Kurt Thomas | |
|---|---|
 The composer conducting | |
| Born | Kurt Georg Hugo Thomas (1904-05-25)25 May 1904 |
| Died | 31 March 1973(1973-03-31) (aged 68) |
| Education | Leipzig University |
| Occupations |
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| Organizations | |
| Olympic medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Art competitions | ||
 | 1936 Berlin | Solo and chorus |
Kurt Georg Hugo Thomas (25 May 1904 – 31 March 1973) was a German composer, conductor and music educator.
Thomas was born inTönning. The family lived from 1910 inLennep where he attended theRöntgen-Gymnasium [de] from 1913 to 1922. Completing with theAbitur on 21 April 1922, he studied law and music at theLeipzig University. He completed his studies in 1925 and worked as a lecturer of music theory at theLandeskonservatorium der Musik zu Leipzig. He composed a Mass in A minor as hisOp. 1, which earned him the Beethoven Prize of thePreußische Akademie der Künste in 1927. Initiated byKarl Straube, he was appointed a teacher of composition and leader of the Kantorei (chorale) of theKirchenmusikalisches Institut Leipzig [de] (Institute of church music). The choir was named "Kurt-Thomas-Kantorei" and toured in Germany.[1]
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Thomas was professor of choral conducting at theAkademische Hochschule für Musik in Berlin from 1934 to 1939. During this time, he composed acantata for theOlympic Games in Berlin in 1936, theKantate zur Olympiade 1936 (Olympic Cantata 1936) as an entry for a competition of theReichsmusikkammer, which won a silver medal.[2] He became a member of theNSDAP in 1940, number 7.463.935.[3]
From 1939 to 1945, Thomas was director of theMusisches Gymnasium Frankfurt (High school with main courses in music).[4] Among his students were choral conductorsHeinz Hennig andHans-Joachim Rotzsch, composersAlfred Koerppen,Wolfgang Pasquay,Wolfgang Schoor,Siegfried Strohbach,Paul Kuhn, and organistMichael Schneider [de].[5]
From 1945, Thomas was Kantor (church musician) at theDreikönigskirche in Frankfurt. From 1947 to 1955, Thomas was professor of conducting, especially choral conducting, at the Nordwestdeutsche Musikakademie, now theHochschule für Musik Detmold. His students there have included composersManfred Kluge [de],Diether de la Motte andGerd Zacher, and church musiciansAlexander Wagner [de] andHermann Kreutz [de]. He kept his position at the Dreikönigskirche to 1957.
Thomas was theThomaskantor, thecantor of theThomanerchor, from 1957 to 1960. He succeededGünther Ramin on 1 April 1957. When a planned tour of theThomanerchor to West Germany was cancelled in 1960, he left the post. From 1961, he conducted the concerts of the choirBach-Verein Köln [de]. Simultaneously, he founded in Frankfurt the concert choirFrankfurter Kantorei, mostly of members of the Kantorei of the Dreikönigskirche, and conducted the choir to 1969.[5]
Thomas was also professor at theMusikhochschule Lübeck from 1965. He died inBad Oeynhausen.
As a composer, Thomas focused on choral music. He returned toa cappella music which he combined with late-romantic musical idioms. Works such as hisMesse in a-Moll (Mass inA minor) of 1924 andMarkuspassion (St. Mark Passion) of 1927 were part of a reformed music in the Protestant churches after 1920. He published a book on choral conducting in three volumes,Lehrbuchs der Chorleitung, which was reprinted in 1991, revised and expanded.
Thomas recorded Bach'sChristmas Oratorio twice, with choir and orchestra of the Detmold Akademy in 1951, and with the Thomanerchor in 1958, with theGewandhausorchester and soloistsAgnes Giebel,Marga Höffgen,Josef Traxel andDietrich Fischer-Dieskau.[6] He conducted several Bach cantatas with the Thomanerchor in a seriesBach Made in Germany, including the first recording of Hermann Prey as the bassist inIch will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen, BWV 56, and several secular cantatas.[7]
