Frommel, Gerhard
(b Heidelberg, 7 Aug 1906; d Filderstadt, 22 June 1984). German composer and teacher. In his youth he studied the violin and the piano; he also studied composition with Hermann Grabner. Frommel followed Grabner to Leipzig for further study at the conservatory (1923–5), after which he attended Pfitzner’s masterclasses at the Preussische Akademie der Künste in Berlin. In 1929 he began teaching theory and composition at the Folkwang-Schule in Essen, and from 1933 to 1944 he was on the staff of the Frankfurt Musikhochschule. During the Third Reich, Frommel established the Arbeitskreis für Neue Musik in Frankfurt; it promoted music by Stravinsky, Bartók and Honegger at a time when such composers were denounced by certain sections of the Nazi musical hierarchy. His position was much enhanced after Furtwängler championed his First Symphony in the late 1930s, and Pfitzner also worked actively to advance the work of his pupil. After the war Frommel taught in Trossingen, Heidelberg and Stuttgart, settling once more in Frankfurt in 1956, where he was made professor at the Hochschule für Musik in 1960. Despite his grounding in traditional German music as represented by his teacher Pfitzner, Frommel has to some extent tempered his works with elements of Mediterranean and Asian cultures. His Caprichos for piano (1939), for example, were inspired by Goya’s painting Los caprichos, while the Piano Sonata no.6 (1956–67) was based on Japanese scales. His secular choral cantata Herbstfeier (1932) is not unlike Carl Orff’s Carmina burana in its neo-primitive style. In the post-war era, Frommel never abandoned conventional tonality, unlike a number of his contemporaries. His productivity suffered during the latter part of his career, but he continued to exercise a positive influence on a younger generation of German composers.
WORKS
(selective list)
-
Orch: Variationen über ein eigenes Thema, op.7, 1931; Conc., b, op.9, pf, cl, str, 1934; Suite, op.11, chbr orch, 1935, Der Gott und die Bajadere, ballet after J.W. von Goethe, op.12, 1937; Sym. no.1, E, op.13, 1937–9; Sym. Bläsermusik, op.19, wind orch, 1943, rev. 1965; Sym. Prelude, op.23, 1943; Sym. no.2, g, op.25, 1944–5; Konzertstück, op.27, vn, accdn orch, 1945; Sinfonietta, op.29, str, 1946, rev. 1965
|
Vocal: Sänge eines fahrenden Spielmanns (S. George), op.1, S/T, chbr orch, 1925; 6 Lieder (George), op.2, A/B, chbr orch, 1926; Lieder (George), opp.3–5, A/B, pf, 1927–9; Herbstfeier (Derleth), op.8, Bar, chorus, orch, 1932; ‘Olympias Flamme erglüh’, Olympischer Kampfgesang, 1936; 4 Lieder (C.P. Baudelaire), op.16, S/T, pf, 1944; Movimento, va, vc, 1945; M Michaels-Missa, e, op.31, chorus, c1948; Begegnung in der Eisenbahn (J.R. Wyss), op.34, S, T, chorus, 6 insts, 1953; Der Mond auf der Gardine, ballet-chanté, S, T, chorus, orch, 1956–7; Der Technocrat (op, 3, Wyss), 1957–62; Justizrat Kummerle (musical revue, 4, Wyss), 1958; Von Schelmen und Schlemmen (old English texts), cycle, male chorus, c1976; Im Netz (Wyss), ballet-op; Träume verboten, ballet-op
|
Pf Sonatas: No.1, f, 1930, rev. 1975; no.2, F, 1935; no.3, E, 1940; no.4, F, 1943; no.5, E, 1951; no.6, B, 1956–67; no.7, C, 1966–70
|
Other inst: 6 Caprichos, op.14, pf, 1939; Suite, C, 8 wind, 1942; Concertino, op.24, hn, 5 wind, 1943, rev. 1977; 2 sonatas, opp. 30, 32, vn, pf, 1947, 1950; 5 Bagatelles, pf, 1952; Orientalische Miniaturen, 8 insts, 1953; Fantasia super ‘Veni creator, spiritus’ & Postludium, org, 1953, rev. 1975; Trio, cl, eng hn, bn, 1958
|
Principal publishers: Amadeus, W. Müller (Heidelberg) Süddeutscher Musikverlag, Schott (Mainz)
| WRITINGS
Der Geist der Antike bei Richard Wagner (Berlin, 1933)
Neue Klassik in der Musik (Darmstadt, 1937)
‘Tonalitätsprobleme der neuen Musik vom Standpunkt des Komponisten’, GfMKB: Kassel 1962, 367–78
‘Stefan George: drei Maximen über Dichtung’, Castrum peregrini, lxxviii (1969)
‘Hans Pfitzner’, Mitteilungen der Pfitzner-Gesellschaft, xxvi (1970)
with W. Osthoff: Tradition und Originalität: Schriften und Vorträge zur Musik, ed. M. von Albrecht (Frankfurt, 1988)
MGG1 (K.H. Wörner)
W. Osthoff: ‘Gerhard Frommels George-Baudelaire-Gesänge und das neuere Lied’, Castrum peregrini, lxxv (1966)
J.P. Vogel: ‘Dialektische Einzelgänger: Gerhard Frommel fünfundsechzig’, Musica, xxv (1971), 399–400
P. Cahn, W. Osthoff and J.P. Vogel, eds.: Gerhard Frommel: Der Komponist und sein Werk (Tutzing, 1979)
W. Osthoff: ‘Symphonien beim Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs: Strawinsky-Frommel-Schostakowitsch’, AcM, lx (1988), 62–104
W. Osthoff, ed.: Der Briefwechsel Hans Pfitzner-Gerhard Frommel 1925–1948 (Tutzing, 1990)
WILLIAM D. GUDGER/ERIK LEVI
Fromm-Michaels, Ilse
(b Hamburg, 30 Dec 1888; d Detmold, 22 Jan 1986). German pianist and composer. She studied in Berlin, first at the Hochschule für Musik (1902–5), then at the Sternsches Konservatorium (1905–8) with James Kwast (piano) and Pfitzner (composition); from 1911 she studied at the Rheinische Musikschule in Cologne with Carl Friedberg (piano) and Fritz Steinbach (composition). As a pianist she promoted contemporary music from an early age and at 18 played Reger’s Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Bach, one of the first to do so. As a soloist with orchestra she performed with Nikisch, Abendroth, Furtwängler and Schoenberg. From 1933, during the Third Reich, she had to curtail her concert-giving because her husband was Jewish according to Nazi laws. From 1946 to 1959 she taught the piano at the Hochschule für Musik in Hamburg, and was professor there from 1957. In 1961 she won first prize for her Symphony in C minor at the third international competition for women composers.
WORKS
(selective list)
-
Inst: 4 Puppen, op.4, pf, 1908; 8 Skizzen, op.5, pf, 1908; Pf Sonata, e, op.6, 1917; Walzerreigen, op.7, pf, 1917; Variations on an Original Theme, op.8, pf, 1918/19; Stimmungen eines Fauns, op.11, cl; Suite, e, op.15, vc, 1931; Passacaglia, f, op.16, pf, 1932; Sym., c, op.19, 1938; Musica larga, cl, str qt, 1944; waltzes, pf; 20 cadenzas for Mozart pf concs.
|
Vocal: 5 Lieder (Des Knaben Wunderhorn), op.9a, 1v, pf; 4 winzige Wunderhorn Lieder, op.9b, 1v, pf; Marien-Passion, chorus, 3 tpt, org, chbr orch, 1932/3; 3 Gesänge (R.M. Rilke), Bar, pf, 1948/9, arr. Bar, orch, 1955; 2 parodistische Lieder
|
Principal publishers: Ries & Erler, Sikorski
| BIBLIOGRAPHY
RiemannL11
F. Wohlfahrt: ‘Ilse Fromm-Michaels’, Musica, ii (1948), 337–8
B. Brand and others, eds.: ‘Fromm-Michaels, Ilse’, Komponistinnen in Berlin (Berlin, 1987), 341–6
K. Lessing: ‘Ich kann die junge Dame wärmstens empfehlen’, Komponistinnen gestern-heute: Heidelberg 1989, 39–41
BIRGITTA MARIA SCHMID
Share with your friends: |