Thomas, (Georg Hugo) Kurt

Thomas, (Georg Hugo) Kurt, prominent German choral conductor, pedagogue, and composer; b. Tönning, May 25, 1904; d. Bad Oeynhausen, March 31, 1973. He studied organ with Straube, piano with Teichmüller, and composition with Grabner at the Leipzig Cons., and composition with A. Mendelssohn in Darmstadt. He taught theory and composition at the Leipzig Cons. (1925-34), and was conductor of the choir at the Inst. of Church Music in Leipzig (1928-34); then was a prof, at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik (1934-39). He went to Frankfurt am Main as director of the Musisches Gymnasium (1939-45) and as Kantor of the Dreikönigskirche (1945-56); also was a prof, at the North West German Music Academy in Detmold (1947-55). After serving as director of the Leipzig Thomaskantorei and of the Thomasschule (1955-61), he resumed his post with the Frankfurt am Main Dreikönigskirche and also became conductor of the Cologne Bach Soc; taught choral conducting at the Lübeck Academy of Music (from 1969). He publ. the important manual Lehrbuch der Chorleitung (3 vols., Leipzig, 1935-8; Eng. tr., 1971, as The Choral Conductor). Among his compositions were many choral works, including a Mass (1925), Passions-musik nach den Evangelisten Markus, Weihnachts-Oratorium, Auferstehungs-Oratorium, cantatas, Psalms, and motets; several orch. works, including a Piano Concerto; chamber music, organ pieces, and songs.

Bibliography

M. Kluge, ed., Choreziehung und neue Musik: Für K. T zum 65. Geburtstag (Wiesbaden, 1969); N. Bethke, K. T: Studien zu Leben und Werk (Kassel, 1989).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire