Gerhard Friedrich Wilhelm Pflüger (9 April 1907 − 24 October 1991) was a German

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

Life

Born in

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 ...

, Pflüger attended the citizen school and a grammar school in Dresden from 1913 to 1924. He then studied with

Kurt Striegler Kurt Emil Striegler (7 January 1886 – 4 August 1958) was a German composer and director. Life and career Born in Dresden, the son of a chamber musician at the Saxon State Theatre, he attended the Royal Saxon Kapellknaben Institute in Dres ...

and

Fritz Busch Fritz Busch (13 March 1890 – 14 September 1951) was a German conductor. Busch was born in Siegen to a musical family and studied at the Cologne Conservatory. After army service in the First World War, he was appointed to senior posts in two G ...

at the orchestra school of 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 ...

until 1927. From 1927 to 1930 he was solo répétiteur, kapellmeister and choir conductor in

Tilsit Sovetsk (; ) is a town in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the south bank of the Neman River which forms the border with Lithuania. History Early history Tilsit, which received civic rights from Albert, Duke of Prussia in 1552,''Sło ...

in East Prussia. From 1930 to 1932 he was first

Kapellmeister ( , , ), from German (chapel) and (master), literally "master of the chapel choir", designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term has evolved considerably in i ...

Stralsund Stralsund (; Swedish language, Swedish: ''Strålsund''), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Stralsund (German language, German: ''Hansestadt Stralsund''), is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklen ...

and until 1935 in

Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...

. From 1935 to 1938 he worked as musical director in

Nordhausen Nordhausen may refer to: *Nordhausen (district), a district in Thuringia, Germany ** Nordhausen, Thuringia, a city in the district ** Nordhausen station, the railway station in the city *Nordhouse, a commune in Alsace (German: Nordhausen) * Narost, ...

. Until 1940 he was first Kapellmeister in

Altenburg Altenburg () is a city in Thuringia, Germany, located south of Leipzig, west of Dresden and east of Erfurt. It is the capital of the Altenburger Land district and part of a polycentric old-industrial textile and metal production region betw ...

and afterwards in

Meiningen Meiningen () is a town in the southern part of the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in the region of Franconia and has a population of around 26,000 (2024).

. In 1940 he joined the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

. From 1946 he was a member of the

Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (, ; SED, ) was the founding and ruling party of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from the country's foundation in 1949 until its dissolution after the Peaceful Revolution in 1989. It was a M ...

. From 1948 to 1955 he was General Music Director and artistic director of the

Volkstheater Rostock The Volkstheater Rostock () is the municipal theatre of the Hanseatic city of Rostock. It has three venues: the ''Großes Haus'', the ''Theater im Stadthafen'' and the ''Kleine Komödie'' and puts on plays, musical theatre/opera, ballet ...

and the municipal orchestra. He also directed the conducting class at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Rostock. From 1949 to 1957 he was permanent conductor of the

MDR Sinfonieorchester The MDR-Sinfonieorchester (MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra) is a German radio orchestra based in Leipzig. It is the radio orchestra of Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, the public broadcaster for the German states of Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony ...

and from 1957 to 1973 of the

Deutsches Nationaltheater und Staatskapelle Weimar The (DNT), or German National Theater and Weimar State Orchestra, is the most significant arts organization in Weimar. The institution unites the (German National Theater) with the (Weimar State Orchestra). It plays on a total of six stages ...

. In addition, since 1962 he was professor and head of the conducting class at the

Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt, Weimar The University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar (in German: Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar) is an institution of music in Weimar, Germany. The Hochschule Franz Liszt, who spent a great deal of his life in Weimar, encouraged the founding o ...

. In 1972 Pflüger was awarded the

Art Prize of the German Democratic Republic The Art Prize of the German Democratic Republic (German: ''Kunstpreis der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik'') was an East German state award bestowed on individuals for contributions in various fields of art. History The Art Prize was annually a ...

.. Pflüger died in

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...

in 1991 at the age of 84.

Literature

* Gitta Günther, Wolfram Huschke, Walter Steiner (ed.): ''Weimar. Lexikon zur Stadtgeschichte.'' 2nd edition, Böhlau, Weimar 1993, , . * Fred K. Prieberg: ''Handbuch Deutsche Musiker 1933–1945''. CD-ROM-Lexikon, Kiel 2004, . * Bernd Meyer-Rähnitz, Frank Oehme, Joachim Schütte (ed.): ''Die Ewige Freundin. - Von Lied der Zeit zum VEB Deutsche Schallplatten Berlin. Eine Firmendiscographie der Schellackplatten von AMIGA, ETERNA und LIED DER ZEIT, sowie REGINA und RADIOPHON''.''Die Ewige Freundin von Lied der Zeit zum VEB Deutsche Schallplatten Berlin (Schellack 1939-1961) ; eine Firmen-Discographie der Marken Amiga, Eterna und Lied der Zeit sowie Schallplatten auf Radiophon und Regina''
on WorldCat albis-international, Dresden-Ústí 2006, .

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pfluger, Gerhard 1907 births 1991 deaths Musicians from Dresden German conductors (music) Socialist Unity Party of Germany members Nazi Party members