Alfred Dregert
Alfred Dregert was born 26 September 1836 in Frankfurt a.O. (Germany). He studied music at the Marx-Sternschen-Konservatorium in Berlin under Richard Wüerst, Georg Vierling, Hans von Bülow and Bernhard Marx. Later he worked as the principal conductor at different opera houses like Szczecin, Rostock, Bamberg or Trier. Since the year 1875 Alfred Dregert dedicated his work to several male choral societies in Köln, Elberfeld and Barmen which he led as their chorus master. Alfred Dregert died on 14 March 1893 in Elberfeld (Germany).
Alfred Dregert composed many songs, especially for (male) chorus. A lot of his songs were very famous in Germany in the late 19th and early 20th century, for example "Hoho, du stolzes Mädel", "Der tote Kamerad" or "Des deutschen Mannes Wort und Lied".
In my possession is the autograph manuscript of the song "Zieh' hinaus beim Morgengrau'n" for voice and piano. I received information that this voice and piano version in my autograph was especially composed for the wedding of "Geheimer Kommerzienrat" Friedrich Wandel (1837-1902) from Dessau. There is no information about the year when Friedrich Wandel married, but it seems likely around 1865. The work was first published in 1873 by Otto Forberg in a setting for men's chorus. It received publications in numerous other settings in the following years due to the enormous success of the song (voice and piano, zither, violin and piano, flute and piano, wind quintet).
The song "Zieh' hinaus im Morgengrau'n" is one of the most famous songs of Alfred Dregert and was recorded for example in 1928 by the Prof.-Felix-Schmidt-Doppelquartett and published on a shellac record by Grammophon. It was also arranged by other composers for violin and piano or for trumpet and wind orchestra. The work is Alfred Dregert's op. 98 No.2 and belongs to a set of three songs "Drei Lieder op.98". The two other songs are "Mein Vaterland" (No.1) and "Hoch lebe der Wein!" (No.3).
The text of the composition is by Otto Hausmann (1837-1916), an poet from Elberfeld.
