Siegfried Strohbach

• Name — Siegfried Strohbach • Born — 27 November 1929 • Birthplace — Schirgiswalde • Died — 11 July 2019 • Occupation — * Composer • Choral conductor • Academic teacher • Organizations — Musikhochschule Hannover

Siegfried Strohbach began having piano lessons at the age of five. From 1939 to 1945, he was a student of the Musisches Gymnasium (high school with music as a main course) in Frankfurt with a major in piano. He studied composition with its founder and director Kurt Thomas. From 1946 to 1949 he continued his studies in composition and conducting with Thomas privately, and studied the piano with August Leopolder. From 1947 to 1949 he worked as a Korrepetitor (coach) at the Oper Frankfurt. In 1949 he moved to Hanover, where he studied singing with Paul Gümmer at the Landesmusikschule. As a choral conductor, he took under his wing several amateur choirs in and around Hanover. During this time he wrote his first successful compositions, including the premiere of his chamber opera Die Wette, and made initial contact with the publisher Breitkopf & Härtel. From 1951 to 1953 he was Kapellmeister for plays at the Landestheater (now Staatstheater Hannover). In 1953 he founded the choir "Propsteichor Hannover" and also the "Collegium Cantorum", a semiprofessional ensemble which became known through concerts and broadcasts. He was to direct the group until 1982. From 1953 to 1966 Strohbach was a music teacher at the gymnasium St. Ursula in Hanover, but continued to work as a freelancer at the theater Landesbühne, which covers performances all over Lower Saxony, from 1951 to 1993. During that time he wrote incidental music for the stage, some 40 pieces. From 1966 he was lecturer in music theory at the Musikhochschule Hannover, where he was appointed professor in 1973, teaching until his retirement in 1994. Parallel to teaching, Strohbach was from 1967 to 1984 Kapellmeister of the Landesbühne and conducted opera and concert at the festival "Musik und Theater in Herrenhausen" in the Baroque Herrenhausen Gardens, including works of Monteverdi, Mozart, and particularly Handel.

• Denn der Herr ist nahe, symphonic cantata for soprano, baritone, mixed choir and large orchestra • Missa beatae Virginis, (Mass of the Blessed Virgin) for soprano solo, female choir and organ • Johannes-Passion (Passion after John) for solo voice and mixed choir a cappella, Möseler 2001 • 6 Evangelien-Motetten (6 Gospel motets) for mixed choir a cappella • Großer Kalender (Great calendar) on texts by Fritz Graßhoff for male choir, piano and large orchestra • Eichendorff-Serenade after Joseph von Eichendorff for mixed choir and three instruments • Viva la musica, cantata for baritone solo, six-part mixed choir, strings and percussion, Möseler 1984 • Max & Moritz, cantata on Wilhelm Busch's Max and Moritz for mixed choir and piano • 5 Trinklieder (5 drinking songs) after old texts, for baritone solo, male choir and piano • 5 Galgenlieder after Christian Morgenstern for four-part male chorus a cappella • Tanz rüber - tanz nüber, Eine Rundreise mit europäischen Tanzliedern (A round trip with European dancing songs) for female choir, piano and percussion • Der Stern aus Jakob (The star from Jacob), cantata for Epiphany, from the cantata cycle Auf dem Weg (In the way), for baritone solo, mixed choir, oboe and organ, Strube 2005

Siegfried Strohbach is recorded as composer, conductor, music educator, university teacher and music arranger.