Herbert Baumann (31 July 1925 – 21 January 2020) was a German composer and conductor. His compositions were mainly for theatre and film, at theatres in Berlin and

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, such as ballet music for ''Alice im Wunderland'' and ''Rumpelstilzchen''.

Life

Baumann was born in Berlin and began to study architecture, as his father wished. He studied conducting at the same time with

Sergiu Celibidache Sergiu Celibidache (; ; 13 August 1996) was a Romanian people, Romanian Conducting, conductor, composer, musical theorist, and teacher. Educated in his native Romania, and later in Paris and Berlin, Celibidache's career in music spanned over fi ...

, who was serving his first season with the

Berlin Philharmonic The Berlin Philharmonic () is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world. Throughout the 20th century, the orchestra was led by conductors Wilhelm Furtwängler (1922� ...

. Baumann turned completely to music. He composed a piece as a conducting exercise that impressed Celibidache, who showed it to

Paul Höffer Paul Höffer (21 December 1895 – 31 August 1949) was a German composer. He was born in Barmen Barmen is a former industrial metropolis of the region of Bergisches Land, Germany, which merged with four other towns in 1929 to form th ...

, a composition professor. Baumann then studied composition with Höffer at the Internationales Musikinstitut in Berlin, and after Höffer's death with

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 ...

. He worked as leader of the stage music for the Waldsee open air stage. At age 22, he was recommended by Höffer as director of stage music at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin, a position that he held for six years, composing for the performances. In 1953, he moved on to the Staatliche Schauspielbühnen in West Berlin, and then to

in 1970, where he worked for the

Residenz Theatre The Residence Theatre (in German: Residenztheater) or New Residence Theatre (Neues Residenztheater) of the Residence in Munich was built from 1950 to 1951 by Karl Hocheder. The renovation of 1981 by Alexander von Branca removed the decoration w ...

. He worked freelance from 1979. His ballet ''Alice im Wunderland'', based on

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet, mathematician, photographer and reluctant Anglicanism, Anglican deacon. His most notable works are ''Alice ...

's novel ''

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (also known as ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English Children's literature, children's novel by Lewis Carroll, a mathematics university don, don at the University of Oxford. It details the story of a ...

'', was premiered on 23 December 1984 at the

Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden The Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden (Hessian State Theatre Wiesbaden), also known as the Staatstheater Wiesbaden or Theater Wiesbaden, is a German theatre located in Wiesbaden, in the German state of Hesse. The company produces operas, plays, b ...

. The success prompted a commission from the

Städtische Bühnen Augsburg The Staatstheater Augsburg is a theatre of Augsburg, Germany. Until 1999 it was called Städtische Bühnen Augsburg, from then until the end of August 2018 it was called ''Theater Augsburg''. It offers on four stages musical theatre, plays and bal ...

for a ballet ''Rumpelstilzchen'', premiered in 1986. Carroll himself was a character in the ballet, named ''Der Dichter'' (The Author). A CD review of the ''Alice'' music, played by the

NDR Radiophilharmonie The NDR Radiophilharmonie is a German radio orchestra, affiliated with the Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) in Hanover, the capital of Lower Saxony. The orchestra principally gives concerts in the ''Großer Sendesaal'' of the '' Landesfunkhaus Niede ...

conducted by the composer, described it as a neo-Romantic score with delicate instrumentation and clever story-telling ideas for his main characters Alice and ''Der Dichter''. Baumann received the

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (, or , BVO) is the highest state decoration, federal decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It may be awarded for any field of endeavor. It was created by the first List of president ...

in 1998. The same year, he founded the Herbert-Baumann-Stiftung, a foundation for the support of plucked instruments by concerts, festivals and competitions. He became an honorary member of the Tonkünstlerverband München in 2015. Baumann died in Munich in January 2020 at the age of 94.

References

External links

*
Profile
at komponisten.net (German) *

Bach Cantatas Website {{DEFAULTSORT:Baumann, Herbert 1925 births 2020 deaths German male composers Composers from Berlin Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany