Wolfgang Gönnenwein (29 January 1933 – 26 July 2015) was a German conductor and an academic teacher.

Biography

Born in Schwäbisch Hall, Wolfgang Gönnenwein studied music and

German studies German studies is an academic field that researches, documents and disseminates German language, literature, and culture in its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies therefore often focus on German culture, German h ...

at the

University of Heidelberg Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...

and the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (; ), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The University of Tübingen is one of eleven German Excellenc ...

. In 1959 he became the conductor of the choir (South German Madrigal Chorus). He also conducted the choir of the from 1969 until 1973.Wolfgang Gönnenwein
on the bach-cantatas website In 1968 he was appointed Professor for choral conducting at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart. In 1973 he was elected Rektor (president), serving until 1982. He also directed the

Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele The Ludwigsburg Festival (''Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele'', also ''Internationale Festspiele Baden-Württemberg'') is a culture festival with programs in music, dance, theatre and literature. The festival is held in Ludwigsburg annually between ...

until 2004. He was Generalintendant (General Manager) of the

Staatstheater Stuttgart The Staatstheater Stuttgart (Stuttgart State Theatre) is a theatre with three locations, Staatsoper Stuttgart, Oper Stuttgart (Opera Stuttgart), Stuttgart Ballet, Stuttgarter Ballett (Stuttgart Ballet), and Schauspiel Stuttgart (Stuttgart Drama ...

from 1985 to 1992. For

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

, Gönnenwein recorded many of Bach's sacred works, including the ''

St Matthew Passion The ''St Matthew Passion'' (), BWV 244, is a '' Passion'', a sacred oratorio written by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1727 for solo voices, double choir and double orchestra, with libretto by Picander. It sets the 26th and 27th chapters of th ...

'', as well as Haydn's

oratorio An oratorio () is a musical composition with dramatic or narrative text for choir, soloists and orchestra or other ensemble. Similar to opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguisha ...

s and Mozart's ''

Requiem A Requiem (Latin: ''rest'') or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead () or Mass of the dead (), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the souls of the deceased, using a particular form of the Roman Missal. It is ...

''. Gönnenwein died on 26 July 2015 at the age of 82.

References

External links

Wolfgang Gönnenwein
website

on the website of the Kölner Bach-Verein (in German)
Entries for Wolfgang Gönnenwein
on

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the O ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonnenwein, Wolfgang 1933 births 2015 deaths Bach conductors People from Schwäbisch Hall German choral conductors German male conductors (music) Academic staff of the University of Stuttgart Academic staff of the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart Recipients of the Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg German academics