Music
- 6 symphonies
- Many orchestral concertos
- Chamber music
- Vocal works
- Large amount of music for radio plays
- More than 30 works for orchestra of plucked instruments (mandoline, guitar)
Life
At 19 years old he was Konzertmeister of the Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland) Philharmonic Orchestra. Studied with Paul Hindemith and Hugo Distler. An accident with his left hand ended his carreer as a violinist. From 1946 he was the first bassoon player in the Orchester des Saarländischen Rundfunks. In 1947 he teacher of the Masterclass of the Saarlandische Musikhochschule. From 1949-1975 he was Composer in Residence with the Saarländische Rundfunk. His last years were marked by illnesses and eye problems which ended in blindness.
His music, in which he followed partly his teachers, is not compromising as he was not willing to follow any school. His music has a certain connection with poetry and painters like Kandinsky, Miro, Chagall, Picasso or Dali. It is highly original, full of poetic colour and heroic powers.
He played an important role for the ‘music for orchestra of plucked instruments’ (in German: Zupf Ochester).
[in German]
(Contribution by Eckart Schloifer <schloifer
gmx.de>.)
Musicatlas



