Wilhelm Petersen (15 March 1890 – 18 December 1957) was a German composer and conductor. He was born in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

and spent his childhood in

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...

. From 1908 to 1913 he studied in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

with

Friedrich Klose Friedrich Klose (born 29 November 1862 in Karlsruhe, Germany; died 24 December 1942 in Ruvigliana, Switzerland) was a German composer. He studied with Vinzenz Lachner in Karlsruhe, and then with Anton Bruckner in Vienna, and recorded his impression ...

Felix Mottl right Felix Josef von Mottl (between 29 July/29 August 1856 – 2 July 1911) was an Austrian conductor and composer. He was regarded as one of the most brilliant conductors of his day. He composed three operas, of which ''Agnes Bernauer'' (Weima ...

and Rudolf Louis. In addition to music he wrote lyric and dramatic poetry and was on the fringes of the circle around Stefan George. Petersen was an apprentice conductor in Lübeck under Wilhelm Furtwängler in 1913-14; at the end of the First World War he was active as a writer in the

Expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

movement in Munich but from 1919 devoted himself entirely to music. His early music is described as radically Expressionistic, but in the 1920s he progressively clarified his style, arriving at a monumental tonal style typified by his ''Grosse Messe'', op. 27 of 1928-9, premiered in 1930 in Dartmstadt under

Karl Böhm Karl August Leopold Böhm (28 August 1894 – 14 August 1981) was an Austrian conductor. He was best known for his performances of the music of Mozart, Wagner, and Richard Strauss. Life and career Education Karl Böhm was born in Graz. T ...

. From 1927 he was a lecturer in the Music Academy at Darmstadt, and in 1934 became professor of music in

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...

. He died in Darmstadt. Petersen's works include five symphonies, concertos, works for string orchestra, choral and chamber music, and the opera ''Der goldene Topf'', premiered in Mannheim in 1941.

Sources

* Booklet for Wergo WER 6213-2 (recording of Petersen's ''Grosse Messe') {{DEFAULTSORT:Petersen, Wilhelm 1890 births 1957 deaths Musicians from Athens Anthroposophists University of Music and Performing Arts Munich alumni 20th-century German composers