Joachim Carlos Martini (Conductor)

Born: 1931 - Valdivia, Chile

The Chilean conductor, Joachim Carlos Martini, was a child of German parents. After the return of the family to Germany 1938 he spent the school time in Berlin, West Prussia and Schleswig-Holstein. In Göttingen and Frankfurt/Main he studied philosophy, German, history, history of art and music science, in order to pass the 1^st and 2^nd state examination of the teaching profession at high schools. With Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno Martini studied to the questions of the music aesthetics and music sociology, with Kurt Thomas he studied choir directing and oratorio practice, with Hellmuth Franz orchestra directing and opera practice. He completed his musical training by directing courses of the summer academy of the Salzburg Mozarteum; the conductors Dean Dixon and Hermann Scherchen were his teachers.

The love for the music and the influence of Theodor W. Adornos, with whom he continued his friendship beyond the study, let Joachim Carlos Martini continue to work on his musical formation apart from the training occupation. After preparation period he passed the Kantor examination at the Frankfurt church School of Music.

From 1958 on Joachim Carlos Martini led the Student Choir of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt/Main and justified his call by performances of sacred works, primarily of the Romantic era.

In 1961 Joachim Carlos Martini created, together with Fritz Eitel, national youth ministers of the Evangelist Churches in Hessen and Nassau, the ‘Hessische Schülerkantorei’. At the same time he creathed in 1968 the student choir Junge Kantorei, and dedicated himself to be their full-time director/conductor. For four he has shaped the choir unmistakable coinage.

Together with Judith Freise, Joachim Carlos Martini created Frankfurt archive ‘Verfolgtes Musikleben in der NS-Zeit’. Within this framework he investigates biographies and works of the Jewish musicians and musicians during the time of the National Socialist terror. This work found its precipitation in a set of publications and so far three exhibitions: ‘Music in Auschwitz’, ‘Music as form of mental resistance, Jewish music and musicians, 1933 to 1945 – the example Frankfurt’ and ‘The South West German broadcast and its to Jewish workers’. The exhibitions were shown among other things in the Frankfurt Paulskirche, in the Wiesbadener Federal State parliament, in the Universities of Frankfurt, Leipzig and Erfurt, in Strasbourg and Chicago.

In connection with this processing of the recent German past many were regenerated long missing person compositions of Jewish composers and specified of the Junge Kantorei - eloquent certifications of music as form of mental resistance.

Source: Junge Kantorei Website, English translation by Aryeh Oron (September 2001)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (September 2001)

Joachim Carlos Martini: Short Biography | Junge Kantorei | Recordings of Vocal Works

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Joachim Carlos Martini (Junge Kantorei)