Jump to content

Wolfgang Steinecke

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Gerda Arendt (talk | contribs) at 10:33, 26 April 2020 (→‎Life: ill). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Wolfgang Steinecke
Wolfgang Steinecke (left) with Heinz Dressel in 1957
Born(1910-04-22)22 April 1910
Essen
Died23 December 1961(1961-12-23) (aged 51)
Darmstadt
Education
Occupations
Organizations

Wolfgang Steinecke (22 April 1910 – 23 December 1961) was a German musicologist, music critic and cultural politician. He initiated the Darmstädter Ferienkurse, which connected Germany to the international scene of contemporary music after World War II.

Life

Steinecke was born in Essen,[1] as son of Käthe Lübbers and Hugo Wolfram Steinecke. His father was a full-time Reichsbahn inspector, and also a music critic for well-known Essen daily newspapers, and a choral conductor.[1] Already as a child, Steinecke wrote poems and a play. He attended a gymnasium in his home town.[1] At the age of 17 he wrote his first composition. From 1927, he wrote incidental music for school theatre performances as well as for productions of the Kiel Student Theatre. Steinecke first completed practical music studies at the Folkwangschule in Essen with Ludwig Riemann (1863-1927) and Felix Wolfes. He then studied musicology with Ernst Bücken, art history, theatre and literature and philosophy at the University of Cologne and the University of Kiel.[1] By 1928 he had already written a seventy-page music aesthetic.

In addition to his studies, he worked as an assistant student of theatre with Georg Hartmann [de] at the Städtische Bühnen Kiel. In 1934 he received his doctorate under Friedrich Blume in Cologne. The title of the dissertation was "The Parody in Music".[1]

Steinecke was open-minded about the Nazi regime and also cultivated relationships with numerous influential musicians and musicologists during the Nazi period. Among them was his doctoral supervisor Friedrich Blume, but also Fritz Stein.

Steinecke worked as a music and theatre critic for the Rheinisch-Westfälische Zeitung in Essen until 1939. He then moved to Darmstadt to work as the editor for southwest Germany for the Düsseldorf theatre newspaper Der Mittag. He also worked as a correspondent for several daily newspapers.[1] Due to the closure of the German theatres on 1 September 1944 he became unemployed.

After the end of the Second World War he applied in Darmstadt for a job in the new cultural administration of the city of Darmstadt under Mayor Ludwig Metzger [de]. On his application he stated that he was politically unencumbered and made no statements about his activities in the NS time. Also at a later time Steinecke was not subjected to a denazification procedure. On 1 August 1945 he was given a temporary contract of employment as cultural advisor. On 1 December 1945, the American Military Government agreed to employ Steinecke. The employment contract was regularly extended in the following period. He received a salary in the rank of a government councillor.

During his time as cultural advisor until 1948 Steinecke rebuilt the cultural administration in the heavily destroyed city of Darmstadt. This included the opening of the municipal library, the Academy of Musical Arts and the Volkshochschule. He also founded a municipal chamber music series and organized the first art exhibitions.[1]

He is particularly remembered for initiating the Darmstädter Ferienkurse, which began in 1946 as International Summer Courses for New Music, and which were later managed by the Kranichstein Music Institute. They connected Germany again to the in international scene of contemporary classical music which had been cut by the Nazis.[2] The programs was in the early years influenced by musicians and composers such as Hugo Distler, Wolfgang Fortner, Gerhard Frommel [de] and Hermann Reutter. From 1950, Steinecke devoted himself exclusively to the Darmstädter Ferienkurse. He succeeded in bringing many composers, performers and philosophers to meeting in Darmstadt,[3] where the Darmstadt School was born. He also worked as a music critic for various newspapers and magazines.

Steinecke was married to the photographer Hella Steinecke née Dahm (1921-1982). The marriage remained childless. Steinecke died as a result of a car accident in Darmstadt on 23 December 1961 at the age of 51.[1]

Publications

  • 1934: Die Parodie in der Musik, Wolfenbüttel[4]
  • 1960: Darmstädter Beiträge zur neuen Musik[5]
  • 1961: Kranichstein : Geschichte, Idee, Ergebnisse.[6]
  • 1993: Juden in Kleve : Spuren einer verlorenen Vergangenheit.[7]
  • 2011: Spielmusik : für Violine, Viola und Violoncello = Instrumental music [8]

Literature

  • Michael Custodis im Auftrag des Internationalen Musikinstituts Darmstadt (IMD): Traditionen Koalitionen Visionen. Wolfgang Steinecke und die Internationalen Ferienkurse in Darmstadt,[9] in Darmstardt Saarbrücken 2010.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h "Steinecke, Wolfgang [ID = 2010]". Hessian Biography (in German). Retrieved 25 April 2020.
  2. ^ Krebber, Jürgen. "Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik". darmstadt-stadtlexikon.de (in German). Darmstadt. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  3. ^ Applegate, Celia; Potter, Pamela (2002). Music and German National Identity. University of Chicago Press. pp. 209–210. ISBN 978-0-22-602131-7.
  4. ^ Die Parodie in der Musik on WorlddCat
  5. ^ Darmstaedter Beiträge zur neuen Musik on WorldCat
  6. ^ Kranichstein : Geschichte, Idee, Ergebnisse on WorldCat
  7. ^ Juden in Kleve : Spuren einer verlorenen Vergangenheit on WorldCat
  8. ^ Spielmusik : für Violine, Viola und Violoncello = Instrumental music : for violin, viola, and violoncello on WorldCat
  9. ^ Traditionen - Koalitionen - Visionen : Wolfgang Steinecke und die internationale Ferienkurse on WorldCat
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wolfgang Steinecke.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wolfgang_Steinecke&oldid=953234787"