Dietrich Manicke

Born 29 October 1923 in Wurzen near Leipzig, went to school in Dresden * 1942-47 Studies composition (with Fidelio Finke and Gustav Mraczek), music theory, conducting and music pedagogy at the National Academy for Music and Theatre in Dresden, where he stays as a teacher for composition and music history after his graduation * First successful performances of his works, including Passacaglia and Fugue for orchestra (1947); supported by, among others, conductors Mauersberger, Bongartz and Kempe * 1950-55 Studies musicology in Berlin and Münster; doctorate on Mozart’s Magic Flute at the Freie Universität Berlin * 1950-53 Lecturer in music theory at the Deutsche Hochschule für Musik in Berlin, 1957-60 at the Berlin church music conservatory, and 1960-86 at the Nordwestdeutsche Musikakademie in Detmold (composition theory and practise; professorship in 1967) * Dietrich Manicke was awarded the city of Dresden’s Carl Maria von Weber Prize for composition, and the Johann Wenzel Stamitz Prize by the "Künstlergilde" * In his musical aesthetics and style follows Hindemith * Refined polyphonic writing, often intuitive at its first inception, and reinterpreting baroque and classical forms * Main output in orchestral and chamber works, special focus on sacred music * Interpreters of his compositions include Alun Francis, Werner Andreas Albert, Karlheinz Zöller, Saschko Gawriloff, Hans Maile, Dieter Klöcker and Janos Kulka * Manicke also wrote a two-part method on polyphonic setting and studies on Schütz and Pepping * Married to singer Annelies Westen, lives in Detmold

Works by Dietrich Manicke include:
Choral Partita "Von Gott will ich nicht lassen" (1963) for organ
Concerto da Camera (1983) for viola and orchestra
Overture in C on themes by Mozart (1987) for orchestra
Partita piccola (1995) for violin and piano

"I always try to write for and not against the instrument... Music should be a phenomenon which is made to resonate, and is comprehensible to the ear, not the result of far-from-life speculations and ideologies..." – Dietrich Manicke