Biography:

Manfred Weiss (12 February 1935 – 25 April 2023)^[1] was a German composer.

Life

Weiss was born in Niesky (Upper Lusatia). He grew up in a missionary family of the Moravian Church and received violin lessons in Niesky and piano lessons in Görlitz since his childhood. He also sang in the Kirchenchor [de] and played organ repertoire. At the age of twelve he composed his first pieces.

After his Abitur, Weiss studied musical composition with Hans Stieber and music theory with Franz von Glasenapp at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik Halle/Saale from 1952 to 1955. Minor subjects were piano and viola. From 1955 to 1957 he studied composition with Rudolf Wagner-Régeny and music theory with Ruth Zechlin (harmony), and Jürgen Wilbrandt (counterpoint) at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” in East Berlin. In 1957 he passed his Staatsexamen. His critical remarks about the East German uprising of 1953 prevented him from becoming an aspirant in Berlin. From 1957 to 1959 he was instead Meisterschüler [de] for composition at Rudolf Wagner-Régeny at the Academy of Arts, Berlin. He received further encouragement from Paul Dessau.

In 1959, he was appointed a lecturer on the recommendation of Fritz Reuter and professor in 1983 (from 1991 full professor) for composition and music theory at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber in Dresden. From 1991 to 1997 he was prorector of the University of Music, in whose modernization he played a leading role. He has been emeritus since 1998. Weiss was a member of the Sächsischer Musikbund [de].^[2]

Credits: