Werner Wemheuer

Personal

Vocation

Traits

Family

German répétiteur and conductor at the Hessian State Theater in Wiesbaden as well as a composer and arranger of numerous Hessian folk songs, along with musicals and revues. His parents were Erich Wemheuer (1869-1925, solo double bass player and chamber musician at the municipal orchestra in Wiesbaden) and Natalie Katharina Luckow, nee Hering (1863-1925). His parents did not marry until 1917 and then gave him the surname Wemheuer, which is why in early reports and newspaper articles he was called "Werner Luckow". At the tender age of five he made himself known as a "child prodigy" on the piano. At the age of 8, he performed a piano concerto by Mozart/ At age 11 he played a piano concerto by Beethoven publicly with great success at the Kurhaus Wiesbaden. He studied at the conservatory and at the Music Academy in Frankfurt with the Professors Hochstädter and Höhn (piano), Professor Weidemann (organ) and Ivan Knorr (composition). In 1919 he began his career at the State Theater as a répétiteur and conductor under the General Music Directors Arthur Rother, Otto Klemperer, Karl Elmendorff and later Wolfgang Sawallisch. On 22 November 1922, he married Irmgard Lang, with whom he had 2 children: Ingeborg (1925-2018) and Erich (b. 1930). He died on 14 December 1977, aged 78. Link to Wikipedia biography (German)