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==Awards==
==Awards==
{{iw-ref|de|Hermann Abendroth (Dirigent)}}
* ''Nationalpreis II. Klasse der'' ([[East Germany|GDR]]-Second-Class National Prize), in 1949
* 1935 Commemorative Medal in gold of the ''[[Gesellschaft zur Beförderung gemeinnütziger Tätigkeit]]'' (Society for the Furtherance of Charitable Activities) of Lübeck (together with [[Wilhelm Furtwängler]])
* ''Vaterländischen Verdienstorden in Silber'' (GDR-Silver Fatherland Order of merit), in 1954
* 1937 Commander's Cross of the [[Order of St. Sava]]
⚫
* ''Honorary Senator'' of the [[University of Jena]], in 1953, for his seventieth birthday
* 1944 [[War Merit Cross]], Second Class without swords
*1946 Thuringian State: Certificate of appointment for the recognition of outstanding services to the revival of the artistic tradition of Weimar
* 1949 [[National Prize of East Germany]] for Arts and Letters, 2nd class
* 1952 Member of the Music Section of the [[Academy of Arts, Berlin|German Academy of the Arts]]
* 1952 Honorary Member of the [[Mecklenburgische Staatskapelle]], [[Schwerin]]
* 1953 Honorary citizen of the city of [[Weimar]] (on the occasion of his 70th birthday)
⚫
* 1953 Honorary Senator of the [[Friedrich Schiller University Jena]], for his seventieth birthday
* 1954 [[Patriotic Order of Merit]] in Silver (East Germany)
* 19? Honorary Member of the Professional Association German professional choir director]]
* [[Postage stamp]] with his likeness, in 1957, a year after his death
* [[Postage stamp]] with his likeness, in 1957, a year after his death


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[[Category:Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit]]
[[Category:Recipients of the National Prize of East Germany]]
[[Category:Recipients of the National Prize of East Germany]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Order of St. Sava]]
[[Category:Recipients of the War Merit Cross, 2nd class]]
[[Category:Members of the Academy of the Arts, Berlin‎]]
[[Category:Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln faculty]]
[[Category:Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln faculty]]


Revision as of 18:36, 9 December 2013

Hermann Abendroth

Hermann Paul Maximilian Abendroth (19 January 1883 – 29 May 1956) was a German conductor.

Early life

Abendroth was born on 19 January 1883, at Frankfurt, the son of a bookseller.[1][2] Several other members of the family were artists in diverse disciplines.

After finishing his school studies at the Frankfort Gymnasium, Abendroth traveled to Munich for originally accomplishing the 1-year-long studies of librarian, but he instead followed the music career at the conservatory of Munich, the Münchner Konservatorium, from 1900 to 1903,[2][3] studying theory and composition with Ludwig Thuille, piano with Anna Hirtzel-Langenham, and developing his conducting skills working with Felix Mottl.[4][5]

Initial career

Still as an undergraduate,[2] Hermann Abendroth's first stable assignment of conducting was from 1903 to 1904, for the Orchestral Society of Munich. From 1905 to 1911, he moved to Lübeck, highlighting as the Kapellmeister of the Theater Lübeck. From 1911 to 1914, he was the Generalmusikdirektor (General music director) of the city of Essen.[1][4]

From 1915 to 1934 he was the Kapellmeister of the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, and then also director of the Cologne Conservatory (1925–1934), which indeed was reformed with his help, to become the Cologne Musikhochschule.[6] He also became the general music director of Cologne in 1918, and was a professor in 1919. He also was the general music director of Bonn, from 1930 to 1933.[1]

In 1922, Abendroth was the director of the Lower Rhenish Music Festival. He also was invited, to conduct in other countries as well. He visited the USSR and conducted the USSR-State Symphony Orchestra in 1925, 1927 and 1928. From 1926 to 1937, he visited England and regularly conducted the London Symphony Orchestra.

Abendroth would be known for performing classical and romantic compositions, including Beethoven, Brahms, and Bruckner. Nonetheless, he conducted other contemporary pieces in their premieres, for instance for Bartok and Stravinsky.[1]

Nazi Germany

In 1934, the Nazi Party seized the city council of Cologne, and then the liberally minded Abendroth was promptly removed from the public function and detained. Nonetheless other personalities of the arts interceded, and so Abendroth was restituted into the public function, to head the department of education of the Nazi Reichsmusikkammer. Accepting such charge, Abendroth would be much criticized, for relinquishing his ideals, nevertheless he formally joined the Nazi Party in 1937.[1]

In 1934, Hermann Abendroth was appointed Kapellmeister of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, replacing Bruno Walter, who was dismissed by the newly installed Nazi authorities because of being Jewish. From 1934 to 1945, Abendroth also was professor of the Leipzig conservatory (1941-1945 Leipzig Musikhochschule). In 1943 and 1944, he took part in the traditional Bayreuth Festival, conducting Die Meistersinger, its only piece for those two years, whereas Adolf Hitler had officialized and organized the festivity.[2][4]

East Germany

After World War II, the Communist new authorities of Saxony rescinded all Abendroth's contracts of Leipzig, and so - with his past of the Nazi Party - he wouldn't manage to get a new stable position anywhere else in Germany either.[1] Abendroth then claimed that he had never attended any political meeting, and his fortune then would change at Thuringia, whose government appointed Abendroth for music director of Weimar from 1945 to 1956. In 1950 and 1954, Abendroth was elected the People's Chamber of the GDR for a four-year mandate ending in 1954 as a representative of the Cultural Association of the GDR.

Such opportunity would help cleansing Abendroth's name, about his Nazi past,[1] and so he returned to Leipzig, in charge of its Radio Symphony Orchestra, from 1949 to 1956. As Abendroth, a heavy smoker, was becoming a prominent artist of East Germany, he was the only person allowed to smoke within the building of the radio station of Leipzig, by the Communist authorities.[1]

Abendroth conducted, touring throughout the Communist Europe -he was the first German, invited for conducting at the Soviet Union after the war[4]-, and also touring Finland and Switzerland.[1] In 1951, he conducted for the Prague Spring International Music Festival. From 1953 to 1956 he conducted Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (East Berlin).

Ironically, such new celebrity status of Abendroth awoke suspicion about his new political affinity, and so some locations of West Germany banned his presentations -such as in Düsseldorf- and the release of Abendroth's records on the Eterna label was quite limited in Western Europe.[2]

Death

Hermann Abendroth died of a stroke, during a surgical procedure, in Jena, on 29 May 1956. A state funeral was then granted for him.[4]

Records

Abendroth was amongst the first German music directors who released studio records regularly. His production spanned from mid-1920s, until his death.[2]

Nowadays, Abendroth is being successfully rediscovered by a collection of CDs, published since mid-1990s, consisting mainly of his works for the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Leipzig of since 1953.[2][7]

Awards

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Detail of career

Initial career

  • Munich
    • 1900-1903: Munich Conservatory Münchner Konservatorium
    • 1903-1904: Munich Orchestral Society Münchner Orchesterverein
  • Lübeck
    • 1905-1911: conducting for the Society of the Friends of Music, Vereins der Musikfreunde Lübeck
    • 1907-1911: Kapellmeister of the Theater Lübeck
    • 1910-1911: conducting the Philharmonischen Chor
  • Essen
    • 1911-1914: Municipal Director of Music, städtischer Musikdirektor
  • Cologne
    • 1915-1934: conducting the Gürzenich Orchestra
    • 1915-1925: he was Direktor of the Cologne Conservatory, Kölner Konservatorium
    • 1918: Städtischen Generalmusikdirektor of the city
    • 1919: Professor
    • 1925-1934: Director of Hochschule für Musik Köln, school of music of Cologne
  • Touring
  • Bonn
    • 1930-1933: Generalmusikdirektor of city
  • Berlin

Nazi Germany

Communist Germany

External links

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 125th Birthday of Hermann Abendroth, at the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk
  2. ^ a b c d e f g [1]
  3. ^ [2]
  4. ^ a b c d e Hermann Abendroth, at AllMusic
  5. ^ [3]
  6. ^ [4]
  7. ^ [5]
Preceded by Kapellmeister, Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne
1915–1934 		Succeeded by
Eugen Papst

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