
In 1927-1947 he taught at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Verdun , taught classes on the violin, viola, chamber music, music theory and composition.
Professor of musical theory and composition at the Higher School of Music in Weimar (1947-1952, in 1948-1951 - director) and the Leipzig Higher School of Music and Theater (1952-1962).
Creativity
He influenced the movement for the revival of choral singing in Germany. In his early works, he was close to expressionism and neoclassicism , in the later period he strove to create works based on musical folklore (the main image is in operas). O. Gerster’s music uses a modern polyphonic language, complex harmonies are combined with a simple, easily remembered melody.
Selected Works
- operas
- Madame Liselotte (1933),
- Enoch Arden (1936, about 100 productions in various theaters),
- The Witch of Passau (1941),
- The bewitched "I" (1949),
- The merry sinner (1963);
- ballet
- The Eternal Circle (1939);
- cantatas
- Song of the Working Man (1929),
- Defenders of Life (1952) and others;
- for orchestra
- Festive music (1931),
- symphonies
- Little, 1931,
- Thuringian, 1952,
- Leipzig, 1965),
- Dresden Suite (based on paintings by the National Gallery, 1958),
- concerts for various instruments with an orchestra;
- chamber compositions;
- choirs, song cycles
- chamber compositions;
- Upper Hessian Peasant Dances (1938).
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 Berlin Academy of Arts - 1993.
Literature
- Gerster, Ottomar // Germanicus - Dove. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1952. - P. 146. - ( Great Soviet Encyclopedia : [in 51 vols.] / Ch. Ed. B. A. Vvedensky ; 1949-1958, vol. 11).
- Musical Encyclopedia. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, Soviet composer. Ed. Yu. V. Keldysh. 1973-1982.