Gerhart von Westerman

Gerhart von Westerman was born 19 September 1894 in Riga (at that time Russian Empire, today Latvia). He attended school in Riga and then moved to Berlin to study music at the university under Paul Juon (composition). In 1918 Gerhart von Westerman moved to Munich where he completed his compositional studies under Walter Courvoisier and August Reuß.
After his studies Gerhart von Westerman opted for a career as a musical operative. He worked at the Munich Broadcasting and became the head of the music division already in 1924 and between 1933 and 1935 its director. In 1938 Gerhart von Westerman moved back to Berlin where he first was the director of the Berlin Broadcasting. In 1939 he was appointed director of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, a position he fulfilled until 1945 and again between 1952 and 1959. In 1951 Gerhart von Westerman was also one of the founders of the Berliner Festwochen, now part of the Berliner Festspiele, and its first director until his retirement in 1959.
Beside his managing work Gerhart von Westerman wrote several books on music. His best known publication in German speaking countries is surely "Knaurs Opernführer" resp. "Knaurs Konzertführer", an encyclopedic work on the opera and orchestra repertoire. But Gerhart von Westerman also wrote books on topics related to his origin and childhood: The musical life in Riga, about Baltic composers and about the Russian folk songs.
As a composer the work catalogue of Gerhart von Westerman only contains 25 opus numbers: The operas "Prometheische Phantasie" and "Rosamunde Floris", the cantata "A propos Kantate", the orchestral works "Serenade", "Intermezzi" and "Divertimento", 2 string quartets, 2 piano sonatas, sonatas for violin, cello and flute, many songs and a singspiel.

Gerhart von Westerman died on 14 February 1963 in Berlin (Germany).

In my possession is the autograph manuscript of the song "Widmung" for high voice and piano by Gerhart von Westerman. The song was composed in 1946 on words by the German writer Karla Höcker. The work is also dedicated to her.