Carl Seemann (8 May 1910 − 26 November 1983) was a German

church music Church music is Christian music written for performance in church, or any musical setting of ecclesiastical liturgy, or music set to words expressing propositions of a sacred nature, such as a hymn. History Early Christian music The onl ...

ian, pianist, piano teacher and director of the

Musikhochschule Freiburg A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger ins ...

Life

Born in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

, after the

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

Seemann initially vacillated between studying theology and music. He decided to study church music in Leipzig. His teachers were

Karl Straube Montgomery Rufus Karl Siegfried Straube (6 January 1873 – 27 April 1950) was a German church musician, organist, and choral conducting, conductor, famous above all for championing the abundant organ music of Max Reger. Career Born in Berlin, ...

, Günther Ramin, Kurt Thomas and

Carl Adolf Martienssen Carl Adolf Martienssen (6 December 1881 – 1 March 1955) was a German pianist and music educator. Life Born in Güstrow, Martiensen came from a large farming family, which apparently only immigrated to Mecklenburg in the generation of his fathe ...

. After his exams, Seemann worked as

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

Flensburg Flensburg (; Danish, Low Saxon: ''Flensborg''; North Frisian: ''Flansborj''; South Jutlandic: ''Flensborre'') is an independent town (''kreisfreie Stadt'') in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the ...

and Verden. From 1935 he devoted himself mainly to his career as a pianist and to teaching - Seemann subsequently held professorships and

master class A master class is a Class (education), class given to students of a particular Academic discipline, discipline by an expert of that discipline—usually music, but also science, painting, drama, games, or on any other occasion where skills are b ...

es in

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

and Freiburg im Breisgau. From 1964 to 1974 he was head of the local state music academy. Many recordings, but especially the duo performances with the violinist Wolfgang Schneiderhan, made Seemann one of the greats of post-war German musical life. Nevertheless, public attention turned to the increasingly dominant Russian master pianists such as

Emil Gilels Emil Grigoryevich Gilels (Russian: Эми́ль Григо́рьевич Ги́лельс; 19 October 1916 – 14 October 1985) was a Russian pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest pianists of all time. Early life and educatio ...

, Vladimir Horowitz and

Svjatoslav Richter Sviatoslav Teofilovich Richter, group= ( – August 1, 1997) was a Soviet classical pianist. He is frequently regarded as one of the greatest pianists of all time,Great Pianists of the 20th Century and has been praised for the "depth of his inte ...

. This was possibly also a consequence of Seemann's rather matter-of-fact style of interpretation, which refrained from

virtuoso A virtuoso (from Italian ''virtuoso'' or , "virtuous", Late Latin ''virtuosus'', Latin ''virtus'', "virtue", "excellence" or "skill") is an individual who possesses outstanding talent and technical ability in a particular art or field such as ...

tricks. In 1999, the re-release of various Deutsche Grammophon recordings under the title ''The Legacy'' led to a kind of "Seemann's renaissance". In the supplement of the cassette the critic

Joachim Kaiser Joachim Kaiser (18 December 1928 − 11 May 2017) was a German music, literature and theatre critic. From 1959 he worked as a senior editor in the ''feuilleton'' of the ''Süddeutsche Zeitung''; from 1977 to 1996 he was professor of history of mu ...

, in whose book ''Great Pianists in our Time'' (Piper, Munich 1965; new edition 1996, ) Seemann did not appear, deals in an essay with Seemann's art. His assistant in Freiburg was . In his master class studied, among others, the conductor . Seemann's nephew heads the

Klassik Stiftung Weimar The Klassik Stiftung Weimar (''Classical Foundation Weimar'') is one of the largest and most significant cultural institutions in Germany. It owns more than 20 museums, palaces, historic houses and parks, as well as literary and art collections, ...

. Seemann died in

Freiburg im Breisgau Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population o ...

at the age of 73.

Literature

* Helmuth Hopf and Rudolf Weber: ''Interview mit Carl Seemann''. In ZfMP (''Zeitschrift für Musikpädagogik'').

Gustav Bosse Gustav Bosse (6 February 1884 – 27 March 1943) was a German music publisher. Life Born in Vienenburg/Harz as son of the sugar factory director and music publisher Fritz Bosse, he founded the for music books in Regensburg in 1912. Already the ...

Verlag, Regensburg. 4. Jahrgang 1979, issue 9, . .

Discography

* Carl Seemann plays Stravinsky. * Carl Seemann plays Bach. recordings 1953/1958. DG * ''Carl Seemann : das Vermächtnis''. * J.S. Bach: Die Partiten BWV 825–830. Orfeo * Mozart: Sämtliche Sonaten für Klavier solo. DG Original Masters * Zehn Meisterklavierabende, Saison 1962 / 3. Konzert, 23 November 1962 : Carl Seemann. * Brahms: Violinsonaten und F-A-E-Sonate mit Wolfgang Schneiderhan. DG * Carl Seemann – Das Vermächtnis (Werke von Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms, Debussy und Prokofjew). DG * Konzert der Schwetzinger Festspiele 1964 mit Wolfgang Schneiderhan (Sonaten von Bach, Mozart, Beethoven und Schubert). Orfeo * Ludwig van Beethoven: Sämtliche Violinsonaten mit Wolfgang Schneiderhan. DG * Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Sämtliche Violinsonaten mit Wolfgang Schneiderhan. DG * Discography on Universal. * List of 29 Recordings on the

German National Library The German National Library (DNB; german: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek) is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany. It is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its task is to colle ...

.List of 29 Recordings
on the

Awards

* 1978:

Reinhold-Schneider-Preis The Reinhold-Schneider-Preis (Reinhold Schneider Prize) is the cultural prize awarded by the German town of Freiburg im Breisgau. It has been awarded biennially since 1960, alternating between literature, music and art. In addition to the main prize ...

of the city of Freiburg for Music.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Seemann, Carl 1910 births 1983 deaths Musicians from Bremen (city) Academic staff of the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg German classical pianists Male classical pianists 20th-century German male musicians