Heinz Dressel Explained

Heinz Dressel (23 June 1902 – June 1997) was a German conductor.

Life

Born in Mainz, Dressel studied in Cologne with Hermann Abendroth, became Kapellmeister in Plauen, and later in Lübeck^[1] and General Music Director there in 1934. During the period of National Socialism, he conducted the 1934 premiere of Hugo Distler's setting of the Thingspiel Ewiges Deutschland by Wolfram Brockmeier.^[2]

He was general music director in Münster Symphony Orchestra from 1941/42 to 1951, then in Freiburg im Breisgau (1951-1956)^[3] and later in Essen. Dressel was furthermore director of the Folkwang University in Essen from 1956, taking over the conducting class, the orchestra and the opera department there himself (the opera department only until 1958). Dressel founded the Folkwang Kammerorchester Essen in 1958. From 1964 to 1968 he was president of the Deutscher Musikrat.

Dressel died in Essen.

Honours

• 1969: Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
• 1989: Order of Merit of North Rhine-Westphalia.^[4]

Further reading

• Bernd Haunfelder: Nordrhein-Westfalen-Land und Leute 1946-2006: ein biographisches Handbuch, Aschendorff Verlag, 2006, . page 129.
• Heinz Dressel In Karl Gustav Fellerer (ed.): Rheinische Musiker. 5. Folge. A. Volk, Cologne 1967,

Notes and References

1. "The association appointed the concert conductor and from then on Lübeck became a springboard for young talents. Ugo Afferni was followed by Hermann Abendroth, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Georg Göhler, a friend of Gustav Mahler, and the future Bayreuth conductor Franz von Hoesslin, Karl Mannstaedt, Edwin Fischer, Eugen Jochum, Ludwig Leschetitzki and Heinz Dressel." Quoted from: Bewegte Orchestergeschichte by Günter Zschacke, In Die Tonkunst, October 2013, No. 4, Vol. 7 (2013),,
2. Zur Tätigkeit Dressels in Lübeck: Jörg Fligge:"Schöne Lübecker Theaterwelt". Das Stadttheater in den Jahren der NS-Diktatur.Lübeck: Schmidt-Römhild, 2018., .
3. http://d-nb.info/gnd/129701416 Beschreibung der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek
4. https://web.archive.org/web/20140304143722/http://www.onlineausstellung.theaterfreiburg.de/html/index.php?area=administration&year=1945 Verdienstordenträgerinnen und -träger seit 1986