Gerhard Gehlhar

Gerhard Gehlhar was born in 1890 in Osterode in East Prussia, then part of Germany and today Ostróda in Poland. He grew up in a strongly musical family. His father Gustav Gehlhar, born on 18 November 1865 in Groß Park, had been trained at the teachers' seminary in Preußisch Eylau and worked for several years as a cantor in Heiligenbeil before entering the school service in Osterode. In 1895 Gustav Gehlhar became a teacher at the Gymnasium in Osterode, where his duties also included singing instruction. He was additionally active as an organist. Gerhard received his first piano and organ lessons from his father and was reportedly already able to substitute for him at both instruments at the age of eleven.
Gerhard Gehlhar later received his professional musical education at the Königliche Akademische Hochschule für Musik in Berlin, one of the leading music institutions in Germany at the time. The precise dates of his studies, his principal subjects and the names of his teachers have not yet been identified.
After completing his studies, Gehlhar returned to East Prussia and established himself as a professional musician in Osterode. By the 1920s he was already known there as “Professor Gehlhar”. Contemporary photographs preserved in the Bildarchiv Ostpreußen bear captions such as “Prof. Gehlhar und Sohn” and “Familie von Prof. Gehlhar mit seinem Vater, Gymnasiallehrer und Organist”, showing that the title was already associated with him well before the Second World War. The precise institution or appointment connected with this title has not yet been determined.
During these years Gehlhar worked as a music teacher and organist and was also active as a composer. Later biographical accounts mention art songs, church songs, a piano sonata and other instrumental works. Surviving autograph manuscripts show that he was composing at least during the early 1940s.
At the end of the Second World War Gehlhar and his family were forced to leave East Prussia. His first post-war years were difficult. According to a later biographical account, he initially earned his living as a farm labourer on various farms and also as a musician performing for the Allied occupation forces. Eventually he reached Bremerhaven, where he was reunited with his wife and daughter and settled permanently.
In Bremerhaven Gehlhar was able to resume his work as a professional musician and became a music teacher at several secondary schools in the area. The exact schools at which he taught have not yet been identified. His compositions also continued to be performed, and several well-known choirs in the Lower Weser region are reported to have included works by him in their repertoire.
After retiring from school teaching, Gehlhar remained musically active. From approximately the age of seventy-two until the age of eighty-nine he worked regularly as an organist, corresponding roughly to the years 1962 to 1979. The exact church in which he held this position has not yet been established.
By 1979 both his wife and his daughter, who had cared for him in old age, had died. Gehlhar subsequently left the Bremerhaven area and moved to Marxzell near Bad Herrenalb in Baden-Württemberg. He took his piano with him and continued to devote himself to music.
In 1980 Gerhard Gehlhar celebrated his 90th birthday. A biographical article published that year remembered him as a music professor and organist from Osterode and reviewed both his East Prussian origins and his later musical activities in West Germany. His exact date and place of death remain unknown, but he was still alive in 1980 and therefore died sometime after that year.
Gehlhar's music was not entirely forgotten after his death or withdrawal from public life. As late as 1989, original musical manuscripts by him were shown in an exhibition devoted to cultural personalities from Osterode. This indicates that at least part of his musical estate survived and that he continued to be remembered within East Prussian cultural circles.

In my possession are several autograph manuscripts of works by Gerhard Gehlhar. My archive contains the following compositions:

• Der Leiermann, for voice and piano (text by Heribert Menzel) (1941)
• Lied in der Dämmerung, for voice and piano (text by Carl Lange) (1940)
• Es rauschen die alten Tannen, for voice and piano (text by Carl Lange) (1940)
• Licht in der Ferne, for voice and piano (text by Carl Lange) (1940)
• Abend in'n Sommer, for voice and piano (text by Gerd Lüpke)
• Mondnacht, for voice and piano (text by Gerd Lüpke)
• Das Dreschflegellied, for voice and piano (text by Heribert Menzel) (1941)
• Oever de stillen Straaten, for choir (text by Theodor Storm)
• De Schün is vull, for choir (text by J. F. Ahrens)
• Süh, dat is de Mai!, for choir (1958)
• Wenn ich ein Waldvöglein wär, for choir

For information purposes I have typeset 2 songs by Gerhard Gehlhar:

Der Leiermann, for voice and piano (1941)

Lied in der Dämmerung, for voice and piano (1940)

© Kreisgemeinschaft Osterode / Ostpreußen