Felix Woyrsch was appointed City Director of Music in Altona in 1914, making him responsible for the entire musical life of the city.
Composer Biography
Felix Woyrsch (1860-1944) was largely self-taught in music, apart from studies with Hamburg conductor and composer Ernst August Heinrich Chevallier.
Instruments
The Wilhelm Sauer organ in the Reformed Church in Ronsdorf, built in 1908, is a historic instrument that has survived in its original state.
Composer Biography
Felix Woyrsch was highly esteemed by Johannes Brahms and encouraged by Hans von Bülow, a prominent conductor and pianist.
Compositional Technique
The Passacaglia on the 'Dies irae' by Felix Woyrsch uses variations that are clearly differentiated, sometimes starkly, departing from Baroque and earlier Romantic models of the genre.
Critical Reception
Despite numerous honors during his lifetime, Felix Woyrsch's compositional work was largely forgotten after his death, with rediscovery only beginning in the 1990s.
Composition History
Felix Woyrsch's organ works can be seen as artistic responses to the 'global conflagration' of World War I.
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