Harald Genzmer

Harald Genzmer (9 February 1909 – 16 December 2007) was a German composer of classical music and an academic.

The son of the legal historian Felix Genzmer, Genzmer was born in Blumenthal, near Kiel, Germany, he studied composition with Paul Hindemith at the Hochschule für Musik Berlin beginning in 1928.

From 1938 he taught at the Volksmusikschule Berlin-Neukölln.

During the early part of the Second World War he served as a military band clarinetist.

When his pianistic abilities were noticed by the Musikmeister, he was put on detached duties as a pianist/accompanist for "Lazarettenkonzerte", concerts for recuperating wounded officers.

He was based for some time near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, where he made the acquaintance of Richard Strauss.

When the war ended, he was offered a post at the Musikhochschule München.

This was blocked by the American authorities, and so, from 1946 to 1957 he taught at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg im Breisgau.

He hung a framed review from the Süddeutsche Zeitung above his piano, which stated after the premiere of his 1955 Sinfonietta for Strings that it was a work destined only for oblivion.

Sharing the frame was a cutting from a few years later, reporting that in the previous year it had been the most performed work for string orchestra in Europe.

Among his notable students are Bertold Hummel, Egyptian composer Gamal Abdel-Rahim, British composer John McCabe, and Japanese composer Toyoko Takami.

From 1957 to 1974 he taught at the Musikhochschule München.

He died on 16 December 2007 in Munich.

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