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

Dietrich Manicke is published by Anton J. Benjamin Musikverlage

"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