Ludwig Lenel

Ludwig Lenel (* 1914 in Strassburg † 2002 in Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA) was an organist und composer.

Family

The grandfather on the mother's side of Ludwig Lenel was the prussian democrat Friedrich Kapp (1824-84), wo emigrated to the USA, but returned later and became a national-liberal deputy to the German Reichstag and a friend of Bismarck. His youngest son Wolfgang, a great-uncle of Lenel, was leader in the coup d'etat in 1920.

Since 1918, the Lenels had lived in various places, one amongst them being Heidelberg. Lenels father was a lecturer for italian medieval history, his uncle the famous industrialist Richard Lenel. He was made a honorary professor without remuneration of the university in 1932, but was forced out of it a year later because he was jewish. In August 1933, he lost his licence to teach. He died in 1937 in Heidelberg.

Ludwig Lenel, who was half-jewish, was the last of his family to leave Germany in 1939 to relatives in the USA.

Life

Ludwig Lenel was strongly influenced by his meeting Albert Schweitzer, who usually stayed with his family when he was visiting Heidelberg. Upon matriculating in 1932, Lenel received an invitation to take organ lessons at Schweitzers home town of Gunsbach/Alsace. Already earlier on, Lenel wrote a concerto for saxophone and orchestra. In 1933, his concert for two violins and strings orchestra was initially performed at the collegium musicum of Heidelburg. Lenel then proceeded to study music for three years in Cologne and another three years in Basle. The organ remained his main focus, though.

After emigrating to the USA, Lenel worked as an organist and continued his studies in music composing at Oberlin College (Idaho/USA). After living in Illinois, Pennsylvania und New York City he eventually settled at Muhlenburg College in Allentown (Pennsylvania), where he taught for 27 years – until 1979 – as a professor of music. He conducted the college choir with whom he also went on tour, initiated a series of concerts and founded the department of opera. In 1989, he received a honorary doctorate of the Muhlenberg College.

On November 9, 1998, Lenel returned to Heidelberg to attend the performance of his main oeuvre „Death and Atonement“ for narrator, violin, oboe, brass, piano and drums in memory of the Holocaust. The 20-minutes long concerto, which was written between 1976 and 1992, is based on Paul Celans poem „Todesfuge“ and texts of Nelly Sachs. The composer Wolfgang Fortner mentions Ludwig Lenel, besides René Frank, Laurence Feininger and others as witnesses and examples of his teaching jewish students before and during WWII in the attachment of his „Story of Life“ in his de-nazifiying file (Generallandesarchiv Karlsruhe).

Ludwig Lenel died in 2002 in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Sources

• Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung Heidelberg 4. und 9. November 1998.
• Anderson, Ruth (Hrsg.), Contemporary American Composers, Boston 1982.
• Givannini/Moraw (Hrsg.), Erinnertes Leben – Autobiographische Texte zur jüdischen Geschichte Heidelbergs, Heidelberg 1998.