Hans Gahlenbeck (27 September 1896 − 10 December 1975) was a German conductor and

Generalmusikdirektor A music(al) director or director of music is the person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert band, the d ...

(GMD).

Life

Born in

Rostock Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, c ...

, from 1926 to 1928 Gahlenbeck was artistic director of the ''Orchestervereinigung Berliner Musikfreunde''. In 1928, as conductor, he became the musical director of the

Theater Kiel Theater Kiel is a theatre company in Kiel, the capital of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is jointly funded by the city and the state. The company produces opera, musical, ballet, plays, and theatre for youth and children, in three different build ...

. After the departure of Fritz Stein as conductor of the ''Verein der Musikfreunde'' (Musikfreunde Kiel / VdM) and Kiel University Music Director, Gahlenbeck became his successor as director of the VdM concerts and municipal music director in 1933 and as general music director in 1934, which made it possible to abolish the separation of opera and concert activities. As expected, the concert programmes were "German" during the Nazi era: A lot of Beethoven and Mozart, Schubert, Brahms, Strauss and Pfitzner. In 1937 he became a member of the

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

. In 1938 he was appointed as GMD at the Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater Schwerin. In 1939 he received the honorary title ''Staatskapellmeister''. He was active for the

Gau Mecklenburg The Gau Mecklenburg, was formed as Gau Mecklenburg-Lübeck on 22 March 1925 and renamed Gau Mecklenburg on 31 March 1937 when Lübeck was transferred to Gau Schleswig-Holstein. It was an administrative division of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945 i ...

of the party, since about 1941 also as ''Gaubeauftragter für Musikangelegenheiten''. After 1945 he continued to work as conductor or GMD in Mecklenburg in Schwerin and in 1954/55 as GMD in Rostock at the

Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock The Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock, based in Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, is the state's largest symphony orchestra and also the orchestra of the Volkstheater Rostock. Founded in 1897, the orchestra grew to 90 musicians by 1991. Th ...

. In 1955 Gahlenbeck followed a call as GMD to the ; his successor was Gerhart Wiesenhütter. A performance of Wagner's '' Der Ring des Nibelungen'' prepared 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 ...

in 1954 was the first cyclical performance of this kind in the GDR and he then became the new musical director. He was musical director until 1967. Gahlenbeck died in Eisenach at the age of 89. Honours * Honorary member of the theatre ensemble at Thüringen Landestheater Eisenach * 1966

Vaterländischer Verdienstorden The Patriotic Order of Merit (German: ''Vaterländischer Verdienstorden'', or VVO) was a national award granted annually in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). It was founded in 1954 and was awarded to individuals and institutions for outstanding ...

in Bronze.

Literature

Michael Buddrus Michael Buddrus (born 1957) is a German historian. Life Born in Bad Doberan, From 1974 Buddrus completed a three-year locksmithing apprenticeship in Warnemünde. From 1978 to 1983 he studied at the University of Rostock. Afterwards he worked as ...

: ''Mecklenburg im Zweiten Weltkrieg.'' , Bremen 2009, . * Ernst Klee: ''Das Kulturlexikon zum Dritten Reich. Wer war was vor und nach 1945.'' S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, . * ''Hans Gahlenbeck (1896-1975) : Porträt''.''Hans Gahlenbeck (1896-1975) : Porträt''
on WorldCat

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gahlenbeck, Hans 1896 births 1975 deaths Musicians from Rostock German male conductors (music) Nazi Party members Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze 20th-century male musicians