Fritz Geißler
(or Geissler) (16 September 1921 in
Wurzen
Wurzen () is a town in the district Leipzig (district), Leipzig Land (voting) and Muldental (number plates), in Saxony, Germany. It is situated next to the river Mulde, here crossed by two bridges, 25 km east of Leipzig, by rail N.E. of Leipzig L ...
,
Saxony
Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...
– 11 January 1984 in
Bad Saarow
Bad Saarow (, ; 1950–2002: Bad Saarow-Pieskow) is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality in the Oder-Spree district, in Brandenburg, Germany.
The place is known for its hot springs and for its mineral-rich mud. Their healing properties have ...
,
Brandenburg
Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...
) was one of the most important
composers
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and defi ...
of the
German Democratic Republic
East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...
.
The son of Elsa and Walther Geißler, he was raised in modest circumstances. His first violin lessons came from the leader of a local tenants' association's mandolin-band, himself a pipe-fitter. Following graduation from public school, Geissler went into training with the town-pipers band of Naunhof. After the conclusion of this most inauspicious education he earned the means to continue private lessons in violin, piano, and music theory as a bar and coffee house fiddler in Leipzig. Later, in 1979, he used his experiences from this time in his opera ''Die Stadtpfeifer'' ("The Town Pipers").
In 1940 he was conscripted into the
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...
as a musician, and ordered to
Guernsey
Guernsey ( ; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; ) is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands, located west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited isl ...
in 1942, where he served in the Luftwaffe's musical corps. In 1945 he became a prisoner of war of the English, where he was offered the opportunity to play second violin in a string quartet, and to compose or arrange choral settings for the prison choir. After his release in 1948 he studied composition and viola at the music college in
Leipzig
Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...
under
Max Dehnert,
Arnold Matz and
Wilhelm Weismann.
Subsequently, due to a hand injury he had to give up his job as violist with the State Symphony Orchestra of Gotha. From 1953 to 1954 he studied composition again, at the College of Music at Berlin-Charlottenburg under
Hermann Wunsch and
Boris Blacher
Boris Blacher (30 January 1975) was a German composer and librettist.
Life
Blacher was born when his parents (of German-Estonian and Russian backgrounds) were living within a Russian-speaking community in the Manchurian town of Niuzhuang () (h ...
. Beginning in 1954, Geissler taught theory of music and composition at the Institute for Musical Education, at the
University of Leipzig
Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...
; later he became docent and professor of composition at the musical colleges in Leipzig and
Dresden
Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...
. His pupils included
Wilfried Krätzschmar,
Peter Hermann,
Reinhard Pfundt,
Karl Ottomar Treibmann,
Friedrich Schenker and
Lothar Voigtländer. From 1956 to 1968 he was president of the Leipzig Composers Society; from 1971 he was a member of the East German Arts Academy, the same year that he received a national award; and from 1972 he was vice-president of the East German Composers Society.
He died on 11 January 1984 at the age of 62.
Works
The compositional legacy of Fritz Geißler involves about 140 pieces, including eleven symphonies, concertos for violin, flute, cello, piano, and organ, four operas -- "Der Zerbrochene Krug" ("The Smashed Jug"), "Der Schatten" ("The Shadow"), "Der Verrueckte Jourdain" ("The Crazy Jourdain"), and "Das Chagrinleder" ("Shagreen"),
ballet
Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
s,
cantata
A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian language, Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal music, vocal Musical composition, composition with an musical instrument, instrumental accompaniment, ty ...
s,
oratorio
An oratorio () is a musical composition with dramatic or narrative text for choir, soloists and orchestra or other ensemble.
Similar to opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguisha ...
s, and
chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...
of widely varying types and settings. His works were performed by noted artists, and by important orchestras and opera houses of both East and West Germany and elsewhere.
His most important works are arguably the operas, including an adaptation (from 1968 to 1969) of
Heinrich von Kleist
Bernd Heinrich Wilhelm von Kleist (; 18 October 177721 November 1811) was a German poet, dramatist, novelist, short story writer and journalist. His best known works are the theatre plays ''The Prince of Homburg'', '' Das Käthchen von Heilbronn'' ...
's comedy ''
Der zerbrochne Krug''. However, his eleven symphonies were also well received, and have been performed by outstanding groups like the
Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and the
Staatskapelle Dresden
The Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden (), or Saxon State Orchestra Dresden, is one of the oldest orchestras in the world, created by order of Maurice, Elector of Saxony in 1548. Under communist East Germany and until 1992 it was called Staatskap ...
. His Second Symphony (1962-1964) was the first East German symphony to employ
serialism
In music, serialism is a method of composition using series of pitches, rhythms, dynamics, timbres or other musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, though some of his contemporaries were also ...
.
External links
Official web site, featuring a full works-list and discography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Geissler, Fritz
1921 births
1984 deaths
20th-century German classical composers
Academic staff of the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber
German opera composers
German male opera composers
People from Wurzen
20th-century German male musicians