Ludwig Hoelscher (23 August 19078 May 1996) was a German cellist. He played internationally as a soloist, and was well known as a chamber musician, first playing from 1932 in
Elly Ney
Elly Ney (27 September 1882 – 31 March 1968) was a German romantic pianist who specialized in Beethoven, and was especially popular in Germany.
Career
She was born in Düsseldorf, where her mother was a music instructor and her father was a r ...
's piano trio, then in the
Strub Quartet and other formations. He was an important cellist of the Nazi era, playing in propaganda concerts and teaching in Berlin and Salzburg. After the World War, he taught at the
Musikhochschule Stuttgart
The State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart is a professional school for musicians and performing artists in Stuttgart, Germany. Founded in 1857, it is one of the oldest schools of its kind in Germany.
History
The school was f ...
and played internationally. He played the world premieres of more than 50 compositions.
Life
Born in
Solingen
Solingen (; li, Solich) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located some 25 km east of Düsseldorf along the northern edge of the region called Bergisches Land, south of the Ruhr area, and, with a 2009 population of 161,366 ...
, Hoelscher was the youngest of three children of a jeweller and amateur violinist, who wanted to form a family string quartet.
[Sabine Fringes]
Romantiker mit Ausdruckskraft / Vor 100 Jahren wurde der Cellist Ludwig Hoelscher geboren
(in German) Deutschlandfunk, 23 August 2007 Ludwig began playing the cello at age six. From the age of nine he gained experience in domestic
chamber music.
Hoelscher studied cello in Cologne, Munich, with
Julius Klengel
Julius Klengel (24 September 1859 – 27 October 1933) was a German cellist who is most famous for his études and solo pieces written for the instrument. He was the brother of Paul Klengel. A member of the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig at f ...
in Leipzig and with
Hugo Becker
Hugo Becker (born Jean Otto Eric Hugo Becker, 13 February 1863, died 30 July 1941) was a prominent German cellist, cello teacher, and composer. He studied at a young age with Alfredo Piatti, and later Friedrich Grützmacher in Dresden.
Biograp ...
in Berlin. He completed his studies with Wilhelm Lamping.
[Ludwig Hoelscher / deutscher Cellist und Musikpädagoge; Prof.](_blank)
Munzinger 1996 In 1930 he received the highest recognition for music students.
Hoelscher made his debut as a soloist in 1931 with the
Berliner Philharmoniker
The Berlin Philharmonic (german: Berliner Philharmoniker, links=no, italic=no) is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world.
History
The Berlin Philharmonic was fo ...
conducted by
Max Fiedler
Max Fiedler (21 December 1859, Zittau – 1 December 1939, Stockholm) was a German conductor and composer, born August Max Fiedler in Zittau, Saxony, Germany. He was especially noted as an interpreter of Brahms.
He first studied the piano ...
. His career began with meeting the pianist
Elly Ney
Elly Ney (27 September 1882 – 31 March 1968) was a German romantic pianist who specialized in Beethoven, and was especially popular in Germany.
Career
She was born in Düsseldorf, where her mother was a music instructor and her father was a r ...
, who founded the Elly Ney Piano Trio in 1932 with him and violinist
Wilhelm Stross.
Theodor Hausmann
Theodor Hausmann (9 December 1880 – 19 June 1972) was a German composer.
Life
Born in Elberfeld, Hausmann showed musical talent at the piano as a child. His strict Calvinist father, however, did not tolerate the performance of secular works an ...
dedicated his 1935 cello sonata, Op. 30, to Hoelscher and performed it with him. From 1934 to 1938, Hoelscher was the cellist of the
Strub Quartet in Berlin.
Career for Nazi propaganda
Hoelscher was one of the most important musicians of the Nazi era, which is reflected in his inclusion in the
''Gottbegnadeten'' list, published in August 1944, which set him free him from military service.
[Ernst Klee: ''Das Kulturlexikon zum Dritten Reich. Wer war was vor und nach 1945.'' S. Fischer, Frankfurt 2007.]
On 1 May 1937, Hoelscher became a member of the
National Socialist German Workers' Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported th ...
(membership number 5.156.776).
[Prieberg: ''Handbuch Deutsche Musiker 1933–1945''.] Since 1 April 1937, the 29-year-old was a professor at the
Berlin University of the Arts
The Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK; also known in English as the Berlin University of the Arts), situated in Berlin, Germany, is the largest art school in Europe. It is a public art and design school, and one of the four research universit ...
. On 29 May 1938, he was soloist in the final concert of the first
Reichsmusiktage in Düsseldorf, where the Nazi propaganda exhibition on
degenerate music
Degenerate music (german: Entartete Musik, link=no, ) was a label applied in the 1930s by the government of Nazi Germany to certain forms of music that it considered harmful or decadent. The Nazi government's concerns about degenerate music were a ...
was also shown. In the same year, Hoelscher performed at the Beethoven Days of the
Hitlerjugend
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 ...
in Wildbad and at the cultural-political work camp 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 ...
in Weimar and played for the "Lichtfest" in front of the staff of four industrial companies.
[Manuela Warkocz]
Umstrittener Tutzinger Cellist Ludwig Hoelscher:Nachlass geht an die Staatsbibliothek
(in German) '' Süddeutsche Zeitung'' 22 July 2019
From 1938 Hoelscher also worked as professor at the
Mozarteum
Mozarteum University Salzburg (German: ''Universität Mozarteum Salzburg'') is one of three affiliated but separate (it is actually a state university) entities under the “Mozarteum” moniker in Salzburg municipality; the International Mo ...
in Salzburg.
For the purpose of "cultural propaganda", he performed in 1942 in occupied Belgium at travelling concerts for the
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...
in Antwerp, Ghent, Mechelen, Leuven, Lier and St. Niklaas. These concerts were repeated in 1943, with additional performances in Bucharest, Lemberg, Lublin and Warsaw.
Only a few months before the end of the war, on 2 December 1944, he performed in Krakow with the Philharmonie des Generalgouvernements, an orchestra of Polish players founded by
Hans Frank
Hans Michael Frank (23 May 1900 – 16 October 1946) was a German politician and lawyer who served as head of the General Government in Nazi-occupied Poland during the Second World War.
Frank was an early member of the German Workers' Party ...
for propaganda purposes. Frank noted in his diary: "Krakow concert with Prof. Hoelscher".
This concert, conducted by
Hans Swarowsky, featured the premiere of
Pfitzner's ''Krakauer Begrüßung'', dedicated to Hans Frank.
Career in post-war Germany
Despite membership in various Nazi organisations, besides the party also the
Reichskolonialbund and the ,
Hoelscher could continue his career after the Second World War. From 1954 to 1972, he was a professor at the
Musikhochschule Stuttgart
The State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart is a professional school for musicians and performing artists in Stuttgart, Germany. Founded in 1857, it is one of the oldest schools of its kind in Germany.
History
The school was f ...
.
Numerous concert tours took him around the world,
including the first trip to Japan in 1953, where he became an honorary member of the Ueno University of Tokyo. Among many awards, he also received the honorary membership of the
Beethoven House in Bonn.
Hoelscher formed a piano trio with
Walter Gieseking
Walter Wilhelm Gieseking (5 November 1895 – 26 October 1956) was a French-born German pianist and composer. Gieseking was renowned for his subtle touch, pedaling, and dynamic control—particularly in the music of Debussy and Ravel; he made int ...
and
Gerhard Taschner.
He played chamber music also with
Hans Richter-Haaser
Hans Richter-Haaser (6 January 191213 December 1980) was a noted German classical pianist, who was known for his interpretations of Beethoven, Schubert and Schumann. He was also a teacher, a conductor, and a composer.
Hans Richter-Haaser was born ...
,
Wilhelm Kempff
Wilhelm Walter Friedrich Kempff (25 November 1895 – 23 May 1991) was a German pianist and composer. Although his repertoire included Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and Brahms, Kempff was particularly well known for his interpretations ...
,
Wilhelm Keilmann,
Carl Seemann,
Adrian Aeschbacher
Adrian Aeschbacher (10 May 1912 in Langenthal, Switzerland – 9 November 2002 in Zurich) was a Swiss classical pianist.
His father was Carl Aeschbacher. His youth was spent at Trogen where his father was professor of piano at the Conserva ...
and
Kurt Rapf.
He premiered over 50 works, including compositions by
Wolfgang Fortner
Wolfgang Fortner (12 October 1907 – 5 September 1987) was a German composer, composition teacher and conductor.
Life
Fortner was born in Leipzig. From his parents, who were both singers, Fortner very early on had intense contact with music.
...
,
Hans Werner Henze
Hans Werner Henze (1 July 1926 – 27 October 2012) was a German composer. His large oeuvre of works is extremely varied in style, having been influenced by serialism, atonality, Stravinsky, Italian music, Arabic music and jazz, as well as ...
,
Ernst Krenek
Ernst Heinrich Krenek (, 23 August 1900 – 22 December 1991) was an Austrian, later American, composer of Czech origin. He explored atonality and other modern styles and wrote a number of books, including ''Music Here and Now'' (1939), a study ...
, Pfitzner,
Günter Bialas
Günter Bialas (19 July 1907 – 8 July 1995) was a German composer.
Life
Bialas was born in Bielschowitz (today Bielszowice, a subdivision of Ruda Śląska) in Prussian Silesia. His father was the business manager of a German theatre, and hi ...
,
Harald Genzmer,
Martin Karl Hasse,
Karl Höller
Karl Höller (25 July 1907 – 14 April 1987) was a German composer of the late Romantic tradition.
Biography
Karl Höller was born in Bamberg, Bavaria. He came from a musical family on both sides: his father Valentin Höller was the Bamberg Cath ...
,
Peter Jona Korn,
Casimir von Pászthory,
Joseph Rheinberger,
Heinrich Sutermeister
Heinrich Sutermeister (12 August 1910 – 16 March 1995) was a Swiss composer, most famous for his opera '' Romeo und Julia''.
Life and career
Sutermeister was born in Feuerthalen. During the early 1930s he was a student at the Akademie der T ...
and
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari (born Ermanno Wolf) (January 12, 1876 – January 21, 1948) was an Italian composer and teacher. He is best known for his comic operas such as '' Il segreto di Susanna'' (1909). A number of his works were based on plays ...
.
[Ludwig Hoelscher](_blank)
Mozarteum
Mozarteum University Salzburg (German: ''Universität Mozarteum Salzburg'') is one of three affiliated but separate (it is actually a state university) entities under the “Mozarteum” moniker in Salzburg municipality; the International Mo ...
He also played German premieres of works by
Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ' ...
.
He made numerous recordings, some of which have also been released as CDs (Bayer Records;
Hänssler Verlag; forgotten-records, France).
Hoelscher died in
Tutzing
Tutzing is a municipality in the district of Starnberg in Bavaria, Germany, on the west bank of the Starnberger See. Just 40 km south-west of Munich and with good views of the Alps, the town was traditionally a favorite vacation spot for thos ...
at the age of 88.
Further reading
*
Erich Valentin: ''Cello, das Instrument und sein Meister Ludwig Hoelscher''. Neske, Pfullingen 1955.
* Max Kaindl-Hönig: ''Ludwig Hoelscher'' (Die großen Interpreten). Kister, Genf 1964.
*
Wolf-Eberhard von Lewinski
Wolf-Eberhard Georg Felix von Lewinski (2 June 1927 – 23 March 2003) was a German music and theatre critic. He studied violin, piano, trombone, conducting, theatre and opera direction, but turned to musical criticism early. He was chief critic ...
: ''Ludwig Hoelscher''. Schneider, Tutzing 1967.
* Hans Schneider (ed.): ''Ludwig Hoelscher zum 75. Geburtstag''. Schneider, Tutzing 1982.
*
Fred K. Prieberg: ''Handbuch Deutsche Musiker 1933–1945''. CD-ROM-Lexikon. Kiel 2004.
* Ernst Klee: ''Das Kulturlexikon zum Dritten Reich. Wer war was vor und nach 1945.''
''Das Kulturlexikon zum Dritten Reich. Wer war was vor und nach 1945.''
on WorldCat S. Fischer, Frankfurt 2007, .
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoelscher, Ludwig
1907 births
1996 deaths
People from Solingen
German classical cellists
Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Academic staff of the Berlin University of the Arts
Academic staff of Mozarteum University Salzburg
Nazi Party members
20th-century classical musicians
20th-century cellists