August Wenzinger

August Wenzinger ( born November 14, 1905 in Basel, † December 25, 1996 in Metz alder Maria Stein), was a Swiss cellist, viol player, music educator and conductor.

Life and work

His musical education was August Wenzinger at the Conservatory of Basel. Here he studied under Paul Grummer cello, later music theory with Philipp Jarnach at the Cologne University of Music and he took private cello with Emanuel fire man in Berlin.

Then got August Wenzinger for the position of principal cellist in the orchestra of Bremen (1929-1934), after which he held the same position at the Music Society, in Basel until 1970.

His growing interest in the revival of Baroque repertoire on original instruments, as originated in 1930 in the private circle of Hagen industrialist Hans Eberhard Hoesch, called Kabeler chamber music, but this was in 1933 set to political pressure. He often came with Gustav Scheck and Fritz Neumeyer on in the Chamber Trio of Early Music, a group that existed from 1935 to 1965 and often occurred in the " Kassel Music Days", was involved in the program design Wenzinger 1933-1954.

The breakthrough did not come until ten years later. From 1954 to 1958 he conducted Baroque music with the Cappella Coloniensis of the West German Radio in Cologne. With the Cologne Ensemble Wenzinger managed the collection of historical performance practice on period instruments in the concert halls of Europe. 1955 was a first recording of L' Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi. Even in the Soviet Union Wenzinger received with the " Cappella " the first invitation of a German orchestra of the postwar period. Between 1958 and 1966 led Wenzinger performances of baroque operas in Hannover.

From 1934 August Wenzinger one of the first teachers was Basiliensis in the newly formed Schola Cantorum. Created under his leadership in 1968 the " gamba trio of Schola Cantorum ". He was a guest lecturer at Harvard University and at Brandeis University. He was editor of the baroque style adapted version of Johann Sebastian Bach's solo suites for cello, viola da gamba the exercises of 1935 and 1938, and the viol Primer of 1943.