Franz Lehrndorfer (10 August 1928 – 10 January 2013) was a German organist, composer, and pedagogue.
Biography
Franz Lehrndorfer[1] was born in
Salzburg and spent his youth in
Kempten. He received his first music lessons from his father, a choir director and
musicologist and began to play the organ at age nine. From 1948 until 1951, Lehrndorfer studied sacred music in
Munich and obtained a
master classdiploma in organ performance in 1952. Upon graduation, he worked as music instructor for the
Regensburger Domspatzen, under music director
Theobald Schrems. In 1962, he began his teaching career at the
Musikhochschule München, first as adjunct professor of organ, later (from 1969 until 1993) as professor and department chair of sacred music and organ performance. From 1969 until 31 October 2002, Lehrndorfer was organist at the
Frauenkirche in Munich. He left his cathedral appointment after major disagreements with the cathedral’s music director, Karl-Friedrich Nies.[2]
Lehrndorfer focused on organ improvisations, both in concert and recordings. As a performer, he often included music by
Johann Sebastian Bach and
Max Reger, as well as works by contemporary composers, such as
Karl Höller and
Harald Genzmer, in his programs. In 2001, he played the premiere of Genzmer's Concerto for organ, which he subsequently edited for
Schott Music.[3]
On the occasion of Lehrndorfers 80th anniversary in 2008, more than 50 of his former students celebrated at the Musikhochschule Munich.[7]
Franz Lehrndorfer died at age 84 in a hospital in Munich.[8][9]
Many of Franz Lehrndorfer's former organ students became concert organists, obtained positions at important churches or faculty positions in Germany and abroad:
Missa in C major for SATB choir (Munich: Opus-Verlag, 1995)
Missa "In gloria Dei" for SATB choir (Munich: Opus-Verlag, 1995)
Missa mundi for SATB Choir and organ (Munich: Opus-Verlag, 2002)
Missa in memoriam Theobald Schrems for four-part male choir (2008, unpublished)[10]
Editor
Franz Xaver Schnizer: Six Sonatas op. 1 for harpsichord (piano) or organ (Stuttgart: Carus, 1980)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Intrada and Fugue in C major from K. 399 (385i) (Eichstätt: Jubilate, 1994)
Antonio Vivaldi: Concerto in D major (Munich: Opus-Verlag, 1994)
Johann Melchior Molter: Concerto Pastorale (Munich: Opus-Verlag, 1995)
John Stanley: Concerto in D major (Munich: Opus-Verlag, 1996)
John Stanley: Concerto in A major (Munich: Opus-Verlag, 1999)
John Stanley: Concerto I in E major (Munich: Opus-Verlag, 1999)
John Stanley: Concerto III in B major (Munich: Opus-Verlag, 2000)
John Stanley: Concerto VI in C major (Munich: Opus-Verlag, 2000)
Harald Genzmer: Concerto for organ (Munich: Schott, 2002)
Harald Genzmer: Sinfonisches Konzert no. 2 for organ (Mainz: Schott, 2003)
Giuseppe Tartini: Eleven slow Sonata movements (Munich: Opus-Verlag, 2011)
Joseph Rupert Ignaz Bieling: Concerto in B major and three Sonatas (Munich: Opus-Verlag, 2015)
George Frideric Handel: Concerto in G minor (Munich: Opus-Verlag, 2015)
Bibliography
Dux et comes.
Festschrift für Franz Lehrndorfer zum 70. Geburtstag (book and CD), edited by Hans D. Hoffert and Klemens Schnorr. Regensburg: Universitätsverlag Regensburg, 1998.
ISBN3-930480-68-9.