Gerhard Erber (21 November 1934 – 4 September 2021) was a German

classical pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

and academic teacher. He played as a member of the East German ensemble

Gruppe Neue Musik Hanns Eisler Gruppe Neue Musik Hanns Eisler was an ensemble of musicians founded in 1970 in Leipzig with a focus on contemporary classical music, which played several world premieres and toured internationally. The ensemble disbanded in 1993. History The ens ...

, which focused on contemporary chamber music. He was a professor of piano at the

University of Music and Theatre Leipzig The University of Music and Theatre "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig (german: Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig) is a public university in Leipzig (Saxony, Germany). Founded in 1843 by Felix Mendelssohn ...

, and organised a Bach competition in Köthen.

Life

Born in

Dessau Dessau is a town and former municipality in Germany at the confluence of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the '' Bundesland'' (Federal State) of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it has been part of the newly created municipality of Dessau-Roßlau ...

, Erber was the son of the piano manufacturer Fritz Erber. He studied piano with

Amadeus Webersinke Amadeus Webersinke (1920-2005) was a German pianist and organist. Webersinke studied from at the Institut für Kirchenmusik in Leipzig with Karl Straube, Johann Nepomuk David, and Otto Weinreich (pianist), Otto Weinreich. He was a lecturer at t ...

at the Musikhochschule Leipzig from 1953 to 1959. Afterwards, he was the piano teacher of the

Thomanerchor The Thomanerchor (English: St. Thomas Choir of Leipzig) is a boys' choir in Leipzig, Germany. The choir was founded in 1212. The choir comprises about 90 boys from 9 to 18 years of age. The members, called ''Thomaner'', reside in a boarding scho ...

. In 1964, he achieved the third prize at the

International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition The International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition (german: Internationaler Bach Wettbewerb Leipzig, links=no) is a music competition in Leipzig, Germany, held by the Bach-Archiv Leipzig. It was founded in 1950 and was held every four years from 1 ...

. He has a broad repertoire, with a focus on

contemporary classical music Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included seria ...

and chamber music. In 1970 he was a founding member of the group Neue Musik Hanns Eisler, with

Burkhard Glaetzner Burkhard Glaetzner (born 29 May 1943) is a German oboe virtuoso und conductor. He is one of the leading oboe players in Germany. Life Glaetzner was born in Poznań. His grandfather was the Goethe researcher , who last taught in Leipzig. In ...

and

Friedrich Schenker Friedrich Schenker (23 December 19428 February 2013) was a German avant-garde composer and trombone player. Life Born in the German town of Zeulenroda, Schenker learned trombone and piano as a child and made his first compositional attempts at ...

. This East German ensemble was one of the first to tour beyond the

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its s ...

, including several performances throughout Western Europe and Japan. The ensemble's mission was to keep the spirit of Hanns Eisler alive, which meant that they focused not on performing his work but on promoting new music. In 1971 he also became a member of the Aulos Trio, playing with Glaetzner and

Wolfgang Weber Wolfgang Weber (born 26 June 1944) is a German former footballer best remembered for scoring the last-minute equaliser for West Germany in the 1966 World Cup final. Playing career Weber, a central defender with 1. FC Köln in 356 Bundesl ...

. He has played in piano duos, with

Max Rostal Max Rostal (7 July 1905 – 6 August 1991) was a violinist and a viola player. He was Austrian-born, but later took British citizenship. Biography Max Rostal was born in Cieszyn to a Jewish merchant family. As a child prodigy, he started studyin ...

Oleg Kagan Oleg Moiseyevich Kagan (Russian: Оле́г Моисе́евич Кага́н; 22 November 1946 Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Russian SFSR – 15 July 1990, Munich, West Germany) was a Soviet violinist, known for his chamber collaborations with such musicia ...

and Raffael Hillyer. They have performed in Europe, Asia and Central America. He performed the world premieres of piano works by

Heinz Röttger Heinz Martin Albert Röttger (6 November 1909 – 26 August 1977) was a German composer. From 1928 to 1931 Röttger attended the Akademie der Tonkunst in Munich, where he studied under Walter Courvoisier and Hugo Röhr. From 1930 to 1934 he ...

Georg Katzer Georg Katzer (; 10 January 1935 – 7 May 2019) was a German composer and teacher. The last master student of Hanns Eisler, he composed music in many genres, including works for the stage. Katzer was one of the pioneers of electronic new music ...

Reiner Bredemeyer Reiner Bredemeyer (2 January 1929 − 5 December 1995) was a German composer. He was born in Vélez, Santander and went to school in Breslau. In 1944 he was drafted into military service and was briefly held as a prisoner of war of the American ...

, Gerhard Rosenfeld, Max E. Keller,

Günter Neubert Günter Neubert (born 11 March 1936) is a German composer and tonmeister. Life Born in Crimmitschau, Saxony, after his Abitur at a secondary school in Crimmitschau in 1954, Neubert studied school music at the University of Music and Theatre ...

and Friedrich Schenker. As a member of the Eisler group he received several awards, including the

Kunstpreis der Stadt Leipzig From 1959 to 1989, the city of Leipzig awarded the Kunstpreis der Stadt Leipzig, which was given for outstanding merits in the artistic field to persons who promoted the reputation of the city beyond the region: architects, visual artists, compos ...

and the Kunstpreis der DDR in 1980, the badge of honour in gold from the Verband der Komponisten und Musikwissenschaftler der DDR in 1988, and the ''Interpretenpreis'' of the

MaerzMusik MaerzMusik is a festival of the Berliner Festspiele and has been held annually since 2002 in March at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele and other venues. It is the successor festival to the Musik-Biennale Berlin and is considered one of the most im ...

, and the

Schneider-Schott Music Prize The Schneider-Schott Music Prize is a cash award bestowed to an outstanding composer, performing artist, or music ensemble in classical music—with emphasis, but not mandatory, on contemporary music. From 1986 to 2006, the prize was awarded annua ...

in 1991. Erber made numerous recordings, also for radio. He recorded piano works by

Erik Satie Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (, ; ; 17 May 18661 July 1925), who signed his name Erik Satie after 1884, was a French composer and pianist. He was the son of a French father and a British mother. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, but was an und ...

in 1991. In 1972, he received an aspirancy for an academic degree, became a lecturer at the Hochschule für Musik "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" in 1978, and was appointed professor of piano in 1990. Among his students were

Steffen Schleiermacher Steffen Schleiermacher (born Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Halle, 3 May 1960) is a German composer, pianist, and conducting, conductor. He was involved in the Weimar Summer Course. In 1990 he was one of the founding members of the

Forum Zeitgenössischer Musik Leipzig The Forum Zeitgenössischer Musik Leipzig ZML'' ''(Forum of Contemporary Music Leipzig)'' is a non-profit organisation situated in Leipzig and an independent cultural organisation for the project-based communication of contemporary music. Descr ...

. Erber was chairman of the performers' section of the Association of Composers and Musicologists of the GDR.. He has also served as a juror at national and international piano competitions. He founded a Bach workshop for music teachers and students In Köthen in 1996, reviving a national Bach competition for young pianists there in 1999, which has been organized by the Köthen Bach Society since 2001. Erber became honorary chairman of the competition in 2013. Erber died in Leipzig on 4 September at age 86.

Literature

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References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Erber, Gerhard 1934 births 2021 deaths German classical pianists German male table tennis players Male classical pianists People from Dessau-Roßlau University of Music and Theatre Leipzig alumni Academic staff of the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig East German musicians