Guitar Catalog of the 20th and 21st Centuries

based on the original project by Vincenzo Pocci

rebooting by Cristiano Porqueddu

Henze Bruno (1900-1978)

Germany / More info in Enciclopedia de la Guitarra

Guitarist, composer, and teacher, was born and died in Berlin.

English
Bruno Henze was born on May 12th 1900 in Berlin. His father Carl Henze (1872- 1946), a pioneer of music for plucked strings, gave him his first guitar lessons. The child Bruno played his first Carcassi-soli during performances of the Berliner Mandolinen- und Lauten-Orchester. He taught guitar from 1915 to his death. As early as 1920 he founded a guitar-choir and his first compositions were published in 1921, from 1922 to 1926 he studied harp, piano and composition at the Hochschule für Musik. In 1922 a concert critic wrote about a chamber-music evening with guitar: “Bruno Henze has a perfect touch and so prevents the usual side-effect sounds in cantilena and accompaniment”. He played harp in several orchestras in central and west Germany. From 1932 he worked in Berlin, as guitarist and harpist at several theatres of Max Reinhardt and with the Philharmonisches Orchester; founded 1932 with Willi Schlinske (1st Terzgitarre), Gerhard Tucholski (2nd Terzgitarre) and Erich Bürger (Primgitarre) the Berliner Gitarrenquartett, in which he took the Quintbassgitarre. He often told of the difficult radio-recordings, always live, and that with those sensitive gut strings! To his chagrin he was called up during the war but often freed from duty for film work. From 1946 he was harpist in the Friedrichstadtpalast in Berlin-Mitte, founded the Berliner Zupforchester (Orchestra of Plucked Instruments, 1950-1953). In 1950 he began to publish his guitar school “Das Gitarrespiel” (17 volumes). From 1954 to 1978 he taught a very active guitar-class at the music-school in Berlin-Wedding, founded there in 1955 the Gitarrenchor, still performing regularly under the name of Gitarrenensemble “Bruno Henze”. Whilst the Berlin Wall stood (from 1961) he kept active contact with musical colleagues in the East, particularly with “his” guitar-maker Adolf Meinel in Markneukirchen, and always visited the Exhibition in Lipsia. Sadly he was not to see the fall of the Wall, as he passed away on February 10th 1978 in Berlin. His most prominent pupils are Erich Bürger, Adalbert Quadt, Hans-Lutz Niessen, Yvonne Gaes, Dieter Rumstig, Friedhelm Steltner, Egon Puls, Bernd Romahn, Rolf Kaiser and Christian Bänsch. His compositions, arrangements and didactic works are found at the publishers Hofmeister, Köster, Zimmermann and Trekel. His partner Else Goguel, once a pupil and duo-partner, later for 50 years herself a guitar teacher, looks after his inheritance with the assistance of his pupil Rainer Stelle. His house in Berlin-Kreuzberg was marked by the City on May 12th 1991 with a remembrance plaque.
Völker Höh recorded two CD‘s with compositions by Bruno Henze: In 2012 the CD „SoloDuoTrioQuartett - Deutsche Gitarrenmusik” (Naxos 8.551291) with compositions by Bruno Henze, Heinrich Albert und Simon Schneider was published and in 2015 the CD „Berliner Romantik” (Naxos 8.551375) exclusively with compositions by Bruno Henze was published. The sheet music with many unpublished works of Bruno Henze was published 2012-2015 in volumes (Joachim Trekel Musikverlag).
(Rainer Stelle)

Composizioni (315)

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