Walther Hensel

Walther Hensel (born Julius Janiczek; 8 September 1887 − 5 September 1956) was a German musicologist, music educator, who dedicated himself above all to the research and cultivation of folk songs.

Commemorative plaque in Teplitz, Bohemia.

Life and achievements

Born in Moravská Třebová, Austria-Hungary, Hensel studied the German language as well as literature and musicology in Vienna, Freiburg/Switzerland and Prague and initially worked as a teacher at the Prague Commercial Academy. In 1924, he founded the Finkensteiner Bund out of the Jugendmusikbewegung. From 1925 to 1927 he directed the youth music school Dortmund, from 1930 he taught at the Stuttgart Volkshochschule. Besides he conducted choirs. In 1938 he took the "Anschluss des Sudetenlandes"- the choice of words of the Walther-Hensel-Society in Winnenden, Swabia, as an occasion to return to his homeland. He settled with his second wife Paula in Teplitz. In 1941 the Faculty of Philosophy of the German University in Prague awarded him the Joseph-Freiherr-von-Eichendorff-Preis. At the same time he received a state commission to research German and Slavic folk songs in the Bohemian-Moravian region. According to the website mentioned above, Hensel's work "under the Hitler regime... was complicated by many restrictions. The battle and stamp songs of the SA and the Hitler Youth are anathema to him, they are the opposite of what he aims for with the inner renewal of the people through the song. The statement that the Horst-Wessel-Lied is musically worthless bears witness to his courage." From 1946 to 1950 Hensel worked as a scientific advisor at the Municipal Library in Munich. Shortly before his death in Munich at the age of 68, he was honoured with the Sudetendeutscher Kulturpreis.

Hensel counted among Fritz Jöde and Hans Breuer (editor of the Zupfgeigenhansl) to the leading figures of the youth music movement. He also wrote numerous arrangements or settings of folk songs, including a setting of the poem Geh aus, mein Herz, und suche Freud by Paul Gerhardt. Hensel was the first author published by the Bärenreiter-Verlag.[1] In Göppingen is a primary and secondary school named after Walther Hensel,[2] and in his native town a German-Czech meeting centre bears his name.[3]

Work
  • Lied und Volk. Eine Streitschrift wider das falsche deutsche Lied.[4] 1921
  • Im Zeichen des Volksliedes.[5] 1922
  • Wach auf. Festliche Weisen.[6] 1924
  • Lobsinget. Geistliche Lieder.[7] 1926
  • Finkensteiner Liederbuch.[8] 1926
  • Der singende Quell.[9] 1929
  • Das aufrecht Fähnlein.[10] Liederbuch, 1923
  • Spinnerin Lobunddank.[11] Märchenliederbuch, 1932
  • Lönslieder.[12] 1934
  • Musikalische Grundlehre. Ein Wegweiser für Laien.[13] 1936
  • Auf den Spuren des Volksliedes.[14] 1944

References
  1. See Eine Bärenreiter Chronik, retrieved on 11 June 2020.
  2. See Webarchiv Wir über uns, retrieved on 11 June 2020.
  3. See: Begegnungszentrum „Walther Hensel“, Gesellschaft für Deutsch-tschechische Verständigung e.V., retrieved on 11 June 2020
  4. Lied und Volk on GoogleBooks
  5. Im Zeichen des Volksliedes on WorldCat
  6. Wach auf on GoogleBook
  7. Lobsinget. Geistliche Lieder on GoogleBooks
  8. Finkensteiner Liederbuch 2. Band on GoogleBooks
  9. Der singende Quell. Lieder für Fahrt und Herberge in einfachem SatzLiederbuch on GoogleBooks
  10. Das aufrecht Fähnlein on GoogleBooks
  11. Spinnerin Lobunddank Ein neu Mädchenliederbuch ; Für häusl. u. gesellige Kreise, doch auch f. stille Stunden on WorlCat
  12. Lönslieder on GoogleBooks
  13. Musikalische Grundlehre. Ein Wegweiser für Laien on GoogleBooks
  14. Auf den Spuren des Volksliedes on GoogleBooks
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