Dietrich Erdmann

Dietrich Erdmann (20 July 1917 – 22 April 2009) was a German composer and university lecturer. Life Erdmann was born in Bonn. His father was the publicist and trade union official Lothar Erdmann, his mother Elisabeth Erdmann-Macke, the painter August Macke’s widow. Erdmann had lived in Berlin since he was eight years old. His childhood was characterised by a family environment with a strong cultural interest. He received his first piano lessons at the age of nine. Already during his school days at the Humanistisches Gymnasium In Berlin, he paid visits to the composers Paul Hindemith, Ernst-Lothar von Knorr and Harald Genzmer. In 1931, he began his cello lessons with Pál Hermann. From 1934 to 1938, Erdmann studied choir conducting and musical composition with Kurt Thomas and conducting with Walter Gmeindl at the Universität der Künste Berlin. He completed his studies with the in choral conducting and the private music teacher examination in musical composition. Erdmann was co-founder of the Arbeitskreis für Neue Musik at the Berlin University of the Arts. From 1947, Erdmann taught at the , where he became head of the music seminar two years later. He then was appointed associate pro