Herbert Baumann

Herbert Baumann (31 July 1925 – 21 January 2020) was a German composer and conductor. His compositions were mainly for theatre and film, at theatres in Berlin and Munich, such as ballet music for Alice im Wunderland and Rumpelstilzchen.

Life Baumann was born in Berlin and began to study architecture, as his father wished. He studied conducting at the same time with Sergiu Celibidache, who was serving his first season with the Berlin Philharmonic. Baumann turned completely to music. He composed a piece as a conducting exercise that impressed Celibidache, who showed it to Paul Höffer, a composition professor. A CD review of the Alice music, played by the NDR Radiophilharmonie conducted by the composer, described it as a neo-Romantic score with delicate instrumentation and clever story-telling ideas for his main characters Alice and Der Dichter.