Johanna Senfter
Johanna Senfter ( born November 27, 1879 in Oppenheim, † August 11, 1961 ibid ) was a German composer.
Life
Home
Johanna Senfter came in 1879 as the youngest of six children of George and Elise Senfter to the world.
My maternal grandfather was the Oppenheimer pharmacists and Chininfabrikant Friedrich Koch (1786-1865), who managed to win from cinchona an antipyretic and anti-infective agent against the then prevalent in Oppenheim malaria. For the production of this quinine, he built the first time for Germany to its own pharmaceutical factory in the former Rodensteiner Adelshof. With the successful production of the drug, the social and financial boom of the Koch family went hand in hand. The son of the company founder Carl Koch finally brought it to the mayor and his performances in this office an honorary citizen of the city.
Johanna's father, Georg Senfter, owner of a brick, coal and timber business, also was considered wealthy. He married Eliza, the sister of Carl Koch and acquired the imposing Sparrhof, an old aristocratic residence ( Katharinenstr. 16 in Oppenheim ), including the winery, which had previously belonged to the family of Cronberg. In 1864 he got into the Chininunternehmen by Carl Koch, a managing director, joint contractor and financier.
Both families belonged to the upper classes, led a life of prosperity and a big house.
Childhood and first steps
Johanna and her four sisters were befitting educated in Mädchenpensionaten and received, according to the former ideal of education, piano and singing lessons. The self- art-loving and music-loving parents supported that already in infancy to be recognized talent her daughter Johanna. A severe diphtheria disease between the 9th and 13th year brought a sudden break in their hitherto carefree childhood. Although she recovered, but since an unstable health Johanna certain life to a great extent.
She went after her recovery, the Frankfurt Institute Frielinghaus, a recognized school for girls and began with 16 years in March 1895 at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt am Main to study music theory and composition ( Iwan Knorr ), violin ( Adolf Rebner ), piano (Karl Friedberg ) and organ (Prof. Geelhaar ). After 8 years of study she received in June 1903, the final certificate, but wanted to expand their musical knowledge and compositional technique and even intensify.
Student of Max Reger
From March 1908 to 1910 she was a student of Max Reger (as of October 1908 in Reger's composition class at the Royal Conservatory in Leipzig ), which strengthened her stylistic autonomy, their excellent musical talent highlighted and described it as his best student. My studies at the Conservatory, she completed in July 1909 with distinction.
1910, she received the Arthur Nikisch Prize for the best student composition of the previous year.
Until the death of Reger in 1916, the families Reger and Senfter were warmly connected to each other.
Intensive period of creativity
After the death of Reger in 1916 began a phase maximum creativity with numerous compositions and concert performances for Johanna Senfter. In 1921 she founded the Musikverein Oppenheim and organized a concert series, during which she performed his own works. In 1923 she founded the Oppenheimer Bach Society and regularly performed Bach's cantatas.
She composed more than 134 works of all genres with the exception of the Opera ( some call 180, including 9 symphonies, 26 orchestral works with vocal and instrumental solos, chamber music in various instrumentations, organ works, choruses and songs ) and gave numerous concerts for piano, cello, violin and viola.
She composed into old age and shaped the musical life of their hometown Oppenheim, where she lived until her death in 1961.
Self -imposed isolation
A larger audience remained obscure to the very retired working, shy and humble artist ( listen and play my music, then you understand me. ). She prescribed her life in self -imposed isolation only the music and came after her death in 1961 in obscurity. This also prejudices about women composers may have contributed, which one until well into simply the ability to creative activity in this area denied in the second half of the 20th century ( If I were not a woman, I would have it easier ).
Estate and rediscovery
The manuscripts Johanna mustard Planters came to her death in the inventory of the Music Academy of Cologne. Your musical legacy is not fully developed until today. For several years, the attempts to rediscover the work of forgotten geratenen, avid composer and to make known about score releases and concerts are increasing. In particular, the renowned pianist Monica Gutman is trying to make the music Johanna mustard Marketers in the Rhine -Main region known.
Works
- 27 works without opus numbers ( autographs at the Cologne Musikhochschule ), including eight passacaglias, seven fugues for piano (1909 ), adaptation of a Bach Fugue in G minor, as well as a suite for violin and piano
- From 1907 autograph composition directory with 134 numbered Opera
- The first are already compositions for orchestra or chamber ensemble ( suggesting extensive preliminary studies )
- Around 1908 in baroque form: two orchestral suites (opus 2 and 5), Passacaglia for two pianos (opus 14), a Fantasia and Fugue for organ (opus 30) and a number of chorale preludes
- After compositional own studies in the area of new styles of music and influence by Reger many other compositions, the Sonata in G major for violin and piano, for which she received the Arthur Nikisch Award for Best Composition of the Year 1908
- From 1911 successful performances of her compositions, the cello sonata (opus 10) are increasing,
- 1914, the first of its nine symphonies
- 15 cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach founded basso for the 1923 Bach Society