Heinz Bongartz

The German conductor and composer Heinz Bongartz (1894–1978) received his musical education in Krefeld. He began his career in 1919 as a choir conductor. In 1923 he took over the management of the opera in Mönchengladbach. Between 1924 and 1926 he conducted the orchestra of the Konzerthaus, Berlin. He also worked in Meiningen, Saarbrücken, Gotha and Kassel. From 1947 to 1964, Heinz Bongartz was chief conductor and artistic director of the Dresden Philharmonic. The conductor's repertoire mainly includes music by contemporary composers, and above all Paul Hindemith. At the same time, his interpretations of music by Brahms and Bruckner have received recognition from specialists. Audio recordings of works by Beethoven, Brahms, Hindemith and Reger, made by the conductor, have been preserved. In 1946-1947, Bongartz taught at the Leipzig University of Music and Theatre. Heinz Bongartz is the author of two orchestral suites (1940 and 1949), Fantasy and Fugue on a Theme by Mozart (1942), "Japanese Spring" for soprano and symphony orchestra (1943), Burlesque and Scherzo (1957), Symphony (1964), Rembrandt Suite (1967), etc. (Dresden Philharmonic Concert Halls) under the East German regime.