Heinrich Arnold Theodor Spitta (19 March 1902 – 23 June 1972) was a German

music educator Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as elementary or secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a research area in which scholars do original ...

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

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

Life

Born in

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 ...

, Spitta came from a family of musicians and theologians. His father was the theologian

Friedrich Spitta Friedrich Spitta (11 January 1852 – 7 June 1924) was a German Protestant theologian. Biography Spitta was born at Wittingen, Lower Saxony, the son of German hymn writer Karl Johann Philipp Spitta and brother of Philipp (music historian ...

and his uncle the musicologist and Bach biographer

Philipp Spitta Julius August Philipp Spitta (27 December 1841 – 13 April 1894) was a German music historian and musicologist best known for his 1873 biography of Johann Sebastian Bach. Life He was born in , near Hoya, and his father, also called Phil ...

. Spitta studied with

Arnold Mendelssohn Bust of Arnold Mendelssohn, at the Holy Trinity Community Cemetery, Berlin Arnold Ludwig Mendelssohn (26 December 1855 – 18 February 1933), was a German composer and music teacher. He was born in Ratibor, Province of Silesia; the son of Feli ...

and

Hermann Grabner Hermann Grabner (12 May 1886 – 3 July 1969) was an Austrian composer and music teacher. Career Grabner was born in Graz. He studied law at the University of Graz graduating in 1909. In parallel, he studied music with Leopold Suchsland un ...

and was awarded a doctorate in 1927 at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen with a dissertation about

Heinrich Schütz Heinrich Schütz (; 6 November 1672) was a German early Baroque composer and organist, generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach, as well as one of the most important composers of the 17th century. He ...

. In 1933, Spitta taught as a teacher at the Academy for Church and School Music in Berlin and was at the same time appointed to the cultural office of the

Reichsjugendführer ''Reichsjugendführer'' ("National Youth Leader") was the highest paramilitary rank of the Hitler Youth. On 30 October 1931, Hitler appointed Baldur von Schirach as the Reich Youth Leader of the Nazi Party. In 1933, after the Nazi seizure of st ...

. He mainly composed choral works which were used in the celebrations of the

Hitler Youth The Hitler Youth (german: Hitlerjugend , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. ...

(e.g. ''Heilig Vaterland,'' 1934; ''Jahr überm Pflug,'' 1936). Due to this activity, he was partly included in the and

Gottbegnadeten list The ''Gottbegnadeten-Liste'' ("God-gifted list" or "Important Artist Exempt List") was a 36-page list of artists considered crucial to Nazi culture. The list was assembled in September 1944 by Joseph Goebbels, the head of the Ministry of Publi ...

during the war. From 1950 Spitta taught at the

Leuphana University of Lüneburg Leuphana University Lüneburg is a public university in Lüneburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Leuphana was founded in 1946 as a college of education (''Pädagogische Hochschule''). Leuphana established a unique university model within the German acad ...

, from 1957 as a professor. He retired in 1967. He died in

Lüneburg Lüneburg (officially the ''Hanseatic City of Lüneburg'', German: ''Hansestadt Lüneburg'', , Low German ''Lümborg'', Latin ''Luneburgum'' or ''Lunaburgum'', Old High German ''Luneburc'', Old Saxon ''Hliuni'', Polabian ''Glain''), also calle ...

at 70.

Publications

* ''Heinrich Schuetz’ Orchester- und unveröffentlichte Werke''. Göttingen 1927.

Sources

* Fred K. Prieberg: ''Handbuch Deutsche Musiker 1933–1945'',''Handbuch Deutsche Musiker 1933–1945''
on WWU Munster CD-Rom-Lexikon, Kiel 2004, p. 6720–6746.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spitta, Heinrich 20th-century German composers 1902 births 1972 deaths Musicians from Strasbourg Academic staff of Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin