Oskar Böhme (February 24, 1870 – October 3, 1938) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

er.

Life

Oskar Böhme, a son of Wilhelm Böhme, also a trumpeter, was born in Potschappel, a small town near

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, which is now part of

Freital Freital is a town in the district of Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge in Saxony, Germany. The town is situated on a small river, the Weißeritz, and is southwest of Dresden. Geography Freital is located southwest of Dresden in the Döhlen Ba ...

. For much of his early career, after studying trumpet and composition in the Leipzig Conservatory of Music until graduating in 1888, it is unknown what Böhme's musical activities were, though it is probable he concertized, playing in smaller orchestras around Germany. From 1894-1896 he played in the Budapest Opera Orchestra and then moved to

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, in 1897. Böhme played cornet for 24 years in the

Mariinsky Theatre The Mariinsky Theatre (, also transcribed as Maryinsky or Mariyinsky) is a historic opera house in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music theatre of late 19th-century Russia, where many of the stage masterpieces ...

, turned to teaching at a music school on

Vasilievsky Island Vasilyevsky Island (, Vasilyevsky Ostrov, V.O.) is an island in St. Petersburg, Russia, bordered by the Bolshaya Neva and Malaya Neva Rivers (in the delta of the Neva River) in the south and northeast, and by Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finl ...

in St. Petersburg for nine further years, and at the Central Music College on Mokhovaya Street, from 1921-1930, and then returned to opera with the Leningrad Drama Theatre until 1934. All his life in St. Petersburg, he lived on

, 3rd line, 26 In 1934, however, the

Great Terror The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the assassination of Sergei Kirov by Leonid Nikolaev ...

began under

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

and in 1936 a committee was established to oversee the arts in Soviet Russia. According to Russia's anti-foreign policies, Böhme was exiled to

Orenburg Orenburg (, ), formerly known as Chkalov (1938–1957), is the administrative center of Orenburg Oblast, Russia. It lies in Eastern Europe, along the banks of the Ural River, being approximately southeast of Moscow. Orenburg is close to the ...

on account of his German heritage. On October 3, 1938 he was sentenced to death and executed by shooting the same day.

Music

Böhme composed 46 known works, of which his ''Trompetensextett'' in

E-flat minor E-flat minor is a minor scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature consists of six flats. Its relative key is G-flat major (or enharmonically F-sharp major) and its parallel key is E-flat major. ...

for brass

sextet A sextet (or hexad) is a formation containing exactly six members. The former term is commonly associated with vocal ensembles (e.g. The King's Singers, Affabre Concinui) or musical instrument groups, but can be applied to any situation where six ...

and ''Trumpet Concerto'' (Op. 18) are the best known. He wrote in the Romantic style, primarily works for trumpet and

brass instruments A brass instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips. The term ''labrosone'', from Latin elements meaning "lip" and "sound", ...

in general. While, as a consequence of his exile, his works were neglected during the Stalinist era, Böhme is increasingly being rediscovered.

References

Biography of Böhme and his brother

Details regarding Böhme's death
(outdatd information)

External links

* *

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bohme, Oskar 1870 births 1938 deaths Cornetists German composers German classical trumpeters Emigrants from the German Empire to the Russian Empire German male trumpeters People from Freital Musicians from the Kingdom of Saxony University of Music and Theatre Leipzig alumni Great Purge victims from Germany