Johannes Schmoelling (born 9 November 1950 in Lohne,

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

) is a German musician and keyboard artist. He was a member of the prolific electronic music group

Tangerine Dream Tangerine Dream is a German electronic music band founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The group has seen many personnel changes over the years, with Froese the only constant member until his death in January 2015. The best-known lineup of the grou ...

from 1979 to 1985. A classically trained musician, he began playing piano at the age of eight. By twelve he had begun playing the pipe organ and successfully mastered the instrument so well that he began to play professionally at various churches. By 1978 Johannes had graduated from college with a degree in sound engineering and secured a job working on live theater performances at the prestigious Schaubühne am Halleschen Ufer in Berlin. He ended his stint with

at the end of 1985 to pursue a solo career and has produced several solo albums as well as soundtrack music for numerous German television programs.

Tangerine Dream

Schmoelling met

founder

Edgar Froese Edgar Willmar Froese (; 6 June 1944 – 20 January 2015) was a German musical artist and electronic music pioneer, best known for founding the electronic music group Tangerine Dream in 1967. Froese was the only continuous member of the gro ...

in 1979 at the theatre where Schmoelling worked. After his successful audition, he was brought into the band as a replacement for keyboardist and wind player Steve Jolliffe and drummer Klaus Krueger, returning the band to a trio keyboard lineup as in the time of

Peter Baumann Peter Baumann (born 29 January 1953) is a German musician. He formed the core line-up of the pioneering German electronic group Tangerine Dream with Edgar Froese and Christopher Franke in 1971. Baumann composed his first solo album in 1976, wh ...

. Schmoelling's contribution to this period of Tangerine Dream immediately brought a change in musical style. The compositions had shorter constituent parts and more readily discernable pop or rock patterns than before. His first album with Tangerine Dream was

Tangram The tangram () is a dissection puzzle consisting of seven flat polygons, called ''tans'', which are put together to form shapes. The objective is to replicate a pattern (given only an outline) generally found in a puzzle book using all seven pi ...

and he performed with the band on many albums like

Exit Exit(s) may refer to: Architecture and engineering * Door * Portal (architecture), an opening in the walls of a structure * Emergency exit * Overwing exit, a type of emergency exit on an airplane * Exit ramp, a feature of a road interchange A ...

, White Eagle,

Logos Live ''Logos Live'' is the eighteenth major release and fourth live album by Tangerine Dream. It was released in December 1982. It is a live album from the concert at the Dominion Theatre in London, England. Much like ''Tangram'' with short movement ...

Hyperborea In Greek mythology, the Hyperboreans (, ; ) were a mythical people who lived in the far northern part of the Ecumene, known world. Their name appears to derive from the Greek , "beyond Boreas (god), Boreas" (the God of the north wind). Some schol ...

, and Poland: The Warsaw Concert. He was also a key performer during their prolific soundtrack years in the 1980s and has soundtracks to movies such as ''

Thief Theft (, cognate to ) is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal short ...

'', ''

Risky Business ''Risky Business'' is a 1983 American coming-of-age teen comedy film written and directed by Paul Brickman (in his directorial debut) and starring Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay. It follows the sexual exploits of high school senior Joel G ...

'', '' Firestarter'' and ''

Legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess certain qualities that give the ...

'' to his credit. In addition, Schmoelling performed many concerts with the band at various locations throughout the world. On stage, he was more lively, playing the role of performer, unlike the static Froese and Franke. His first live performance with the band was the notable concert on 31 January 1980, in the

Palace of the Republic, Berlin The Palace of the Republic (, ) was a building in Berlin that hosted the ''Volkskammer'', the parliament of East Germany, from 1976 to 1990. Also known as the "People's Palace", it was located across the Unter den Linden from Museum Island in ...

, East Germany, recorded and released as the

Pergamon Pergamon or Pergamum ( or ; ), also referred to by its modern Greek form Pergamos (), was a rich and powerful ancient Greece, ancient Greek city in Aeolis. It is located from the modern coastline of the Aegean Sea on a promontory on the north s ...

album. This was a groundbreaking event since they were the first Western group who was allowed by the GDR government to play in East Berlin. Schmoelling left Tangerine Dream amicably in October 1985, exhausted by the demanding work schedule.

Solo career

Schmoelling's first solo album was ''Wuivend Riet'', recorded in his own Riet Studios in Berlin and released on the Erdenklang label in 1986. This was followed by the album ''The Zoo Of Tranquillity'' in 1988 and the third album ''White Out'' in 1990. His solo career also include numerous compositions for radio and stage plays and television movies. In 2000 he created his own record label Viktoriapark records.

Loom

After working with Jerome Froese on Froese's record "Far side of the face", Johannes Schmoelling joined him and Robert Waters for the

Loom A loom is a device used to weaving, weave cloth and tapestry. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the Warp (weaving), warp threads under tension (mechanics), tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads. The precise shape of ...

project. So far they have released three EPs, titled "100 001", "200 002", and "300 003", and three albums called "The Tree Hates the Forest", "Scored", and "Years in Music". Loom performed at E-Live in Oirschot, Netherlands on 15 October 2011 and two shows in Budapest in 2012. In 2014, Johannes Schmoelling and Robert Waters performed with Jerome Froese at the Electronic Cirkus Festival, (not as Loom) but supporting Jerome who was a headliner at that festival. Songs by Loom and Tangerine Dream were also played. In 2016, Loom played two more concerts. At Ufa Fabrik in Berlin (where the album Years in Music was recorded), and in October, they played once again at The E-Live Festival in Oirschot, near Eindhoven in The Netherlands.

S.A.W.

With the departure of Jerome Froese, Schmoelling and Waters formed a new lineup with , a sound programmer for Korg and video artist Andreas Merz. The new band known as S-A-W released their debut CD ''Iconic'' in 2020.

Discography

Solo

* ''Wuivend Riet'' (Erdenklang, 1986) * ''The Zoo of Tranquility'' (Theta, 1988) * ''White Out'' (Polydor, 1990) * ''Lieder Ohne Worte – Songs No Words'' (Erdenklang, 1995) * ''Der Zaubergeiger Settembrini'' (Deutsche Grammophon, 1995) * ''The Zoo of Tranquility'' (re-recording, Erdenklang, 1998) * ''White Out'' (re-recording, Viktoriapark, 2000) * ''Laufen'' (Viktoriapark, 2002) * ''Recycle or Die'' (Viktoriapark, 2003) * ''Weltmärchen – Weltmusik'' (Viktoriapark, 2004) * ''Instant City'' (Viktoriapark, 2006) * ''Images and Memory'' (2-CD compilation, Viktoriapark, 2007) * ''Early Beginnings'' (recorded 1979–1985, Viktoriapark, 2008) * ''A Thousand Times'' (Viktoriapark, 2009) * ''Time And Tide'' (Viktoriapark, 2011) * ''A Thousand Times Volume 2'' (Viktoriapark, 2016) * ''Songs No Words 2017'' (Viktoriapark, 2017) * ''Diary of a Common Thread'' (Viktoriapark, 2017) * ''Iter Meum'' (Viktoriapark, 2022)

with
Tangerine Dream Tangerine Dream is a German electronic music band founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The group has seen many personnel changes over the years, with Froese the only constant member until his death in January 2015. The best-known lineup of the grou ...

* 1980: ''

'' * 1980: '' Quichotte'' (Live) * 1981: ''

'' (Soundtrack) * 1981: ''

'' * 1982: '' White Eagle'' * 1982: ''

Logos ''Logos'' (, ; ) is a term used in Western philosophy, psychology and rhetoric, as well as religion (notably Logos (Christianity), Christianity); among its connotations is that of a rationality, rational form of discourse that relies on inducti ...

'' (Live) * 1982: ''

Tatort ("Crime Scene") is a German-language police procedural television series that has been running continuously since 1970 with 30 feature-length episodes per year, making it the longest-running German TV drama. Developed by the German public-se ...

'' (Soundtrack) * 1983: ''

'' * 1983: ''

Wavelength In physics and mathematics, wavelength or spatial period of a wave or periodic function is the distance over which the wave's shape repeats. In other words, it is the distance between consecutive corresponding points of the same ''phase (waves ...

'' (Soundtrack) * 1983: ''

'' (Soundtrack) * 1983: '' The Keep'' (Soundtrack) * 1984: '' Flashpoint'' (Soundtrack) * 1984: '' Firestarter'' (Soundtrack) * 1984: ''

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

'' (Live) * 1985: '' Le Parc'' * 1985: '' Heartbreakers'' (Soundtrack) * 1985: '' The Park Is Mine'' (Soundtrack) * 1986: ''

'' (Soundtrack)

with Loom

* ''100 001'' (EP, Moonpop, 2011) * ''Scored'' (Live, Viktoriapark, 2012) * ''200 002'' (EP, Viktoriapark, 2013) * ''The Tree Hates The Forest'' (Viktoriapark, 2014) * ''300 003'' (EP, Moonpop, 2016) * ''Years In Music'' (Live, Viktoriapark, 2016)

with S-A-W

* ''Iconic'' (Viktoriapark 2020) * ''Hydragate'' (MIG 2023)

Other collaborations

* ''The Immortal Tourist'' (with Robert Waters, Viktoriapark, 2018) * ''Zeit ∞ ?'' (with Robert Waters, Viktoriapark, 2019) * ''20'' (Collaborative tracks with various artists, Viktoriapark, 2020) * ''21'' (Collaborative tracks with various artists, Viktoriapark, 2021) * ''Fading Memories'' (with Lambert Ringlage on Lambert's 'Bon Courage' album, Spheric Music, 2023)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmoelling, Johannes 1950 births Living people German male musicians Tangerine Dream members