Harald Genzmer

Harald Genzmer (9 February 1909 – 16 December 2007) was a German composer of classical music and an academic.

Biography The son of the legal historian , Genzmer was born in Blumenthal, near Kiel, Germany. He studied composition with Paul Hindemith at the Hochschule für Musik Berlin beginning in 1928.

From 1938 he taught at the Volksmusikschule Berlin-Neukölln. During the early part of the Second World War he served as a military band clarinetist. When his pianistic abilities were noticed by the Musikmeister, he was put on detached duties as a pianist/accompanist for "Lazarettenkonzerte", concerts for recuperating wounded officers. He was based for some time near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, where he made the acquaintance of Richard Strauss. When the war ended, he was offered a post at the Musikhochschule München. This was blocked by the American authorities and so, from 1946 to 1957 he taught at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg im Breisgau.

From 1957 to 1974 he taught at the Musikhochschule München. He hung a framed review from the Süddeutsche Zeitung above his piano, which stated after the premiere of his 1955 Sinfonietta for Strings that it was a work destined only for oblivion. Sharing the frame was a cutting from a few years later, reporting that in the previous year it had been the most performed work for string orchestra in Europe.

Among his notable students are Bertold Hummel, Egyptian composer Gamal Abdel-Rahim, British composer John McCabe, and Japanese composer Toyoko Takami.

He died on 16 December 2007 in Munich.

Awards 1960 Music Prize of the Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste 1961 1st Prize of the Deutscher Sängerbund 1946 Erstes Concertino, for piano and strings with flute 1955 Sinfonietta, for strings 1957 rev.1970 1. Sinfonie, for full orchestra 1957 Kammerkonzert, for oboe and string orchestra. 1967 Sonatina prima, for strings 1970 Sinfonia da Camera 1970 Konzert, for organ and orchestra 1971 Sonatina seconda, for strings 1972 Elf Duette, for recorder 1974 3. Konzert, for piano and orchestra 1976 Miniaturen, for strings 1977–1978 Musik für Orchester, after a fragment by Friedrich Hölderlin 1978 Konzert, for percussion instruments and orchestra 1960–1962 Préludes 1963 Dialoge 1965 Studien, for piano four-hands 1975 Konzert, for piano and percussion 1978 4 Elegien, for piano and percussion at least five piano sonatas (sonata 5 published in 1985)

Selected Organ works 1945 Tripartita in F GeWV 389 1952 Erste Sonate GeWV 390 1952 rev. 2000 Konzert (for organ solo) 1941 Sonate für Altblockflöte und Klavier ) Suite of Dances for Electronic Instruments