Götz Bernau (born 26 May 1941) is a German violinist, music researcher, music pedagogue and

music journalist Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

Life

Bernau was born in

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( ; from Low German , local dialect: ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the ...

. After studying violin in Hanover (Karl Heinrich v. Stumpff) and Detmold ( Max Strub), Bernau worked as a

concertmaster The concertmaster (from the German language, German ''Konzertmeister''), first chair (U.S.) or leader (UK) is the principal first violin player in an orchestra (clarinet or oboe in a concert band). After the Conducting, conductor, the concertma ...

in Bonn, Flensburg, Nuremberg and Regensburg. Between 1969 and 2004, he was first concertmaster of the

Berliner Symphoniker The Berliner Symphoniker (''Berlin Symphony Orchestra'') is a German symphony orchestra based in Berlin, Germany. History The orchestra began its performing activity on 1 September 1967 as ''Symphonisches Orchester Berlin'', under the auspices of ...

, until 1990 Symphonisches Orchester Berlin (SOB), with whom he also appeared regularly as soloist in the

Berliner Philharmonie The () is a concert hall in Berlin, Germany, and home to the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. The Philharmonie lies on the south edge of the city's Tiergarten and just west of the former Berlin Wall. The Philharmonie is on Herbert-von-Karajan- ...

and the

Konzerthaus Berlin The Konzerthaus Berlin is a concert hall in Berlin, the home of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin. Situated on the Gendarmenmarkt square in the central Mitte district of the city, it was originally built as a theater. It initially operated from 1 ...

as well as on tour. Solo engagements have also taken him to orchestras in Europe, Turkey, the USSR, the USA and South America. In addition to the works of the classical violin concerto repertoire, Bernau also presented new compositions - including several

premiere A premiere, also spelled première, (from , ) is the debut (first public presentation) of a work, i.e. play, film, dance, musical composition, or even a performer in that work. History Raymond F. Betts attributes the introduction of the ...

s and first performances – and devoted himself to unknown and forgotten works from the classical, romantic and modern periods. As a chamber musician, Bernau cultivates a repertoire of different instrumentations - in addition to his involvement with the string quartet and piano trio literature. The spectrum ranges from the one-man orchestra (''Der Untergang der Titanic'' by Wilhelm Dieter Siebert for violin and percussion), duets for violin and one voice (without piano accompaniment) to the larger mixed formations (strings and winds, with and without piano). His collaboration in the Pihtipudas Kvintetti (Piano Quintet), which he co-founded, is worthy of mention and is also documented on several CDs (including several first recordings). Bernau is also active in the field of

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

for contemporary composers (world premieres, e.g. of works by

Carlo Domeniconi Carlo Domeniconi (born 20 February 1947)Summerfield 2003. is an Italian guitarist and composer. Although his compositions include a wide variety of genres and instrumentation choices, he is best known for his works for solo guitar, and particula ...

, Jaime Mirtenbaum Zenamon,

Fazıl Say Fazıl Say (; born 14 January 1970) is a Turkish pianist and composer who has worked internationally. Life and career Say was born in Ankara in 1970. His father, Ahmet Say, was an author and musicologist. His mother, Gürgün Say, was a pharm ...

, Wilhelm Dieter Siebert) as well as for forgotten or rarely performed works, including revivals based on manuscripts and early prints of works from the classical and romantic periods. A real ''speciality'' is a series of (partly semi-staged) concert programmes, in which Bernau and others are featured among others operas or opera composers (Carl Maria von Weber: ''

Der Freischütz ' (Friedrich Wilhelm Jähns, J. 277, Opus number, Op. 77 ''The Marksman'' or ''The Freeshooter'') is a German List of operas by Carl Maria von Weber, opera with spoken dialogue in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber with a libretto by Johann Fried ...

'';

Giacomo Meyerbeer Giacomo Meyerbeer (born Jakob Liebmann Meyer Beer; 5 September 1791 – 2 May 1864) was a German opera composer, "the most frequently performed opera composer during the nineteenth century, linking Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Mozart and Richard Wa ...

) using contemporary adaptations of 19th century opera melodies (in duo with pianist Eckehard Scholl), which today can only be found in libraries. He has made radio productions in various European countries and recordings on disks and CDs, both as a soloist and as a chamber musician. In 2004, Bernau was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his extraordinary programmes, his commitment to contemporary works by German and especially Berlin composers, the presentation of foreign contemporary composers in Germany, as well as for his diverse music educational work.eda-records.com
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World premieres and first performances (works with orchestra)

* Mozart Camargo Guarnieri: Concerto No. 2 (first performance) * Jeannot Heinen: Concerto piece op. 37 (1970) (world premiere) * : Concerto No. 2 (1974) (world premiere) * Helge Jörns: Concerto No. 2 (world premiere) * Helge Jörns: Concerto No. 3 (world premiere, 2002) *

Ernst Krenek Ernst Heinrich Krenek (, 23 August 1900 – 22 December 1991) was an Austrian, later American, composer. He explored atonality and other modern styles and wrote a number of books, including ''Music Here and Now'' (1939), a study of Johannes Ock ...

: Concerto op. 29 (1924) (US first performance) * Ernst Krenek: Double Concerto for violin, piano and chamber orchestra op. 124 (1950) (German first performance) *

Usko Meriläinen Usko Aatos Meriläinen (27 January 1930 – 12 November 2004) was a Finnish composer. He was born in Tampere. Usko Meriläinen studied orchestral conducting with Leo Funtek and composition with Aarre Merikanto at the Sibelius Academy. Meriläine ...

: Chamber Concerto (1962) (German first performance) * Friedrich Metzler: Concerto (1942) (first performance, 2001) * Gisbert Näther: Concerto op. 66 (first performance, 1996) *

Pehr Henrik Nordgren Pehr Henrik Nordgren (19 January 1944 – 25 August 2008) was a Finnish composer. Life Pehr Henrik Nordgren was born in Saltvik, Åland, on 19 January 1944. received composition lessons starting from 1958 in Helsinki and studied musicology at t ...

: Concerto No. 3 op. 53 (1981) (German first performance) *

Wallingford Riegger Wallingford Constantine Riegger ( ; April 29, 1885 – April 2, 1961) was an American modernist composer and pianist, best known for his orchestral and modern dance music. He was born in Albany, Georgia, but spent most of his career in New York Ci ...

: Variations for violin and orchestra op. 71 (1959) (German first performance) *

Aulis Sallinen Aulis Heikki Sallinen (born 9 April 1935) is a Finnish contemporary classical music composer. His music has been variously described as "remorselessly harsh", a "beautifully crafted amalgam of several 20th-century styles", and "neo-romantic". ...

: Concerto op. 18 (1968) (German first performance) * Fazil Say: Reflections for piano, violin and orchestra (1990) (premiere, with the composer) * Wilhelm Dieter Siebert: concerto (premiere, 2004) *

Heitor Villa-Lobos Heitor Villa-Lobos (March 5, 1887November 17, 1959) was a Brazilian composer, conductor, cellist, and classical guitarist described as "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music". Villa-Lobos has globally bec ...

: Fantasia (European first performance) * Sabine Wüsthoff: Concerto (world premiere) * Jaime Mirtenbaum Zenamon: oracle violin concerto (world premiere)

Recordings

With the Pihtipudas Kvintetti: *

Max Bruch Max Bruch (6 January 1838 – 2 October 1920) was a German Romantic Music, Romantic composer, violinist, teacher, and conductor who wrote more than 200 works, including three violin concertos, the first of which has become a staple of the violin ...

Alexander Borodin Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin (12 November 183327 February 1887) was a Russian Romantic composer and chemist of Georgian–Russian parentage. He was one of the prominent 19th-century composers known as " The Five", a group dedicated to prod ...

: piano quintets. eda records, EDA 1. *

Ernest Bloch Ernest Bloch (; ; July 24, 1880 – July 15, 1959) was a Swiss-born American composer. Bloch was a preeminent artist in his day, and left a lasting legacy. He is recognized as one of the greatest Swiss composers in history. Several of his most no ...

Amy Beach Amy Marcy Cheney Beach (September 5, 1867December 27, 1944) was an American composer and pianist. She was the first successful American female composer of large-scale art music. Her "Gaelic" Symphony, premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra ...

Toivo Kuula Toivo Timoteus Kuula (7 July 1883 – 18 May 1918) was a Finnish composer and conductor of the late-Romantic and early-modern periods, who emerged in the wake of Jean Sibelius, under whom he studied privately from 1906 to 1908. The core of Ku ...

: piano quintets. eda records, EDA 3 (1991). *

Edward Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

Camille Saint-Saëns Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (, , 9October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic music, Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Piano ...

: piano quintets. eda records, EDA 4. *

Jean Sibelius Jean Sibelius (; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic music, Romantic and 20th-century classical music, early modern periods. He is widely regarded as his countr ...

Christian Sinding Christian August Sinding (11 January 18563 December 1941) was a Norwegian composer. He is best known for his lyrical work for piano '' Frühlingsrauschen'' (Rustle of Spring, 1896). He was often compared to Edvard Grieg and regarded as his succ ...

: piano quintets. eda records, EDA 7 (1994). *

Anton Rubinstein Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein (; ) was a Russian pianist, composer and conductor who founded the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. He was the elder brother of Nikolai Rubinstein, who founded the Moscow Conservatory. As a pianist, Rubinstein ran ...

Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and thereafter was regarded as a major composer. Shostak ...

: piano quintets. eda records, EDA 10 (1996). *

Heinrich von Herzogenberg Heinrich Picot de Peccaduc, Freiherr von Herzogenberg (10 June 1843 – 9 October 1900) was an Austrian composer and conductor descended from a French aristocratic family. He was born in Graz and was educated at a Jesuit school in Feldkirch ...

Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period (music), Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, oft ...

: piano quintets. eda records, EDA 25 * Louis Ferdinand von Preußen,

Daniel Steibelt Daniel Gottlieb Steibelt (22 October 1765) was a German pianist and composer. His main works were composed in Paris and in London, and he died in Saint Petersburg, Russia. He once challenged and lost to Ludwig van Beethoven in a piano duel. Bi ...

: Klavierquintette. Concerto Berlin (2001). *

Antonín Dvořák Antonín Leopold Dvořák ( ; ; 8September 18411May 1904) was a Czech composer. He frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia, following the Romantic-era nationalist example of his predec ...

Max Reger Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger (19 March 187311 May 1916) was a German composer, pianist, organist, conductor, and academic teacher. He worked as a concert pianist, a musical director at the Paulinerkirche, Leipzig, Leipzig University Chu ...

Bohuslav Martinů Bohuslav Jan Martinů (; December 8, 1890 – August 28, 1959) was a Czech composer of modern classical music. He wrote 6 symphony, symphonies, 15 operas, 14 ballet scores and a large body of orchestral, chamber music, chamber, vocal and ins ...

: piano quintets. Concerto Berlin (2010). Other: * Violin concertos by and

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

, with the Chamber Orchestra of Eastern Switzerland conducted by Urs Schneider. Berliton (LP). * ''Musica Chirurgica''. Compositions by surgeons (Alexander Borodin, Walter Courvoisier, , Carl Ludwig Schleich,

Theodor Billroth Christian Albert Theodor Billroth (26 April 18296 February 1894) was a German surgeon and amateur musician. As a surgeon, he is generally regarded as the founding father of modern abdominal surgery. As a musician, he was a close friend and conf ...

) and by

Marin Marais Marin Marais (; 31 May 1656, in Paris – 15 August 1728, in Paris) was a French composer and viol player. He studied composition with Jean-Baptiste Lully, often conducting his operas, and with master of the bass viol Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe ...

. * ''Fruits of the Opera''. Opera melodies in compositions for violin and piano (Eckehard Scholl). Concerto Berlin (2002). * Works for violin and piano (Valentina Diaz Frénot) by Johannes Brahms, Antonín Dvořák, Remberto Gimenéz,

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...

and

Luis Szarán Luis Szarán (born 24 September 1953) is a Paraguayan musician, orchestra director, composer and musical researcher; since 2002, founder and director of the social and community integration program "'Sounds of the Earth''", which created the sc ...

. Concerto Berlin (2003).

Publications

* Carl August Pesch: ''Sonate B-Dur für Violine solo.'' Publisher: Götz Bernau, Möseler Verlag, Wolfenbüttel / Zürich 2000, , .

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bernau, Gotz German classical violinists Recipients of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Concertmasters German music journalists 1941 births Living people Musicians from Braunschweig