Eberhard Wenzel
Eberhard Wenzel was born on 22 April 1896 in Pollnow (then part of the German Empire, now Polanow, Poland). In 1907, his family moved to Berlin, where Eberhard Wenzel received his first musical education at the Stern Conservatory. Following four years of military service during World War I, he pursued higher musical studies from 1919 to 1921 at the Academic Institute for Church and School Music (Akademisches Institut für Kirchen- und Schulmusik) in Berlin, studying composition with Arnold Ebel, organ with Fritz Heitmann, and piano with Julius Dahlke.
His professional career began in 1922 when he started working as a school and church musician in Berlin. Three years later, in 1925, he relocated to Neubrandenburg, where he assumed the position of organist at St. Mary’s Church (St. Marien) while simultaneously teaching at the local Gymnasium. From 1930 to 1950, Wenzel served as church musician at Peterskirche in Görlitz. Alongside a multi-year teaching appointment at the Municipal Music School (Städtische Musikschule), his educational work culminated in 1947 when he became director of the newly founded Evangelical Church Music School (Evangelische Kirchenmusikschule) in Görlitz. In 1951, Wenzel accepted an appointment in Halle (Saale) as Director of the Evangelical Church Music School Halle, a position he held for fourteen years. At the same time, he served as cantor and organist at the Ulrichskirche in Halle. Upon his retirement in 1965, he relocated to West Germany, where he remained highly active as a composer.
Throughout his career, Wenzel engaged in numerous additional activities, notably serving as conductor of several choral ensembles in Görlitz and playing a central role in organizing the Silesian Music Festivals (Schlesische Musikfeste), which were held every three years until 1944, as well as their successor event, the Görlitz Music Days (Görlitzer Musiktage). As an educator, he trained well over 400 young church musicians and frequently conducted first performances of his own compositions with the choir of the Church Music School Halle.
Wenzel received several distinguished honours during his lifetime, including the Silesian Music Prize in 1938, the Buxtehude Prize of the City of Lübeck in 1957, an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Theology of the University of Heidelberg in 1962, the Honorary Prize of the Johann Wenzel Stamitz Prize in 1974, and the Karl Straube Plaque in 1980.
His extensive catalogue comprises approximately 800 works across a wide range of genres and is deeply rooted in liturgical practice and the setting of biblical texts. His large-scale choral and vocal output includes the oratorios "Die Berge des Heils" and "Das Gleichnis", the dramatic choral ballad "Das Belsazerlied", the "Missa Alternatim Cantata", the Requiem "Media vita in morte sumus", and a vast quantity of liturgical Gebrauchsmusik of varying levels of difficulty, alongside late works such as the "Deutsche Messe" and "Die Zeiten Gottes". His vocal output is further complemented by numerous multi-faceted psalm settings, historical works such as the "Weihnachtsgeschichte" and the "Markuspassion", as well as various chorale concertos and motets. He also composed numerous organ works, along with some secular songs, chamber music, piano pieces, and a small number of orchestral compositions.
Eberhard Wenzel died on 27 January 1982 in Künzelsau-Kocherstetten (Germany).
In my possession are two autograph manuscripts of piano works by Eberhard Wenzel:
- Sonata for piano
- Five short piano pieces on a theme (G - E - E♭ - A)
Both manuscripts are not dated.
