Reinhold Zimmermann (11 August 1889 – 4 April 1956) was a German school headmaster, choir conductor and
musicologist.
Life
Born in
Aachen
Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...
, Zimmermann became a teacher in Aachen in 1910 and in 1941 he became elementary school headmaster there. In 1920, he became music editor of the magazine ''
Der Türmer
''Der Türmer. Monatsschrift für Gemüt und Geist'' was the name of a national conservative, Protestant cultural journal, which appeared first in Stuttgart and then in Berlin from 1898 to 1943 and was published for a long time by the Baltic G ...
'' and later wrote especially for the ''
Neue Zeitschrift für Musik''. From 1925 to 1939, he gave youth concerts in Aachen.
In his obituary about Zimmermann,
Hans Joachim Moser
Hans Joachim Moser (25 May 1889, Berlin''Die kleine Enzyklopädie'', Encyclios-Verlag, Zurich, 1950, Vol. 2, p. 202. – 14 August 1967, Berlin) was a German musicologist, composer and singer.
Moser was the son of the music-professor Andreas Mos ...
writes: "One of his favourite areas was the question of 'music and race', but he never went down the wrong path with his great knowledge of anthropological research. Like his friend Moser, however, Zimmermann was one of the most ardent advocates of
Nazi ideology, and as early as 1920 he stood out with
antisemitic
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
outbursts against the "spirit of internationalism in music". Already in 1923, he became a member of the
NSDAP and, in 1933, a member of the
National Socialist Teachers League. Later, he was a member of the "Fachschriftsteller für Musik und Rassenkunde" and, from 1936, a member of the
Office of Racial Policy. In 1942, he was - according to his own statement - expelled from the NSDAP,
[see Theodor Heuss, ''Hochverehrter Herr Bundespräsident! Der Briefwechsel mit der Bevölkerung 1949-1959'', edited by Wolfram Werner. Berlin 2010, ]
books.google.de
/ref> according to official documents, but only in 1944. The reasons are not known.
His research focused on Beethoven's adlatus Anton Schindler as well as César Franck and Anton 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 ...
. He possessed numerous letters from Beethoven to Schindler, which are now in the Beethoven House in Bonn.
Publications
* ''Die zweite deutsche Aufführung von Beethoven' Symphony No. 9 zu Aachen
Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...
am 23. Mai 1825''. In ''Neue Musik-Zeitung'', Jg. 42 (1921),
* '' Anton Schindlers Aufzeichnungen über die Leistungen der Orchester in Paris und Berlin''. In ''Das Orchester
''Das Orchester'' is a German-language magazine for musicians and management which has been published eleven times a year since 1953 by Schott Music and is distributed in over 45 countries worldwide. The editor-in-chief is based in Berlin while ...
. Halbmonatsschrift zur Förderung der Musik und des Musikerstandes'', Jg. 3 (1926), pp. 193f., 205f., 219f.
* ''A. Schindlers Verhältnis zu der Musik und den Musikern seiner Zeit, auf Grund von Schindlers Tagebuchaufzeichnungen''. In ''Neue Musik-Zeitung'', Jg. 47 (1926),
* ''Anton Schindler (1795–1864), ein Leben für Beethoven''. In ''Beethoven-Almanach der Deutschen Musikbücherei auf das Jahr 1927'', Regensburg 1927,
* ''Eine "Aesthetik der Tonkunst" von Anton Schindler''. In ''Allgemeine Musikzeitung'', Jg. 57 (1930), (Über ein Vorlesungsbuch Schindlers von 1846)
* ''Ein neuer Beethovenfund in Anton Schindlers Nachlass''. In ''Die Musik'', Jg. 23.1, March 1931, , (Ein unbekanntes Konversationsheft Beethovens)
* ''Anmerkungen zu Clauß "Rasse und Charakter"''. In ''Die Sonne. Zeitschrift für nordische Weltanschauung'', Jg. 13 (1936), issue 4,
* ''Rasse und Rhythmus''. In ''Die Sonne. Zeitschrift für nordische Weltanschauung'', Jg. 13 (1936), issue 9,
* ''Ein Wort für César Franck''. In ''Zeitschrift für Musik'', Jg. 105 (1938), pp 71f.
* ''Um Anton 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 ...
s Vermächtnis. Ein Beitrag zur rassischen Erkenntnis germanischer Tonkunst''. Stuttgart 1939
* '' Anton Reicha. Der deutsche Lehrer Cäsar Francks in Paris''. In ''Die Musik'', Jg. 33 (1940/41),
* ''Cäsar Franck. Ein deutscher Musiker in Paris''. Heimat-Verlag, Aachen 1942
Further reading
* Hans Joachim Moser
Hans Joachim Moser (25 May 1889, Berlin''Die kleine Enzyklopädie'', Encyclios-Verlag, Zurich, 1950, Vol. 2, p. 202. – 14 August 1967, Berlin) was a German musicologist, composer and singer.
Moser was the son of the music-professor Andreas Mos ...
: ''Reinhold Zimmermann'' (Nachruf). In ''Musica'', Jg. 10, issue 6, June 1956, pp. 412 f.
* Fred K. Prieberg Fred K. Prieberg (3 June 1928 in Berlin – 28 March 2010 in Neuried) was a German musicologist. He was a pioneer in the field of history of music and musicians under the Nazi regime.
Works Independent publications
* ''Musik unterm Strich. Pano ...
: ''Musik im NS-Staat'', Frankfurt, 1982,
books.google.com
* Hans-Christian Harten, Uwe Neirich, Matthias Schwerendt: ''Rassenhygiene als Erziehungsideologie des Dritten Reichs. Bio-bibliographisches Handbuch''. Berlin 2006, p. 497 f.
books.google.com
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zimmermann, Reinhold
20th-century German musicologists
Beethoven scholars
Nazi propagandists
Nazi Party members
1889 births
1956 deaths
People from Aachen