| Georg Hanstedt | |
| Birth Date: | 9 October 1904 |
| Birth Place: | Gelsenkirchen |
| Death Place: | Leipzig |
| Occupation: | Classical violinist |
| Organization: |
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| Awards: | Handel Prize |
Georg Hanstedt (9 October 1904 – 25 March 1975) was a German violinist. He was a long-standing member of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig, and played in various string quartet formations. In 1934, he became a violinist of the Bayreuth Festival orchestra. He made recordings in the 1960s as second violin of the Schuster Quartet.
Hanstedt was born in 1904 in Gelsenkirchen as the son of a police station master, Georg Hanstedt, and his wife Elisabeth, née Wahnes.[1] After the Abitur passed at the secondary school in his home town, he studied[1] violin (with Walther Davisson and Hans Bassermann), teaching theory and composition (with Max Ludwig) at the Leipzig Conservatory from 1923 to 1928.[2] In addition, he was enrolled at the University of Leipzig in humanities subjects.[1] He participated in the Gewandhaus concerts already during as a student.[1]
In 1929, he became a member of the second violins of the Gewandhaus Orchestra, conducted by Bruno Walter.[1] Following the emergency decree of Reich Chancellor Heinrich Brüning, he was dismissed in November 1931.[1] From October 1934, he played in the Leipziger Sinfonie-Orchester conducted by Hans Weisbach.[1] The same year, he was accepted by the Bayreuth Festival orchestra.[3] In April 1937, he was reinstated in the Gewandhaus Orchestra, which was meanwhile conducted by Hermann Abendroth. He was drafted to the Wehrmacht in February 1943.[1] Until his release in Fürstenwalde in August 1945, he was a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union.[1] He then continued his activities in the Gewandhaus Orchestra with conductors Herbert Albert, Franz Konwitschny, Václav Neumann and Kurt Masur until 1971,[1] eventually playing first violin.[1]
Hanstedt was active as a chamber musician in many ways: From 1928 to 1938[2] he played second violin in the Genzel Quartet,.[4] and in 1943 in the Schachtebeck Quartet, and from 1945 in the Kirmse Quartet.[2] Later, Hanstedt was second violin of the Schuster Quartet.[5] In 1960, they recorded Max Butting's String Quartet No. 8, Op. 96.[6] They recorded in 1965/66 the String Quartet No. 2 by Leo Spies.[7] The quartet was awarded the Handel Prize in 1963.
From 1936 he was married to Irene Melzer; the couple had two children.[2] He died in Leipzig at age 70.