Oskar Gottlieb Blarr
Blarr in 2001
Born (1934-05-06) 6 May 1934 (age 90)
Sandlack, Germany
Occupations
  • Church musician
  • Composer
  • Classical organist
  • Academic teacher
Organizations
Websiteblarr.info

Oskar Gottlieb Blarr (born 6 May 1934) is a German composer, organist, church musician and academic teacher.

Career

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Blarr was born in Sandlack near Bartenstein (East Prussia). The Gothic church with its Baroque organ fascinated him early on; he began to form a lifelong love for organs.[1] Blarr and his family fled to West Germany in 1945.[2] He wrote his first compositions at the age of 12. He studied church music from 1952 at the Kirchenmusikschule in Hannover, percussion at the Musikhochschule Hannover, and composition with Heinrich Spitta.[3] He continued his studies, conducting with Dean Dixon and Herbert von Karajan in Salzburg, composition with Bernd Alois Zimmermann in Cologne, Krzysztof Penderecki at the Folkwang-Hochschule in Essen, and Milko Kelemen and Günther Becker [de] at the Robert Schumann Hochschule.[1] He was the church musician of the Neanderkirche in Düsseldorf from 1961 to 1999.[3] He also lectured there at both the Katechetisches Seminar and the Robert Schumann Hochschule from 1984.[2]

Blarr composed four oratorios about the life of Jesus, four symphonies, chamber music and works for organ.[4] He also set many songs of the genre Neues Geistliches Lied to music, some of under the pseudonym Choral Brother Ogo.[5] His organ works were recorded with organists Wolfgang Abendroth and Martin Schmeding. He was a member of the ecumenical Textautoren- und Komponistengruppe der Werkgemeinschaft Musik e.V. and the association Musik in der Ev. Jugend (now: Textautoren- und Komponistengruppe TAKT.

Blarr at the piano in the Ascension Church [de] in Jerusalem in 2009

Blarr visited Israel to experience where Jesus lived as a Jew.[6] In 1983, the Israeli composer Josef Tal dedicated his organ work Salva Venia to Blarr, who premiered it the following year in Düsseldorf. In 2016 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn.[1]

Awards

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Selected works

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The German National Library holds four works authored by Blarr, and 168 compositions, as of 2017:[7]

Oratorio

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Chamber music

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Orchestra

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Organ

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Neues Geistliches Lied

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Arrangements

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "Ehrendoktorwürde für Oskar Gottlieb Blarr" (in German). ostpreussen.net. 21 October 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  2. ^ a b "Oskar Gottlieb Blarr wird 80 / Der Komponist mit dem Hut" (in German). Evangelische Kirche im Rheinland. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  3. ^ a b "Düsseldorfer Komponist / Wer singt, betet doppelt – Oskar Gottlieb Blarr wird 80" (in German). Rheinische Presse. 5 May 2014. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  4. ^ Klasen, Odilo (2014). "Oskar Gottlieb Blarr / Komponist und Kantor in Düsseldorf nach 1960: / Untersuchungen zu seiner musikalischen Sprache in Wechselwirkung zu seinem Lebensumfeld" (PDF) (in German). University of Flensburg. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
  5. ^ a b c "Oskar Gottlieb Blarr (Composer, Arranger, Organ, Choral Conductor)" (in German). Bach-Cantatas. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  6. ^ Wallerang, Lars (23 December 2014). "Oskar Gottlieb Blarr: Jesus – ein Rebell mit der Kraft eines Helden". Westdeutsche Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 16 December 2016.
  7. ^ "Blarr, Oskar Gottlieb" (in German). Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. Retrieved 2 January 2016.

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