Outstanding composer and wonderful person | Edition: 3/20 | nmz

(nmz) –

On the Sunday before Christmas Eve we were still on the phone. Herbert was looking forward to the new year in which he would celebrate his 95th birthday and Marianne, his beloved wife, her 90th birthday. He seemed happy, was pleased that his works are performed frequently, even if, quite rightly, as he said, the younger ones should now come to the fore. His “Oh kids, that’s nice!” In the Berlin accent, with which he was happy about our conversation, still resonates with me. I will never hear these words again like this. Herbert Baumann died on January 21, 2020 in Munich.-

His life spanning almost 100 years confronted him with the Second World War, with the bombing of Berlin and the division of his hometown. But he did not react to these terrible experiences of his youth with depression, rather he countered them with his Berlin humor.

After the war, the father suggested studying architecture. But the son prevailed with his wish to become a musician and studied conducting with Sergiu Celibidache, composition with Paul Höffer and Boris Blacher. At the age of 22 he became the director of drama music at the Deutsches Theater.

He worked there until 1970, later at the Schiller and Schlosstheater, with such important directors as Boleslaw Barlog, Erwin Piscator, Fritz Kortner and Hans Lietzau. Then he moved to Munich because West Berlin seemed like a prison to him. At the Residenztheater he created the music for productions by Walter Felsenstein, Kurt Meisel and Ingmar Bergmann, among others. As a theater musician you had to be an all-round artist back then. Baumann not only composed, but also conducted rehearsals and performed frequently as a conductor. He created over 500 stage music, as well as the music for 6 movies and 30 TV films.

In 1979 he ended his permanent commitment to start a new phase of life. Freed from theatrical constraints, he now composed his own music and found his unmistakable “Baumann style”. His works should be music that is “needed”, and he didn’t include huge symphonies or long operas. He worked with soloists and chamber music ensembles, who perform his music with great audiences to this day. Music for guitar and plucked orchestra was primarily used. Herbert Baumann created a demanding repertoire for this, which is highly valued: in 1990 he was made an honorary member of the Association of German Plucked Musicians. Music for children was also “needed”: his two ballets “Alice in Wonderland” and “Rumpelstiltskin” are among the rare works of the 20th century that have become an integral part of the repertoire. “Rumpelstiltskin” saw over 220 performances.

The critics praised the “piquant sound effects”, the “fresh wit”, the “abundance of thematic ideas” and the “precise form” in his music. It was important to him that a piece is well crafted and freed from everything superfluous, that the listener experiences emotional heights and that witty punchlines surprise him. He certainly had an avant-garde phase, but he never wanted to shock his listeners, but rather take them with him into his musical world, which, despite all the drama, always opens a window to beauty and joy: “Our times are so terrible that you can tell something Must contrast positive. If you only see the negative, everything gets worse. “

Like his music, so was he as a person. He spread positive energy, also with his involvement in the Tonkünstlerverband. For many years, the Herbert Baumann Foundation he founded has made possible the “Neue Töne” sheet music edition of the Tonkünstlerverband Bayern, which knows how to arouse joy for new music in young musicians from an early age.

Herbert Baumann was not only an outstanding musician, he was also a good person: humble, committed to others, filled with an infectious zest for life into old age. It is all the more sad that he is no longer with us.