Bruno Stürmer

Bruno Stürmer was born on 9 September 1892 in Freiburg im Breisgau (Germany). From 1904 to 1910 Bruno Stürmer studied at the conservatory in Karlsruhe and subsequently continued his musical education at the universities of Heidelberg (1910–1912) and Munich (1912–1914). Among his teachers were Philipp Wolfrum, Adolf Sandberger and Theodor Kroyer.
After military service during the First World War, Stürmer taught piano and music theory at the Karlsruhe Conservatory from 1917 to 1922. He then worked as a conductor in Remscheid (1922–1923) and Essen (1924–1925), while also performing occasionally as a pianist in cinemas, cafés and cabarets. From 1923 to 1927 he conducted choirs in Duisburg and worked as a music critic for the Essener Volks-Zeitung.
During the 1920s Stürmer became increasingly known as a composer. In 1923 his Erlösungen, a collection of songs for contralto and string quartet op. 12, was performed at the Donaueschingen Chamber Music Festival. In 1927 he founded a music school in Homberg on the Lower Rhine, and from 1928 he appeared regularly with his own piano trio.
In 1930 Stürmer settled in Kassel, where he worked as a composer, conductor and music critic. He conducted the Unterneustädter Kirchenchor and the Zulauf Madrigal Choir, organised chamber music concerts and wrote for the Kasseler Post. In 1938 he received the first Music Prize of the City of Kassel, followed by the Music Prize of the City of Solingen in 1943.
Following the war Stürmer moved to Frankfurt am Main, where he continued his activities as a composer, conductor and music critic, contributing to the Frankfurter Rundschau. From 1947 to 1952 he directed the Landesmusikschule in Darmstadt. In 1952 he received the Goethe Plaque of the State of Hesse. After further periods in Offenbach and Sprendlingen, he moved to Wiesbaden in 1957, where he became director of the choral conducting seminar at the local conservatory.
Stürmer was a prolific composer whose works include orchestral and chamber music, instrumental compositions, songs and numerous choral works, particularly for male choir and church use. His compositions were published by several German music publishers, most notably Schott in Mainz. Among his instrumental works are the Suite for nine solo instruments op. 9 (1923), the Sonatine in C for violin and piano (1939) and the Sonata for viola or clarinet and piano op. 73 (1957).
Bruno Stürmer died on 19 May 1958 in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe (Germany).

In my possession is the autograph manuscript of "Brot" by Bruno Stürmer, composed in 1932. The work is scored for three-part male choir and three trumpets in B-flat and sets a German poem by A. Ehlers, beginning with the words “Es schreit die Zeit, es schreit die Not, es schreit ein Volk verzweifelt Brot”. The identity of the poet A. Ehlers remains unknown.
The manuscript is accompanied by a set of handwritten choral parts in a copyist's hand. Interestingly, these parts contain a Dutch translation of the text, beginning “Fel roept de tijd, fel schreit de nood, schreeuwt een volk vertwijfeld: Brood!” The translator is unknown, and it remains unclear when and for what occasion the Dutch version was prepared.
The same German poem was also set to music by Ottmar Gerster (1897–1969) under the title "Es schreit die Zeit", for four-part male choir without instrumental accompaniment. The autograph manuscript of Gerster's composition is also in my possession and has been published on this website. The relationship between the two settings remains unknown.
I have not been able to locate a published edition or a documented performance of Stürmer's composition.