Otto Frickhoeffer (29 March 1892 – 9 April 1968) was a German composer and conductor.

Life

Born in

Bad Schwalbach Bad Schwalbach (called Langenschwalbach until 1927) is the district seat of Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. Geography Geographic location Bad Schwalbach is a spa town some 20 km northwest of Wiesbaden. It lies at 289 to 465&nbs ...

as the son of a medical officer, Frickhoeffer wanted to become a musician. Since the father insisted on studying medicine, Frickhoeffer enrolled at the

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...

. In the summer semester of 1911 he became active in the Corps Brunsviga Munich. As he changed to the

Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...

. Only when he had passed the there did his parents agree to a career as a pianist. The First World War interrupted the hopeful beginning. Not fully fit for service at the Western Front, he was used during his medical training to take care of wounded transports. When the war ended, his hands were no longer suitable for playing the piano. One way out was to study

musical composition Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called ...

and

conducting Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as an orchestral or choral concert. It has been defined as "the art of directing the simultaneous performance of several players or singers by the use of gesture." The primary duti ...

. From 1918 Frickhoeffer lived in Berlin as a singing teacher and composer.

Ernst Klee Ernst Klee (15 March 1942, Frankfurt – 18 May 2013, Frankfurt) was a German journalist and author. As a writer on Germany's history, he was best known for his exposure and documentation of medical crimes in Nazi Germany, much of which was concer ...

quotes from the Nazi reference work '' Das Deutsche Führerlexikon'' as having been involved in Frickhoeffer's political activities with the

Alldeutscher Verband The Pan-German League (german: Alldeutscher Verband) was a Pan-German nationalist organization which was officially founded in 1891, a year after the Zanzibar Treaty was signed. Primarily dedicated to the German Question of the time, it held pos ...

and the

Citizens' Defense The ''Einwohnerwehr'', or "Citizens' Defense," also called the Civil Guard or Civil Defense, was a far-right paramilitary in Weimar Germany that existed in violation of the Treaty of Versailles from the German Revolution of 1918-19 until June 29, ...

after the First World War and was later a member of 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 ...

. In addition, he was head of the

Kampfbund für deutsche Kultur The ''Kampfbund'' ("Battle-league") was a league of nationalist fighting societies and the German National Socialist party in Bavaria, Germany, in the 1920s. It included Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party (NSDAP) and its '' Sturmabteilung'' (SA), the Oberl ...

(KfdK). In 1933 he took part in the festival ''Young Germany in Music'', which was organised by the Kampfbund für deutsche Kultur in

Bad Pyrmont Bad Pyrmont (, also: ; West Low German: ) is a town in the district of Hamelin-Pyrmont, in Lower Saxony, Germany, with a population close to 19,000. It is located on the river Emmer, about west of the Weser. Bad Pyrmont is a popular spa resort ...

. From 1934 to 1936 he worked as conductor for the

Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft The Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft (RRG; ''Reich Broadcasting Corporation'') was a national network of German regional public radio and television broadcasting companies active from 1925 until 1945. RRG's broadcasts were receivable in all parts o ...

. The NSDAP sent him to the Reichssender Frankfurt as musical special representative. After

Gleichschaltung The Nazi term () or "coordination" was the process of Nazification by which Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party successively established a system of totalitarian control and coordination over all aspects of German society and societies occupied b ...

, he was to support the political course by means of radio music. Works by German composers –

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped with ...

Bruckner Josef Anton Bruckner (; 4 September 182411 October 1896) was an Austrian composer, organist, and music theorist best known for his symphonies, masses, Te Deum and motets. The first are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-Germ ...

und

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

were requested. At the end of 1937 he became first Kapellmeister of the

hr-Sinfonieorchester The Frankfurt Radio Symphony (german: hr-Sinfonieorchester) is the radio orchestra of Hessischer Rundfunk, the public broadcasting network of the German state of Hesse. From 1929 to 1950 it was named ''Frankfurter Rundfunk-Symphonie-Orchester''. F ...

. Then he followed

Hans Rosbaud Hans Rosbaud (22 July 1895 – 29 December 1962) was an Austrian conductor, particularly associated with the music of the twentieth century. Biography Rosbaud was born in Graz. As children, he and his brother Paul Rosbaud performed with their ...

as chief conductor and head of the music department of the radio station from which the

Hessischer Rundfunk Hessischer Rundfunk (HR; "Hesse Broadcasting") is the German state of Hesse's public broadcasting, public broadcasting corporation. Headquartered in Frankfurt, it is a member of the national consortium of German public broadcasting corporations, ...

emerged in 1945. In the post-war period in Germany, marginalized and not robustly inclined from the outset, Frickhoeffer had to endure difficult years. Paralysed by a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

, he was bedridden from 1960 onwards. He died shortly after his 76th birthday in a Schwalbach nursing home.

Literature

: ''Das Kulturlexikon zum Dritten Reich. Wer war was vor und nach 1945.''''Das Kulturlexikon zum Dritten Reich. Wer war was vor und nach 1945.''
/ref> S. Fischer, Frankfurt, 2007, .

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Frickhoeffer, Otto 1892 births 1968 deaths People from Bad Schwalbach 20th-century German composers German conductors (music) Corps students Nazi Party members Hessischer Rundfunk people Militant League for German Culture members Alldeutscher Verband members German people of World War I