Giselher Klebe

Giselher Klebe at his desk in April 2008

Giselher Wolfgang Klebe, born (1925-06-28)28 June 1925 in Mannheim, Germany, died October 5th, 2009, was a German composer. He has composed more than 140 works, among them 14 operas, 8 symphonies, 15 solo concerts, chamber music, piano works, and sacral music.

Biography

Klebe received musical tuition early in his life from his mother, the violinist Gertrud Klebe. The family relocated in 1932 to Munich, where his mother's sister, Melanie Michaelis, continued the tuition. His father's profession required a further relocation in 1936 to Rostock. Following the separation of his parents, he moved with his mother and sister to Berlin. During 1938, the 13-year old sketched his first compositions. In 1940, he began studies in violin, viola, and composition, supported by a grant from the city of Berlin.

After serving his Reichsarbeitsdienst (Labour Service), Klebe was conscripted to military service as Signalman. After the German surrender, he was taken prisoner of war by the Russian forces, but due to his ill health he was released soon. On 10 September 1946 he married the violinist Lore Schiller; they have two daughters, Sonja Katharina and Annette Marianne. His wife later wrote the librettos for some of his operas.

Having reconvalesced, he continued his music studies in Berlin (1946–1951), first under Joseph Rufer, then in master classes by Boris Blacher. He worked for the radio station Berliner Rundfunk until 1948, when he began to work full-time as a composer.

In 1957, he succeeded Wolfgang Fortner as docent for the subjects of Composition and Music Theory at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold. He was appointed Professor in 1962; many well known composers were his pupils, e.g. Hans Martin Corrinth, Theo Brandmüller, Peter Michael Braun, Matthias Pintscher,

In 1964 Klebe was appointed member of the West Berlin Akademie der Künste (Arts Academy). In 1965 he received the Westfälischer Musikpreis (later named the Hans-Werner-Henze-Preis). In 2002, the city of Detmold, where he lived, made him an honorary citizen.

Works

Opus	Title	Category
4	Piano sonata	Piano sonata
7	Die Zwitschermaschine	Other orchestral work
13	Wiegenlieder für Christinchen	Piano work
22	Elegia appassionata	Piano trio
25	Die Räuber (The Robbers)	Opera
26	4 Inventions	Piano work
27	Die tödlichen Wünsche (The Deadly Wishes)	Opera
29	Cello concert no. 1	Cello concert
32	Die Ermordung Cäsars (The Murder of Caesar)	Opera
36	Alkmene	Opera
37	Adagio and Fuge with a motif from Richard Wagner's Walküre	Other orchestral work
39	9 Duettini per pianoforte e flauto	Duo
40	Figaro lässt sich scheiden (Figaro Gets Divorced)	Opera
49	Jacobowsky und der Oberst (Jacobovsky and the Colonel)	Opera
50	Concerto a cinque	Concert
53	Symphony no.3 (1966)	Symphony
55	Das Märchen von der schönen Lilie (The Fairy Tale of the Fair Lily)	Opera
61	Das Testament	Other orchestral work
69	Ein wahrer Held (A True Hero)	Opera
70	Nenia	Other chamber music
72	Das Mädchen aus Domrémy (The Girl from Domrémy)	Opera
73	Orpheus	Other orchestral work
75	Symphony no.5 (1976–77)	Symphony
76	9 Piano pieces for Sonja	Piano work
78	Das Rendezvous	Opera
82	Der Jüngste Tag (Doomsday)	Opera
87	String qartet No. 3	String quartet
90	Die Fastnachtsbeichte (Carnival Confession)	Opera
91	Feuersturz	Piano work
103	Glockentürme	Piano work
111	Nachklang	Piano work
119	Gervaise Macquart	Opera
120	Symphony no.6 (1996)	Symphony
133	Mignon	Violin concert
134	Chara	Duo
149	Chlestakows Wiederkehr (Khlestakov's Return)	Opera

Sources

• Giselher Klebe at the German Wikipedia
• Klebe, Giselher by Erik Levi, in 'The New Grove Dictionary of Opera', ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1992) ISBN 0-333-73432-7
• Michael Herbert Rentzsch (with Erik Levi): "Klebe, Giselher", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 1 March 2008), http://www.grovemusic.com

External links

• G. Klebe on Klassika