It is with sadness that we learnt about the death Heinrich Poos, outstanding composer and friend of Polski Chór Kameralny. He died in the afternoon of August 19th, 2020 at a hospital in Simmern/Hunsrück (Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany).
Heinrich Poos, son of a Protestant pastor, was born on Christmas Day 1928 in the small, secluded village of Seibersbach in the Hunsrück hills not far from the river Rhine.
Initially, he studied church music in Berlin Spandau where he was inspired by a number of charismatic teachers, headed by the eminent composer Ernst Pepping. He also studied conducting, musicology, theology and philosophy at the Berlin Technical University where he obtained his PhD and worked as a lecturer. From 1971 to 1994 he was a professor at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin (now Hochschule der Künste Berlin), simultaneously working as a composer and publishing papers and books in the fields of musical analysis, systematic musicology, and history of music. Until the last day of his life he continued working and publishing in both the creative and the scholarly sectors.
The compositions of Heinrich Poos were always inspired by the word and both his sacred and his secular works can be described as a kind of musical sermon. For this reason, most of Poos' compositions are based on texts as diverse as, for example, the poetry of Bertolt Brecht or Joseph von Eichendorff, and the major part of this output are choral works. The artist's cooperation with the Polish Chamber Choir was exceptional and lasted for over thirty years. During that time, the ensemble presented works by Heinrich Poos in Poland and around the world, but also performed the world premieres of such compositions as The Parable of the Prodigal Son, Epistulae, Hypostasis, and the first of three Orpheus Fantasies. Polski Chór Kameralny also performs on most of the monographic albums of music by Heinrich Poos, notably one published by Wergo. The majority of Poos’ important compositions and also a complete catalogue of his works were published by one of the most famous European publishing houses - Schott Music.
Heinrich Poos is considered one of the most eminent contemporary German composers of choral music.
Honour to his memory.
