Johannes Platz

There is little biographical information about Johannes Platz. I could only find some loose details which I nevertheless would like to present. If you know more about Johannes Platz, please send me a message via my contact page.

Johannes Platz was born very likely around 1890. It is known that he was cantor in Gößnitz in the early 1920s. In 1924 he became city cantor of Planitz. It seems that Johannes Platz was very active as a choir master in the area. In 23 April 1932 he conducted the world premiere of the complete version of the oratorio "Furchtlosigkeit und Wohlwollen" by renowned composer Werner Egk with the choir "Einigkeit" in Altenburg.

The compositions of Johannes Platz were subject multiple times in German music journals in the 1930s. In 1928 his Adagio for violin and organ and choral fugue was performed by Georg Winkler in Leipzig. Johannes Platz also composed an arrangement of Händel's Brockes-Passion in 1930 which was later published by Erich Tietsch, a music dealer in Gößnitz. He composed a "Passacaglia and Fugue in f-minor for organ" in 1932 which was premiered by Paul Gerhardt in Zwickau. In the same year four of his songs were broadcasted through Radio Wien and performed by Richard Franz Schmidt (baritone) and Friedbert Sammler (piano). The performed songs were: Abend, Glückes genug, Ich kenne eine traute Weise and Storchenbotschaft. Five additional songs by Johannes Platz were published by Erich Tietsch in 1933, the songs were: Abendlied, An Gräbern, Krippenlied, Daheim and Alles Erduldete. And finally some of his songs were again performed by organist Artur Kalkoff in Erfurt in 1938 and 1939.

It is unknown when Johannes Platz had passed away.

From the snippets above the following work catalogue of Johannes Platz can be created:

• Adagio for violin and organ and choral fugue
• Abend, for voice and piano
• Glückes genug, for voice and piano
• Ich kenne eine traute Weise, for voice and piano
• Storchenbotschaft, for voice and piano
• Abendlied, for voice and piano
• An Gräbern, for voice and piano
• Krippenlied, for voice and piano
• Daheim, for choir
• Alles Erduldete, for choir
• Passacaglia and fugue in f-minor for organ
• arrangement of the Brockes-Passion by Händel

In my possession are two autograph manuscripts of song cycles by Johannes Platz. The two cycles are:

Drei geistliche Gesänge (three sacred songs), for medium voice and organ (piano)

• Ich weiss, o Herr (text by Annette von Droste-Hülshoff)
• Abendlied (text by Ernst Moritz Arndt)
• An Gräbern (text by Helene Brather-Saphis)

Drei Gesänge (three songs), for medium voice and piano

• Glückes genug (text by Detlev von Liliencron)
• Abend (Paul Köhler-Gößnitz)
• Ich kenne eine traute Weise (text by Friedrich Fischer-Friesenhausen)

Both manuscripts are undated, but most of the songs are mentioned at least once in music journals from the 1930s. For that reason it is very likely that the two cycles were composed around 1930. Two of the songs were published by Erich Tietsch in 1933, but neither the German National Library nor the Thuringian State Library hold copies of this edition. For that reason I will publish the songs here: