Erich Bergel was a conductor from Transylvania

Transylvania

Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...

 (now Rumania).

Professional career

Bergel was a flutist of the Hermannstädter Philharmoniker age 18. From 1950 to 1955 he studied conducting

Conducting

Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...

, organ

Pipe organ

The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...

 and composition at the Gheorghe Dima Music Academy

Gheorghe Dima Music Academy

Gheorghe Dima Music Academy is an educational institution in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Founded in 1919, it has various sections, including musicology, musical pedagogy, canto, coregraphic pedagogy, and opera. A notable alumnus is Christian Wilhelm Berger....

 of Cluj-Napoca

Cluj-Napoca

Cluj-Napoca , commonly known as Cluj, is the fourth most populous city in Romania and the seat of Cluj County in the northwestern part of the country. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest , Budapest and Belgrade...

 (Klausenburg). He was appointed principal conductor of the Cluj Philharmonic Orchestra and guest conductor of the Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra.

He defected to Germany, where he was promoted by Herbert von Karajan

Herbert von Karajan

Herbert von Karajan was an Austrian orchestra and opera conductor. To the wider world he was perhaps most famously associated with the Berlin Philharmonic, of which he was principal conductor for 35 years...

. He conducted notable orchestras on tours to Paris, Auckland, Los Angeles, Berlin, Vienna and Cape Town. He was also a teacher at the Hochschule der Künste

Berlin University of the Arts

The Universität der Künste Berlin, UdK is a public art school in Berlin, Germany, one of the four universities in the city...

 in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

.

From 1971 to 1974 he was the principal conductor of the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie

Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie

The Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie is a German symphony orchestra based in Herford. It was founded in 1950 and, along with Philharmonie Südwestfalen and Landesjugendorchester NRW, is one of the 'official' orchestras of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia...

 in Herford

Herford

Herford is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, located in the lowlands between the hill chains of the Wiehen Hills and the Teutoburg Forest. It is the capital of the district of Herford.- Geographic location :...

. He conducted them in a recording of Les Djinns, a symphonic poem for piano and orchestra of César Franck

César Franck

César-Auguste-Jean-Guillaume-Hubert Franck was a composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher who worked in Paris during his adult life....

, with pianist Volker Banfield

Volker Banfield

Volker Banfield is a German pianist.He studied at the Nordwestdeutsche Musikakademie in Detmold, beginning at age 14. Afterward he moved to the United States and studied at the Juilliard School and at the University of Texas . He then returned to live in Germany and toured extensively...

. In 1989 he was appointed principal conductor for life of the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra

Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra

The Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra is Hungary's oldest functioning orchestra, being founded in 1853 by Ferenc Erkel under the auspices of the Budapest Philharmonic Society...

. In 1991 he recorded Béla Bartók

Béla Bartók

Béla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer...

's second violin concerto with Silvia Marcovici

Silvia Marcovici

Silvia Marcovici is a Romanian classical violinist.Born in Bacău, Romania, she studied at the Conservatory in Bucharest. Her international debut was at the age of sixteen when she performed in The Hague under Bruno Maderna...

 and the Budapest Radio Orchestra. He recorded his arrangement of Bach's Die Kunst der Fuge

The Art of Fugue

The Art of Fugue , BWV 1080, is an incomplete work by Johann Sebastian Bach . It was most likely started at the beginning of the 1740s, if not earlier. The first known surviving version, which contained 12 fugues and 2 canons, was copied by the composer in 1745...

 with the Cluj Philharmonic Orchestra.

Publications

• Johann Sebastian Bach, die Kunst der Fuge: ihre geistige Grundlage im Zeichen der thematischen Bipolarität, Brockhaus Musikverlag Bonn, 1980, ISBN 3-922173-00-4
• Bachs letzte Fuge, Brockhaus Musikverlag Bonn, 1985, ISBN 3-922173-03-9

Literature

• Hans Bergel: Erich Bergel. Ein Musikerleben, Gehann-Musik-Verlag, 2006, ISBN 3-927293-29-6

External links

• Erich Bergel on Budapest Music Centre
• Erich Bergel on bach-cantatas
• Erich Bergel on the website of Forum der Deutschen im Kreis Kronstadt (in German)
• Entries for Erich Bergel on WorldCat
  WorldCat
  WorldCat is a union catalog which itemizes the collections of 72,000 libraries in 170 countries and territories which participate in the Online Computer Library Center global cooperative...