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Wolfgang Jacobi
Karl Theodor Franz Wolgang Jacobi (born 25th of October,1894 in Bergen auf Rugen, died 15th of December 1972 in Munich) was a German composer, music teacher, author and cultural organizer.

Life
Wolfgang Jacobi was grew up in the town of Bergen on the island Rugen in northern Germany. He lived here with his parents, Oskar Jacobi and Sophie Jacobi (b. Sachse), who saw too it that he started taking piano lessons. Later, Wolfgang attended high school in Stralsund, and showed an interest in painting and drawing. In 1914, he enlisted to fight in the great war, and was sent to Russia and France. In 1916 he was taken prisoner in France, where he develops tuberculosis. Due to his illness, he is sent to a sanatorium in Davos, Switzerland. Here, Jacobi meets Paul Collaer whom introduced him to the music of french composers like Ravel and Debussy, which inspires him to make his first attempts at composition.

After the war, Jacobi moves to Berlin, and studies composition under Friedrich Koch from 1919 to 1922 at the University of the Arts. Later, he was employed as a teacher of music theory at the conservatory of Klindworth-Scharwenka. Around the same time, he also starts working with broadcasting radio at the Berliner Funk Stunde, and marries Eveline Rüegg in 1922. They had two children together; Andreas in 1923, and Ursula in 1926.

In 1933, the national socialists sentenced a strict ban on Jacobi's music, after reviewing his work and halting the premiere of Der Menschenmaulwurf, written for the Workers' Choir Movement. The ban exiled Jacobi from the Reichkulturkammer, the imperial cultural organisation; and from STAGMA, the society for performing rights. He was also removed from his post at the Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory. This was based on the verdict that Jacobi was half jewish, which was considered "un-aryan" and degenerate by the government now in power with a strict cultural agenda. This ban lasting 12 years prevented any chance Jacobi had at making influence with his composing career at the time.

From 1934 Jacobi and his family are helped with taking a brief refuge in Malcesine, Italy. While here, Jacobi takes up music studies at the Conservatorio Luigi Cherubini in Florence. In 1935 the family were forced to move back to Germany due to currency restrictions, and they settle in Munich. Over the next 10 years, Jacobi composes in his home, but without any of his music publicly performed. In 1942, a bomb destroys their old house in Berlin, and all the scores and works stored in it. During the second world war, Jacobi's son Andreas went missing in Russia in 1944, and his older brother died in Berlin in 1945.

Jacobi started working again after the war was over, at the Munich School of Muisc. First he filled a teaching position for composition, harmony and counterpoint, then later; from 1949 until 1959, he held a professorate in the field of school music. In these years he was widely active in the cultural rebuilding of Munich, engaging himself in several cultural and political organizations, and strongly promoted the use of educational music in German schools. In 1946 he had started "Studio für neue Musik" with Hans Mersman, and he was chairman of the artists' association "Verbandes Munchner Tonkünstler" and the concert-series "Munchner Komponisten". Besides this he arranged courses for private music teachers in Munich. Additionally, he was chairman of the national association "Landesverbandes Bayerischer Tonkünstler". Until 1960 he was also board member of the Institute for New Music and Music Education Darmstadt.

Works
Jacobi has written over 200 compositions for orchestra, choir, chamber groups, schools and solo instruments, and he also wrote books and treatises about music. He called himself a "Neoclassicist" or "modern Classicist". He is foremost associated with his body works for accordion or saxophone. A substantial amount of Jacobi's works from before and during the second world war are considered lost (also, Aria für Saxophon und Orchester, from 1951). Many works were lost due to an incendiary bomb destroying Jacobi's family home in 1942, but Jacobi also destroyed some of his own works.

Orchestral

 * Divertemento, 1959
 * Grétry-suite, op. 44, 1932/1948
 * Drei Bayrische Zwiefacher, for string orchestra, piano and percussion, 1964

Chamber music

 * Trio, for flute, violin and piano, op. 42,1946
 * Trio, for violin, cello and piano, 1950
 * Suite for five wind players, 1972

Works for keyboard instruments

 * Passacaglia und Fugue, for organ, op. 9, 1922
 * Sonatine, for harpsichord, 1956
 * Sonate nr. 3, for piano, 1939

Works for/with accordion

 * Niederdeutsche Volkstänze, for accordion orchestra, 1955
 * Serenade und Allegro, Concertino for accordion and string orchestra, 1958
 * Drei Choralvorspiele, for five accordions, 1972

Works for/with Saxophone

 * Sonate, for alto Saxophone and piano, 1931
 * Niederdeutscher Tanz, for Saxophone quartet, 1932
 * Skizze, for Saxophone quartet, 1932
 * Cantata, for soprano, alto Saxophone and piano, 1936
 * Barcarole, for two alto Saxophones and piano, 1964

Choral Works

 * Der Menschenmaulwurf ,for gemischten Chor, Sprecher, Bariton und Blasorchester, 1932; text by Bruno Schönlank
 * Dreistimmige Frauenchöre auf Kinderreime, 1948; text from Des Knaben Wunderhorn: Clemens Brentano
 * Drei Madrigale nach alten Weisen, for mixed chorus and accordion orchestra, 1958
 * Petrarca-Kantaten, for five-part choir and string orchestra, 1962/63

Works for solo voice with accompaniment

 * Barocklieder, for tenor and orchestra, op. 38, 1930/1945
 * Die Räuberballade von Pierre, dem roten Coquillard, melodrama for speaker and piano, 1931/33; text by François Villon, translation by Paul Zech
 * Die Sonette des Satans, for baritone and piano, 1946; text by Wolfgang Petzet
 * Die Toten von Spoon River, chansons for baritone and piano/accordion, 1956; text by Edgar Lee Masters (Spoon River Anthology), translation: Hans Rudolf Rieder

Music for schools

 * Kleine Sinfonie for string orchestra, piano four hands and percussion, 1930/1954
 * Die Jobsiade, school opera in 34 numbers, 1931; text by Robert Seitz after Carl Arnold Kortum
 * Neue Klavierschule I/II, (together with Hans Mersmann and Wilhelm Gebhardt), 1949
 * Fünf Studien, for recorder and piano/harpsichord, 1956
 * Höfische Tänze, two ballet-suites after Lully for school orchestra, 1958
 * Sonatine, for alto recorder and piano, 1963
 * Spielmusik in G, for two alto recorders and piano, 1964
 * Barocke Tanzformen, music for two alto recorders and piano, 1964
 * Kinderstücke, for piano four hands, 1966

Writings

 * Kontrapunkt, Heidelberg 1950 (Hochstein)
 * Harmonielehre (with Wilhelm Gebhardt and Helmut Schmidt-Garré), München 1950 (Kasparek, at Warner/Chappell)
 * Fuge und Choralvorspiel, Regensburg 1952 (Bosse, at Bärenreiter)
 * Die Sonate (1952), München 2003 (Allitera)
 * Die Technik des modernen Orchesters, by Alfredo Casella and Virgilio Mortari (1950) (translation to german)