The Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts (German: Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt am Main, HfMDK) is a state Hochschule for music, theatre and dance in Frankfurt and is the only one of its kind in the Federal State of Hesse. It was founded in 1938.
At present around 900 students are taught by about sixty-five professors and 320 other teaching staff. The study programs include performance in all instruments and voice, the teaching of music, composition, conducting and church music. There are also programs in musical theatre, drama and dance. The university offers doctoral studies in musicology and music education.
In April 1933, when the National Socialists came to power in Germany, the director Bernhard Sekles, Mátyás Seiber, head of the world's first jazz department, and twelve other members of the teaching staff who were Jewish or foreign, were removed from their positions.[2] Later, the Hoch Conservatory was degraded to a Music School (Musikschule des Dr Hoch's Konservatorium).[3] In 1938 the "Hochschule für Musik" was established. In 1940 its name was the "Staatliche Hochschule für Musik – Dr Hoch's Konservatorium", but in 1942 the subtitle "Dr Hoch's Konservatorium" was dropped, leaving the full name as "Staatliche Hochschule für Musik".[4] In his testament Joseph Hoch, benefactor of the conservatory, had stipulated that the name "Dr Hoch's Konservatorium" should never be changed.[5][6] The Hochschule thus became a new and separate institution, distancing itself from the conservatory its history.
In the closing stages of World War II, both institutions closed down. After the war both were reopened, and they now work together in a three-tier system of the Hochschule, the Hoch Conservatory and the Music School. Helmut Walcha, who had taught the organ at the Hoch Conservatory from 1933 to 1938, initiated the reopening of the Hochschule in 1947.[7] The first department to be reopened was that of church music, followed by the department of school music and, in 1949, the seminar for the teaching of music.
The Big Band of the Hochschule with Allen Jacobson
In the summer of 1950, the violinist Walther Davisson, who had studied and taught at the Hoch Conservatory, became artistic director of both the Hochschule and the Hoch Conservatory. Under his directorship the Department of Performance was, step by step, restarted in instrumental and vocal training. During this post-war period, teaching was still taking place in private homes and in the partly renovated conservatory building – which was still in ruins. (It was unfortunately pulled down later.) Not until 1956 did the Hochschule have its own building: it was given the Radio-House of the Hessischer Rundfunk, built in 1933.
The development of the Hochschule continued through the 1950s and 60s: including the establishment of the opera school and opera-choir school (1954 and 1958), the drama school (1960) and the dance school (1961). In the 1960s the Studio for New Music and the Studio for Early Music were initiated. Later, departments of jazz and popular music were opened and in 1982 the department of musicology was established. From 1989 the Hochschule was given the right to offer graduate studies in the teaching of music and musicology.
From 1990 until 1993 the Hochschule's new main building and library were built. The Historical Performance Practice and Contemporary Music Institutes were founded in 2005.[8]
The University of Music and Theatre "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig is a public university in Leipzig. Founded in 1843 by Felix Mendelssohn as the Conservatorium der Musik , it is the oldest university school of music in Germany.
Bernhard Sekles was a German composer, conductor, pianist and pedagogue.
Erich Schmid was a Swiss composer and conductor. He was born on 1 January 1907 in Balsthal, Switzerland and died on 17 December 2000 in Zürich. He studied composition with Bernhard Sekles at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt and later with Arnold Schönberg. Among many other international conducting roles, he was chief conductor of the Tonhalle Orchestra, Zürich from 1949 to 1957.
The Cologne University of Music is a music college in Cologne, and Europe's largest academy of music.
The State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart is a professional school for musicians and performing artists in Stuttgart, Germany. Founded in 1857, it is one of the oldest schools of its kind in Germany.
Emma Margarete "Gretchen" Dessoff was a German choral conductor, singer, and voice teacher.
Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium – Musikakademie was founded in Frankfurt am Main on 22 September 1878. Through the generosity of Frankfurter Joseph Hoch, who bequeathed the Conservatory one million German gold marks in his testament, a school for music and the arts was established for all age groups. Instrumental to the foundation, prosperity and success of the conservatory was its director Joachim Raff who did most of the work including setting the entire curriculum and hiring all its faculty. It has played an important role in the history of music in Frankfurt. Clara Schumann taught piano, as one of distinguished teachers in the late 19th century, gaining international renown for the conservatory. In the 1890s, about 25% of the students came from other countries: 46 were from England and 23 from the United States.
The Stern Conservatory was a private music school in Berlin with many notable tutors and alumni. Today the school is part of the Berlin University of the Arts.
Kurt Hessenberg was a German composer and professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt.
Joseph Paul Johannes Hoch was a German lawyer and benefactor. He willed his fortune to the Hoch Conservatory Foundation, founded in 1878 in Frankfurt. It is, after Leipzig and Berlin, the seventh oldest music conservatory in Germany. He was born and died in Frankfurt am Main.
Music schools in Germany cater to pupils from an early age up to postgraduate students. They exist within and outside the formal education system.
The Hochschule für Musik Mainz is a university of music, part of the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz. It is the only such institution in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Frank Stähle was a German musician, a choral conductor and the director of Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium in Frankfurt from 1979 to 2007.
The Peter Cornelius Conservatory is the conservatory in Mainz, the capital of the German state Rhineland-Palatinate. It dates back to a first conservatory founded around 1882. It is named after the composer Peter Cornelius who was born in Mainz. It trains both professionals and amateurs, focused of the interplay of both aspects of music-making.
Hans Michael Beuerle was a German choir- and orchestra director.
Barbara Zechmeister is a German operatic soprano and voice teacher. A member of the Oper Frankfurt from 1996, she has appeared in major European opera houses and international festivals. She has performed in world premieres, and in recitals and recordings. Zechmeister has been a voice teacher at Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium since 2005.
Lazzaro Uzielli was an Italian pianist and music educator.
Richard Matthias Jakoby was a German music teacher and cultural manager and until 1993 director of the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover.
Hans Bassermann was a German violinist and music scholar.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
