Kurt-Heinz Stolze (26 January 192612 August 1970) was a German pianist, harpsichordist and composer. He was born in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. He studied piano, organ and conducting at the Hamburg Conservatory with

Wilhelm Brückner-Rüggeberg Wilhelm Brückner-Rüggeberg (15 April 1906, in Stuttgart – 1 April 1985, in Hamburg) was a German conductor. He began his career in Munich as an assistant to Hans Knappertsbusch at the Bavarian State Opera. After several appointments in Essen, ...

. His first engagement was as repetiteur at the Royal Opera, Copenhagen. In 1957 he joined the Württemberg State Theatre in Stuttgart. That year he accompanied Fritz Wunderlich on his recording of Franz Schubert’s ''Die schöne Müllerin''. He can also be heard as one of the harpsichordists on a recording of concertos for three and four harpsichords by Johann Sebastian Bach, conducted by Gunther Kehr. Thereafter, he focussed mainly on ballet, and worked principally with John Cranko. Kurt-Heinz Stolze composed or arranged the music for Cranko’s ballets ''Wir reisen nach Jerusalem'' (1963), ''L’Estro Armonico'' (1963, after Antonio Vivaldi), ''The Taming of the Shrew (ballet), The Taming of the Shrew'' (''Der widerspenstigen Zähmung'') (1969; to the William Shakespeare, Shakespeare story; music based on sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti), and ''Kyrie eleison'' (1968; based on music by Bach). However, he is perhaps best known for the ballet ''Onegin (Cranko), Onegin'' (1965), based on Alexander Pushkin's verse play'' Eugene Onegin'', for which Stolze used the music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Tchaikovsky, but not a note from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin (opera), opera of the same name. Instead, he orchestrated some little-known piano works by Tchaikovsky such as ''The Seasons (Tchaikovsky), The Seasons'', along with themes from the opera ''Cherevichki'' and the latter part of the symphonic fantasia ''Francesca da Rimini (Tchaikovsky), Francesca da Rimini''. He also produced Cranko’s ''Swan Lake'' and ''Les Sylphides'' and worked in radio and cinema. In 1968 he appeared as harpsichordist with the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra conducted by Jörg Faerber in the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London.Arts and Humanities Research Council – Concert Programs
/ref> He died in Munich in August 1970, aged 44.

Notes

Sources

Kurt-Heinz Stolze: Sa biographie
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stolze, Kurt-Heinz 1926 births 1970 deaths German classical composers German classical pianists Male classical pianists German harpsichordists 20th-century classical composers Musicians from Hamburg 20th-century classical pianists German male classical composers 20th-century German composers German pianists German male pianists 20th-century German male musicians