Hans Vogt (14 May 1911 – 19 May 1992) was a German

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and conductor.

Career

Born in Danzig, Vogt studied with Georg Schumann and Otto Frickhoeffer at the

Akademie der Künste The Academy of Arts (german: Akademie der Künste) is a state arts institution in Berlin, Germany. The task of the Academy is to promote art, as well as to advise and support the states of Germany. The Academy's predecessor organization was fo ...

in Berlin from 1929 to 1934.Prieberg, . From 1934 he worked in

Minden Minden () is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the greatest town between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district (''Kreis'') of Minden-Lübbecke, which is part of the region of Detm ...

as a cellist, pianist and conductor. In 1935 he was appointed

Kapellmeister (, also , ) from German ''Kapelle'' (chapel) and ''Meister'' (master)'','' literally "master of the chapel choir" designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term ha ...

at the

Bielefeld Opera The Bielefeld Opera is the venue of Städtische Bühnen Bielefeld (Municipal stages Bielefeld) in Bielefeld, Germany. It is a ''Dreisparten Haus'' (three-department house), offering plays, music (opera, musical theatre), and ballet. The main per ...

and in 1937 at the

Landestheater Detmold Landestheater Detmold is a theatre for operas, operettas, musicals, ballets, and stage plays in Detmold, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It began as the Hochfürstliches Lippisches Hoftheater, founded in 1825 by the court of Lippe. The company ha ...

. That same year he joined the

Nazi Party 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 ...

(registration no. 5.653.178). From 1938 until 1944 he was Kapellmeister of the Stralsunder Theater, and then music director of

Stralsund Stralsund (; Swedish: ''Strålsund''), officially the Hanseatic City of Stralsund (German: ''Hansestadt Stralsund''), is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin, Neub ...

, where he was also chairman of the Ministry of Arts. In 1944 he was drafted into the military and sent to the Russian front. He was taken prisoner of war in 1945 and did not return from the Sowjet Union until 1949. In the postwar period Vogt lived first in 1949 as a freelance composer in

Neckargemünd Neckargemünd ( pfl, Neggergmin) is a town in Germany, in the district of Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, state of Baden-Württemberg. It lies on the Neckar, 10 km upriver from Heidelberg at the confluence with the river Elsenz. This confluence of the t ...

. From 1951 to 1978 he led a composition class at the Musikhochschule in Mannheim-Heidelberg. In 1971 he was appointed professor. Among his students was Barbara Heller. Vogt composed two

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

s, '' Die Stadt hinter dem Strom'' after the

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

Hermann Kasack Hermann Robert Richard Eugen Kasack (24 July 1896 – 10 January 1966) was a German writer. He is best known for his novel '' Die Stadt hinter dem Strom'' (''The city beyond the river''). Kasack was a pioneer of using the medium broadcast for lit ...

and ''Athenerkomödie'' (The Metropolitans) on a libretto by Christopher Middleton after a fragment of

Menander Menander (; grc-gre, Μένανδρος ''Menandros''; c. 342/41 – c. 290 BC) was a Greek dramatist and the best-known representative of Athenian New Comedy. He wrote 108 comedies and took the prize at the Lenaia festival eight times. His rec ...

. Vogt wrote a

symphony A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...

, two concertos for orchestra, two

piano concerto A piano concerto is a type of concerto, a solo composition in the classical music genre which is composed for a piano player, which is typically accompanied by an orchestra or other large ensemble. Piano concertos are typically virtuoso showpiec ...

s, a

violin concerto A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin (occasionally, two or more violins) and instrumental ensemble (customarily orchestra). Such works have been written since the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up thro ...

, a

cello concerto A cello concerto (sometimes called a violoncello concerto) is a concerto for solo cello with orchestra or, very occasionally, smaller groups of instruments. These pieces have been written since the Baroque era if not earlier. However, unlike instru ...

, ''Serenade und Tarantella'' for viola and chamber ensemble,

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

and

Lied In Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French s ...

er. His sacred music included a

Requiem A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead ( la, Missa pro defunctis) or Mass of the dead ( la, Missa defunctorum), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, ...

, two chamber

oratorio An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...

s, a

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. The meaning of ...

, a

Magnificat The Magnificat (Latin for "

y soul Y, or y, is the twenty-fifth and penultimate letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. According to some authorities, it is the sixth (or sevent ...

magnifies

he Lord He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

) is a canticle, also known as the Song of Mary, the Canticle of Mary and, in the Eastern Christianity, Byzantine tradition, the Ode of the Theotokos (). It is traditionally incorporated ...

, and other choral music. In particular he composed the

Psalm 129 Psalm 129 is the 129th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth". In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate, ...

, ''De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine'', for a seven-part mixed choir

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

(1951),a

Passion music In Christianity, the Passion (from the Latin verb ''patior, passus sum''; "to suffer, bear, endure", from which also "patience, patient", etc.) is the short final period in the life of Jesus Christ. Depending on one's views, the "Passion" m ...

''Ihr Töchter von Jerusalem, weinet nicht über mich'' in Latin and German for tenor, mixed choir and percussion (1973), and a Canticum Simeonis for mixed choir and flute (1976). Vogt's first opera, ''Die Stadt hinter dem Strom'', was originally written for radio and premiered on

Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (NWDR; ''Northwest German Broadcasting'') was the organization responsible for public broadcasting in the German Länder of Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia from 22 September 1945 to ...

and

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...

in 1952. Vogt later adapted the work for the stage, and as a live theatre piece the opera was first performed at the

Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden The Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden ('Hessian State Theatre Wiesbaden') is a German theatre located in Wiesbaden, in the German state Hesse. The company produces operas, plays, ballets, musicals and concerts on four stages. Known also as the ...

in 1955 as part of the

Internationale Maifestspiele Wiesbaden The Internationale Maifestspiele Wiesbaden (International May Festival, IMF) is a theater festival in Wiesbaden, Germany. Established in the late 19th century after the Bayreuth Festival, the festival is one of the most distinguished internationa ...

.Hans Vogt
operone.de For his operas, Vogt collaborated personally with the librettists, Hermann Kasack (Die Stadt hinter dem Strom) and Christopher Middleton (The Metropolitans).

Erich Fried Erich Fried (6 May 1921 – 22 November 1988) was an Austrian-born poet, writer, and translator. He initially became known to a broader public in both Germany and Austria for his political poetry, and later for his love poems. As a writer, he mo ...

, together with the composer, translated Middleton's English libretto into German. In an obituary for the publisher and musicologist Fritz Oeser that Vogt authored, the composer recalled how, during rehearsals for Die Stadt hinter dem Strom, Oeser had requested him to come to Wiesbaden to change the Chorprolog (choral prologue), also that Oeser missed a climax in a certain scene in act 3 and promised to pay for a change.Hans Vogt
Fritz Oeser
''Musica 36'', volume 2, p. 194-196, 1982, on fritz-oeser.de Kasack's libretto was published by

Suhrkamp Suhrkamp Verlag is a German publishing house, established in 1950 and generally acknowledged as one of the leading European publishers of fine literature. Its roots go back to the "arianized" part of the S. Fischer Verlag. In January 2010 the ...

in 1955. Vogt's opera ''Athenerkomödie'' (The Metropolitans) was premiered at the

Nationaltheater Mannheim The Mannheim National Theatre (german: Nationaltheater Mannheim) is a theatre and opera company in Mannheim, Germany, with a variety of performance spaces. It was founded in 1779 and is one of the oldest theatres in Germany. History In the 18 ...

in 1964, he revised it in 1967.Christopher Middleton
A Talk on Athenerkomödie
onlinelibrary.wiley.com 2007 Vogt composed secular vocal works inspired by poems of Hermann Kasack,

Christopher Fry Christopher Fry (18 December 1907 – 30 June 2005) was an English poet and playwright. He is best known for his verse dramas, especially ''The Lady's Not for Burning'', which made him a major force in theatre in the 1940s and 1950s. Biograph ...

W. H. Auden Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in ...

, T. S. Eliot, Gerard M. Hopkins,

Aesop's Fables Aesop's Fables, or the Aesopica, is a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and storyteller believed to have lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 564 BCE. Of diverse origins, the stories associated with his name have descended to ...

, poems of Christopher Middleton,

Gertrud Kolmar Gertrud Käthe Chodziesner (10 December 1894 – March 1943), known by the literary pseudonym Gertrud Kolmar, was a German lyric poet and writer. She was born in Berlin and was murdered, after her arrest and deportation as a Jew, in Auschwitz, a ...

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...

Eduard Mörike Eduard Friedrich Mörike (8 September 18044 June 1875) was a German Lutheran pastor who was also a Romantic poet and writer of novellas and novels. Many of his poems were set to music and became established folk songs, while others were used by ...

and

Gottfried Benn Gottfried Benn (2 May 1886 – 7 July 1956) was a German poet, essayist, and physician. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature five times. He was awarded the Georg Büchner Prize in 1951. Biography and work Family and beginnings Go ...

. Vogt's chamber music without keyboard includes a trio for flute, viola and harp (1951, revised 1989), a

string trio A string trio is a group of three string instruments or a piece written for such a group. From at least the 19th century on, the term "string trio" with otherwise unspecified instrumentation normally refers to the combination violin, viola and cell ...

, four

string quartet The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists ...

s, a

string quintet A string quintet is a musical composition for five string players. As an extension to the string quartet (two violins, a viola, and a cello), a string quintet includes a fifth string instrument, usually a second viola (a so-called "viola quintet" ...

, a

string sextet In classical music, a string sextet is a composition written for six string instruments, or a group of six musicians who perform such a composition. Most string sextets have been written for an ensemble consisting of two violins, two violas, and ...

, a

string octet A string octet is a piece of music written for eight string instruments, or sometimes the group of eight players. It usually consists of four violins, two violas and two cellos, or four violins, two violas, a cello and a double bass. Notable s ...

, duos for violin and double bass, violin and cello, violin and viola, cello and double bass, and music for solo instruments. With keyboard, he composed works for piano solo, piano four hands, two pianos, a

quintet A quintet is a group containing five members. It is commonly associated with musical groups, such as a string quintet, or a group of five singers, but can be applied to any situation where five similar or related objects are considered a single ...

for flute, oboe, violin, bassoon and harpsichord (1958), ''Konzertante Sonate für 17 Soloinstrumente'', a sonata concertante for 17 solo instruments (1959), ''Dialoge für Klavier, Violine und Violoncello'' (dialogues for

piano trio A piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, usually a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. It is one of the most common forms found in classical chamber music. The term can also refer to a group of musi ...

, 1960), and works with piano for solo instruments cello, violin and oboe. Vogt's music was published by

Breitkopf & Härtel Breitkopf & Härtel is the world's oldest music publishing house. The firm was founded in 1719 in Leipzig by Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf. The catalogue currently contains over 1,000 composers, 8,000 works and 15,000 music editions or books on ...

Bärenreiter Bärenreiter (Bärenreiter-Verlag) is a German classical music publishing house based in Kassel. The firm was founded by Karl Vötterle (1903–1975) in Augsburg in 1923, and moved to Kassel in 1927, where it still has its headquarters; it also ...

, and

Bote & Bock Bote & Bock is a German publishing house founded in Berlin in 1838 by Eduard Bote and Gustav Bock (1813-1863). The first Gustav Bock was a musically gifted publisher with an eye for opera. Eduard Bote withdrew from the business in 1847, after the ...

. He also published books, ''Neue Musik seit 1945'' (New Music since 1945), , and ''Johann Sebastian Bachs Kammermusik: Voraussetzungen, Analysen, Einzelwerke'' (Johann Sebastian Bach's chamber Music: background, analysis, works), Stuttgart 1981, . The latter was translated to English and published in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, in 1988, , and to Spanish, published in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

in 1993, . Vogt died in Metterich in 1992 at the age of 81.

Selected works

Opera

* '' Die Stadt hinter dem Strom'', Oratorische Oper (oratorio opera) in 3 acts, text by Hermann Kasack after his novel,

/Alkor, 1952 radio version, revised stage version 1955 * ''Athenerkomödie'' (The Metropolitans), Opera giocosa in one act, text after a fragment of Menander by Christopher Middleton, in German by Erich Fried and Hans Vogt, Bärenreiter/Alkor, 1962, revised version 1987

Orchestra

* ''Konzert für mehrchöriges Orchester'', concerto for orchestra in several choirs, Bärenreiter/Alkor, 1950 * ''Konzert für Klavier und Orchester'', piano concerto, Bärenreiter/Alkor, 1955 * ''Konzert für Orchester'', Bärenreiter/Alkor, 1960 * ''Strophen'' (Stanzas), orchestral and vocal on an

ode An ode (from grc, ᾠδή, ōdḗ) is a type of lyric poetry. Odes are elaborately structured poems praising or glorifying an event or individual, describing nature intellectually as well as emotionally. A classic ode is structured in three majo ...

, its composition by Petrus Tritonius (1507) and its German poetry by

for baritone and orchestra, Bärenreiter/Alkor, 1975 * ''Konzert für Violine und Orchester'', violin concerto,

, 1981 * ''Konzert für Violoncello und Orchester'', cello concerto, Bote & Bock, 1981 * ''Dona nobis pacem'', symphony in one movement, Bote & Bock, 1984 * ''Apreslude'', music for large orchestra, mezzo-soprano ad lib, in three movements after a poem of

, Bote & Bock, 1988

Sacred music

* ''De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine, Psalm 129 für gemischten Chor a capella'', Bärenreiter, 1951 * ''Historie der Verkündung'', chamber oratorio for three female voices, mixed choir and 13 instruments, Bärenreiter, 1955 * ''Ihr Töchter von Jerusalem, weinet nicht über mich'', Passion music for tenor, mixed choir and percussion, Bärenreiter, 1963 * ''Magnificat'' for soprano, mixed choir and orchestra, Bärenreiter/Alkor, 1966 * ''Requiem'' for soprano and bass, mixed choir and percussion,

, 1969 * ''Canticum Simeonis'' for mixed choir and flute, Bärenreiter, 1976 * ''Historie vom Propheten Jona'', chamber oratorio, after the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

and texts of

Hilde Domin Hilde Domin (27 July 1912 – 22 February 2006) is the pseudonym of Hilde Palm (née Löwenstein), a German lyric poet and writer. She was among the most important German-language poets of her time. Biography Domin was born in 1909 in Cologne as ...

for alto, tenor and 6 instruments, Bärenreiter, 1979 * ''Drei geistliche Gesänge'' after Baroque poetry for baritone and organ, Bärenreiter, 1981/83

References

Sources

* Fred K. Prieberg: Handbuch Deutsche Musiker 1933–1945, CD-Rom-Lexikon, Kiel 2004, p. 7.389–7.390 * Ernst Klee: Das Kulturlexikon zum Dritten Reich. Wer war was vor und nach 1945. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, {{DEFAULTSORT:Vogt, Hans 1911 births 1992 deaths German opera composers Male opera composers Composers for piano Musicians from Gdańsk People from West Prussia 20th-century classical composers German male classical composers 20th-century German composers 20th-century German male musicians