Herbert Baumann

Herbert Baumann, born in Berlin in 1925, studied composition with Paul Höffner and Boris Blacher, and conducting with Sergiu Celibidache at the Berlin International Music Institute. He was director of incidental music at the most important stages in Germany: 1947–1953 at the Deutsches Theater Berlin, 1953–1970 at the Berlin State Theaters, Schiller and Schloßparktheater, then he was director of music at the Bavarian State Theater in Munich. The music for over 500 theater productions comes from his pen (not only for the aforementioned, but also for numerous other theaters, e.g. Burgtheater Vienna, Akademietheater Wien, Thalia-Theater Hamburg, Württembergisches Staatsschauspiel Stuttgart, Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, Schauspielhaus Zürich etc.) He also composed the music for more than 40 television plays. His ballets Alice in Wonderland (commissioned by the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden) and Rumpelstilzchen (commissioned by the Städtische Bühnen Augsburg; here and on other stages so far 140 performances in a wide variety of choreographies) achieved great and lasting success. Herbert Baumann has been working as a freelancer since 1979. In the field of absolute music, numerous orchestral and choral works as well as numerous chamber music compositions were created.
Herbert Baumann made early contact with music for plucked instruments when he wrote folk song cantatas – a cappella and with instrumental accompaniment – for the Berlin radio stations in 1962 for students at Berlin music schools. He met a mandolin orchestra under the direction of Konrad Wölki. Due to the success of Baumann’s music, Siegfried Behrend, as director of the Saarland mandolin orchestra, suggested further compositions for mandolin orchestras. The “Saarländische Zupfmusik”, which initiated and supported the change in the music-making style of the mandolin orchestras, was of greatest importance from this creative period. Numerous other works for mandolin orchestra and chamber music with plucked instruments followed.