Siegfried Bimberg (5 May 1927 – 2 July 2008) was a German composer, conductor and
musicologist
Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some m ...
Life
Born in
Halle (Saale)
Halle (Saale), or simply Halle (; from the 15th to the 17th century: ''Hall in Sachsen''; until the beginning of the 20th century: ''Halle an der Saale'' ; from 1965 to 1995: ''Halle/Saale'') is the largest city of the German state of Saxony-An ...
, After his return from the war and captivity, Bimberg completed his pedagogical studies. After working briefly at a one-grade rural school, he studied psychology,
music education
Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as elementary or secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a research area in which scholars do origin ...
and
musicology at the
Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg
Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Halle and Wittenberg and the largest an ...
.
His teachers included among others
Max Schneider
Maxwell George Schneider (born June 21, 1992), also known by his mononym MAX, is an American singer-songwriter, actor and model, signed to Arista and Sony RED. In 2018, MAX's single " Lights Down Low" went double platinum in the US, Platinu ...
, Kurt Prautzsch and . In 1953, he was awarded a
doctorate
A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' ...
from
Fritz Reuter
Fritz Reuter (7 November 1810 – 12 July 1874; born as ''Heinrich Ludwig Christian Friedrich Reuter'') was a novelist from Northern Germany who was a prominent contributor to Low German literature.
Early life
Fritz Reuter was born at Stavenhagen ...
at the Faculty of Education with the dissertation ''Untersuchungen zur Hör- und Singfähigkeit in Dur und in Moll. Ein Beitrag zur Musiktheorie und zur Musikpsychologie''. In 1956, Bimberg won his
habilitation
Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including ...
with a thesis ''Über das Singen der Großterz aufwärts. Ein Beitrag zur Musikpsychologie und Musikästhetik auf der Grundlage elektro-optischer Untersuchungen''. At the same time, Bimberg worked as a publishing editor from 1953 to 1958.
In 1957, he took on a lectureship at the
Humboldt University of Berlin
The Humboldt University of Berlin (german: link=no, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public university, public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany.
The university was established ...
, but returned to Halle in 1962 to teach there, first as a lecturer and then, from 1964, as a professor at the Martin Luther University.
In the process, Bimberg held the chair of music education from 1969 until his retirement in 1992. His field, however, included
aesthetics of music and
music psychology
Music psychology, or the psychology of music, may be regarded as a branch of both psychology and musicology. It aims to explain and understand musical behaviour and experience, including the processes through which music is perceived, created, res ...
. In 1981 he habilitated again (''Kontrast als musikpädagogische Kategorie'').
Bimberg made a name for himself primarily through numerous youth and children's songs, choral works and children's operas and arrangements for choir. His ''Rodellied (Schneemann bau'n und Schneeballschlacht)''
was part of the standard repertoire in kindergartens and schools in the GDR and was extremely popular.
In 1963, he founded the
Chamber Choir A chamber choir is a small or medium-sized choir of roughly 8 to 40 singers (occasionally called 'chamber singers'), typically singing classical or religious music in a concert setting. (This is distinct from e.g. a church choir, which sings in ...
,
of which he was conductor until 1980. With this choir, he undertook an active concert career at home and abroad with both old and new choral music. In addition to record and CD productions and productions for radio and television, Bimberg also organised workshops, studios and courses for choral conductors.
In 1951, Bimberg founded his own system for
ear training
Ear training or aural skills is a music theory study in which musicians learn to identify pitches, intervals, melody, chords, rhythms, solfeges, and other basic elements of music, solely by hearing. The application of this skill is analogous t ...
, the basis of which is a relative-functional basis in close connection with absolute notation using the
jale syllables and
tonic-do hand signs.
In 1968, he was awarded the
Handel Prize
The Handel Prize (german: Händel-Preis) is an annual award, instituted in 1956, which is presented by the city of Halle, in Germany, in honour of the celebrated Baroque composer George Frideric Handel. It is awarded, "for exceptional artistic ...
of the Halle district.
Bimberg died in Halle at the age of 81.
Work
Source:
Cycles
* ''Wir spielen durch das Jahr'' (1957)
* ''Morgen kann die Welt schon brennen'' (1959)
* ''Legende von der Entstehung des Buches Taoteking auf dem Weg des Laotse in die Emigration'' (1959)
* ''Kantate vom Apfelbaum'' (1966)
* ''Daß im Herd die Glut uns kein Wind vertreibt'' (1972)
* ''Wir entdecken unser Land'' (1974)
* ''Rügen-Suite'' (with
Rolf Lukowsky
Rolf (Rudolf) Lukowsky (14 July 1926 – 25 July 2021) was a German composer and choral director.
Youth and education
Lukowsky's father Josef was organist and choirmaster at the Catholic . Already as a schoolboy, Lukowsky sang in the and in th ...
) (1978)
* ''Bilderbuchseiten'' (1979)
* ''Das Fest des Tannenbaums'' (1989)
* ''Die Rosen schlafen nicht'' (1990)
* ''Ohne Natur vergeht unser Leben'' (1997)
* ''Ruhrpottgedichte'' (1997)
* ''Vom Wind getragen'' (1997)
* ''Vier Sprüche, das Glück festzuhalten'' (1997)
* ''Verba nulla pretio emuntur'' (1998)
* ''Mit Degen und Fagott'' (2000)
* ''De amicitia'' (2000)
* ''Sonne, Mond und Sterne'' (2002)
* ''Pretzscher Spektakel'' (2002)
* ''Zwischen Nil und Ninive'' (2003)
Children Operas
* ''Das singende Pferdchen'' (1961)
* ''Eulenspiegels Brautfahrt'' (1987)
Other
* ''Es ist für uns eine Zeit angekommen'' (Satz)
* ''O Tannenbaum'' (Satz nach Volksweise)
* ''Still, still, still, weils Kindlein schlafen will'' (Satz)
Publications
Bimberg's writings include among others experimental-psychological works on tonality research, in which he deals with the equivalence of major and minor in music, on perception (law of "relative constancy") or on the relation of different acoustic tuning when singing intervals in
Gregorian and
harmonical orientation (law of "variable reagent"). In addition, he also dealt with music-aesthetic and music-pedagogical topics, such as for example the fundamentals of music reception (known as the position of the"Dialogischen Musikaneignung").
Source:
* ''Einführung in die Musikpsychologie'' (1957)
* ''Vom Singen zum Musikverstehen''.
''Vom Singen zum Musikverstehen''
on WorldCat (with F. Bachmann and Chr. Lange) (1957ff.)
* ''Methodisch-didaktische Grundlagen der Musikerziehung'' (1968, 1973)
* ''Handbuch der Musikästhetik'' (publisher and author) (1979ff.)
* ''Kontrast als musikästhetische Kategorie'' (1981)
* ''Handbuch der Chorleitung'' (publisher and author) (1981)
* ''Lieder lernen, Lieder singen'' (1981ff.)
* ''Ferruccio Busoni: Von der Macht der Töne'' (publisher) (1983)
* ''Musik – Erleben – Lernen'' (1995)
* ''Nachhall 1 und 2'' (1996)
* ''Musikwissenschaft und Musikpädagogik, Perspektiven für das 21.Jahrhundert'' (with Guido Bimberg) (1997)
* ''Lieder von Wende zu Wende, das deutsche Gemeinschaftslied im 20. Jahrhundert'' (1998)
Further reading
* Gabriele Sander: ''Siegfried Bimberg erinnert sich.'' Verlag Die Blaue Eule, Essen 2007, .
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bimberg, Siegfried
20th-century German composers
German choral conductors
20th-century German musicologists
Academic staff of the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg
Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin
Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze
1927 births
2008 deaths
Musicians from Halle (Saale)