Walter Goehr

Walter Goehr ( born May 28, 1903 in Berlin, † December 4, 1960 in Sheffield ) was a German conductor and composer who emigrated to England.

Life

Walter Goehr first studied with Ernst Krenek and was then 1925-1928 Master student of Arnold Schoenberg at the Prussian Academy in Berlin. At the same time he worked as early as 1925 as conductor of the Berlin Radio. 1932 Goehr lost because of his Jewish origin that job. He was then a post of music director at the Gramophone Company (later EMI), and moved to London in 1933.

In England Goehr also worked for radio and conducted concerts at London's Wigmore Hall. 1945 to 1948 he headed the theater orchestra of the BBC. As a conductor, he sat down preferred for contemporary music, such as Benjamin Britten and Michael Tippett. Among other things, he conducted the world premiere of Tippett's oratorio 1944 A Child of Our Time and in 1950 the first English performance of Mahler's 6th Symphony and the world premiere of the German Symphony of Hanns Eisler on April 24, 1959 in the State Opera in East Berlin. His Dirigierschülern counted the English composer and conductor Angela Morley.

Goehr died on December 4, 1960 at City Hall Sheffield, immediately after he had conducted a performance of Handel's Messiah.

His son Alexander Goehr is a living composer in England.

Work

The catalog of works by Goehr, who put his focus on conducting activities is relatively narrow. His musical language is linked to Hindemith, Ravel and his friend Weill. 1931 his radio opera Malpopita been sent successfully ( the work had its first staged performance in Berlin in 2004 ). He also wrote symphonic and chamber works, as well as occasional pieces for film and theater.

Goehr also created new editions of Monteverdi's Vespers and L' incoronazione di Poppea, as well as an orchestral version of Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky.

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