Wilhelm Schüchter
Wilhelm Schüchter (* December 15, 1911 in Bonn, † May 27, 1974 in Dortmund ) was a German conductor.
Life and work
The son of a choirmaster studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne piano, composition (with Philipp Jarnach ) and conducting ( with Hermann Abendroth ). Then he made his debut in 1937 at the Coburg State Theatre with the Sicilian peasant honor of Mascagni and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci. In the season 1940/41, he was engaged at the Stadttheater Würzburg, in the following season he was under Karajan at the Stadttheater Aachen. 1943/44, he served as assistant conductor at the theater working on Nollendorfplatz in Berlin. From 1945 to 1957 he was next to Hans Schmidt- Isserstedt assistant conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of Radio Hamburg, later NWDR Symphony Orchestra and the NDR Symphony Orchestra since 1956. 1953-1955 worked Schüchter next even as chief conductor of the Northwest German Philharmonic Orchestra of Herford. In the years 1959-1962 he was head of the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo. He most recently from 1962 bis 1974 GMD of the Philharmonic Orchestra of the City of Dortmund, today: Dortmund Philharmonic, from 1966 he was also artistic director of the Opera Dortmund.
Appreciation
He was an authoritarian personality and called for a precision of the musicians who produced a brilliant and often almost opulent sound development and made him an outstanding orchestral trainer. The Dortmund Philharmonic experienced under his leadership a significant leap in quality.
Discography
Especially for EMI he played numerous concert recordings ( Philharmonia Orchestra, Northwest German Philharmonic Orchestra ) and opera cross sections a, mainly in German language with the most important German artists of his time ( Erna Berger, Elisabeth Grummer, Erika Köth, Gottlob Frick, Rudolf Schock ). See below the extensive entry in the catalog of the German Music Archive. In addition, there are numerous productions with him in the archives of German broadcasters, including the NDR and the WDR.