Ludwig Hoelscher

Ludwig Hoelscher (23 August 19078 May 1996) was a German cellist. He played internationally as a soloist, and was well known as a chamber musician, first playing from 1932 in Elly Ney's piano trio, then in the Strub Quartet and other formations. He was an important cellist of the Nazi era, playing in propaganda concerts and teaching in Berlin and Salzburg. After the World War, he taught at the Musikhochschule Stuttgart and played internationally. He played the world premieres of more than 50 compositions.

Life Born in Solingen, Hoelscher was the youngest of three children of a jeweller and amateur violinist, who wanted to form a family string quartet. Ludwig began playing the cello at age six. From the age of nine he gained experience in domestic chamber music. In 1930 he received the highest recognition for music students. His career began with meeting the pianist Elly Ney, who founded the Elly Ney Piano Trio in 1932 with him and violinist Wilhelm Stross. From 1934 to 1938, Hoelscher was the cellist of the Strub Quartet in Berlin.

On 1 May 1937, Hoelscher became a member of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (membership number 5.156.776). Since 1 April 1937, the 29-year-old was a professor at the Berlin University of the Arts. On 29 May 1938, he was soloist in the final concert of the first Reichsmusiktage in Düsseldorf, where the Nazi propaganda exhibition on degenerate music was also shown. In the same year, Hoelscher performed at the Beethoven Days of the Hitlerjugend in Wildbad and at the cultural-political work camp of the Reichsjugendführer in Weimar and played for the "Lichtfest" in front of the staff of four industrial companies.

From 1938 Hoelscher also worked as professor at the Mozarteum in Salzburg.

Career in post-war Germany Despite membership in various Nazi organisations, besides the party also the Reichskolonialbund and the , Wilhelm Kempff, Wilhelm Keilmann, Carl Seemann, Adrian Aeschbacher and Kurt Rapf. He also played German premieres of works by Paul Hindemith. Neske, Pfullingen 1955. Max Kaindl-Hönig: Ludwig Hoelscher (Die großen Interpreten). Kister, Genf 1964. Wolf-Eberhard von Lewinski: Ludwig Hoelscher. Schneider, Tutzing 1967. Hans Schneider (ed.): Ludwig Hoelscher zum 75. Geburtstag. Schneider, Tutzing 1982. Fred K. Prieberg: Handbuch Deutsche Musiker 1933–1945. CD-ROM-Lexikon. Kiel 2004. Ernst Klee: Das Kulturlexikon zum Dritten Reich. Wer war was vor und nach 1945. S. Fischer, Frankfurt 2007.