Hans Boll

Hans Boll (25 November 1923 – 12 June 2016) was a German composer, arranger, musician and conductor.

Life

Chilhood (1923 bis 1939)

Boll was born in Apolda Thuringia. His parents had their own barbershop and intended to raise young Hans as their successor for the business. However, since early childhood he showed a strong devotion to music, which was not taken seriously by his parents at first. Although he was allowed to take lessons on some instruments - acoustic guitar, violin and piano - it took a long time until his parents felt that their son would not be dissuaded from his love of music.

Youth (1939 bis 1948)

At the age of 16, he broke off his hairdressing apprenticeship, took the entrance examination at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt, Weimar and began studying to become a Kapellmeister. Due to the Second World War, he had to abandon this study and do his military service. His training period took place in France, where after basic training he joined a military music corps as oboist. (Note: He had taken the oboe in Weimar as an orchestral instrument, a requirement that was obligatory in the Kapellmeister studies). Until 1944, he was an oboist in this music corps, which was stationed in various parts of the Russian war zone. After that all instruments were transferred to Tarnowitz, (Poland), where they were lost to the effects of the war.

Due to an injury he was able to escape captivity shortly before the end of the war. Since all his musical instruments (oboe, acoustic guitar, as well as a precious morino accordion) were lost in the war, he decided to follow his father's wish and take over the barbershop.

Professional development (1948 to 1969)

After the return of his comrades from war captivity (1948), they convinced him to resume music. They founded an ensemble and from then have been regularly heard on the Weimar regional radio station. Some time later he took part in the Klingenthaler Musiktage and won first place.

From 1951 to 1952 he worked as an editor at the then Berliner Rundfunk, conducted a mixed orchestra with folk instruments at the State Folk Art Ensemble of the GDR from 1952 to 1953, and in 1953 he was appointed professor of artistic accordion playing at the Berlin Academy of Music (later Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler), ensemble playing, instrumentation and other subjects and established a specialty with the aim of training primarily accordion and guitar teachers for music schools.

In 1955, the then Minister of Culture awarded him the Prize for National Artistic Creation 1st Class.

In 1956 he defied the instructions of the Minister of Culture, took part in the German Accordion Championship in Ludwigsburg - there was no wall yet - and as a citizen of the GDR, he earned the title "German Accordion Master". Boll then stopped participating in competitions in order to devote more attention to his teaching activities at the university, his freelance work with the State Broadcasting Committee and extensive concert activity at home and abroad. Concert tours have taken him to Finland, Poland, India, Iraq, Austria, Mongolia, Romania, Italy, Switzerland and Russia.

Professional development (1970 to 1984)

From 1970 to 1974, Boll studied composition in the evening and distance learning with Gerhard Tittel. Already before that he had taken private composition lessons with Günter Kochan as well as conducting lessons with Willy Niepolt to perfect his skills. Until 1984, he worked in the GDR as composer, arranger, instrumentalist and conductor.

Since the appointment of a new rector at the Hochschule für Musik, the relationship between Boll and some members of the university management became increasingly complicated, so that Boll considered leaving the GDR for good after a scandal which the aforementioned rector publicly delivered on Dies academicus. The opportunity to do so arose in 1984 during a concert tour in Italy with the well-known actress and singer Vera Oelschlegel.

Career start (1984 until his death)

The new start in the Federal Republic of Germany was very difficult for him in the beginning. After a period without employment and in the further course of his professional reorientation, he was able to re-establish contacts with publishers, have unpublished works printed and also composed new ones. Among other things, he was also successful as musical director of the Bochum Planetarium.

The contact with the Lethmater Accordion Orchestra was a stroke of luck for him. He took over the direction of the orchestra from 1987 to 1989 and composed especially for it Symphonic Variations on "Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen", took part in a competition which takes place every 3 years and immediately won 2nd place in the "OBERSTUFE" of 82 participating orchestras in this categoriy. He also conducted the Landesjugend-Akkordeon-Orchester of the NRW with Guido Wagner for several years and had several performances abroad. The attempt to release a new record after the Peaceful Revolution in 1989 was not successful due to lack of demand. From 1990 to 1992 Boll was conductor of the Bochum Zither Orchestra.

Outlook

For the coming years he planned to publish a number of works that could not be published in the GDR due to a lack of paper and to turn his attention to literature that is urgently needed by musicians and teachers.

Personal life

Boll was married three times. His first two marriages each produced a son, who shared his interest in music, but did not want to make music their profession. His second wife, Christine Boll, who was also a teacher at the university, worked successfully as a musician and undertook several concert tours with him, died on 28 May 1973. He was divorced from his third wife, who did not pursue a musical profession and brought two sons into the marriage, after he left the GDR during a concert tour in Italy in 1984 and used the opportunity to move to the Federal Republic of Germany. After passing through various musical stages in the last phase of his life, he returned to his family after a stroke in 2011. He died at the age of 92 during a short stay in Berlin.

Services

During his time at the university Boll trained about 40 prizewinners, some of whom are still active today as soloists as well as recognized teachers (for example Gudrun Wall and Jürgen Ganzer). In the years up to 1984 he made about 450 studio recordings. A student of Georg Reidys, researched in an examination paper on the Complete Works by Boll at the Hochschule für Musik in Dortmund. Among other things, he was director of the Lethmater Accordion Orchestra in Iserlohn and the Landesjugend-Akkordeon-Orchester von NRW.

Compositions
  • Adagio ostinato e Allegro finale
  • Aria – Toccata – Fugato Interrotto E Corale
  • Aria
  • Begegnungen für mandolin orchestra
  • Bol(l)ero Martellato
  • Das Äpfelchen
  • Der kleine Prinz
  • Fantasie
  • Impressionen für Akkordeon-Duo
  • Inmortal – In memoriam Astor Piazzolla
  • Kontraste
  • Musikalische Delikatessen
  • Planetarium Suite
  • Prelude for mandoline and guitar
  • Reisebilder vom Balkan
  • Suite Miniature
  • Tango-Medley
  • The Kepler Theme
  • Toccata – Passacaglia – Fuge
  • Universe – Transparente Träume
  • Variationen über "Innsbruck ich muss dich lassen"

References
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