Musicians from Berlin

Gustav Heinrich Ernst Martin Wilhelm Furtwängler (UK: FOORT-veng-glər, US: -⁠lər, German: [ˈvɪlhɛlm ˈfʊɐ̯tvɛŋlɐ]; 25 January 1886 – 30 November 1954) was a German conductor and composer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century. He was a major influence for many later conductors, and his name is often mentioned when discussing their interpretative styles.Furtwängler was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic between 1922 and 1945, and from 1952 until 1954. He was also principal conductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra (1922–26), and was a guest conductor of other major orchestras including the Vienna Philharmonic.
Although not an adherent of Nazism, he was the leading conductor to remain in Germany during the Nazi regime. Despite his open opposition to antisemitism and the ubiquity of Nazi symbolism, the regime did not seek to suppress him, at Joseph Goebbels' insistence, for propaganda reasons. This situation caused lasting controversy, and the extent to which his presence lent prestige to Nazi Germany is still debated.

Georg Haentzschel ( 23 December 1907, Berlin – 12 April 1992, Cologne) was a German pianist, broadcaster, composer and arranger.
Haentzschel studied at the Stern Conservatoire in Berlin and made a career which eventually left him as the last remaining representative composer from what he considered the golden age of German film music. He worked equally happily as a jazz pianist, regularly collaborating with the similarly gifted Peter Igelhoff. He directed the Deutsche Tanz-und-Unterhaltungsorchester (German Dance and Entertainment Orchestra). After the war, he moved to West Germany and worked in Cologne.
Haentzschel's most famous film score, for the wartime extravaganza Münchhausen (1943) recalls his mentor Theo Mackeben. The score is flooded with romantic melody and effective scoring. Representative work may be heard in many other film scores, such as Via Mala (released 1948), Annelie (1941) and Robinson soll nicht sterben.
He was killed during the 1992 Roermond Earthquake.

Werner Friedrich Emil Eisbrenner (2 December 1908, Berlin – 7 November 1981, West Berlin) was a German composer and conductor, best known for his film music.

Eisbrenner studied church music and musical education from 1927 to 1929 at the Berlin Staatlichen Musikademie. He then worked as a pianist, arranger, Kapellmeister and conductor, as well as composing violin concertos, orchestral music, the musical comedy Von Hand zu Hand and the music for film, radio and television for which he is best known. This includes the theme for Hans Albers's film Große Freiheit Nr. 7.
Eisbrenner was a member of the jury at the 1st Berlin International Film Festival.Eisbrenner also headed a private "Lehrinstitut für Kirchen- und Schulmusik". In 1974, he received the Filmband in Gold for his long and outstanding contributions to German film. On 23 April 1998 a plaque was unveiled at his former home at Wohnung Bismarckallee 32a in Berlin. He was married to Kathe (née Jacobi) Eisbrenner (b. ?? – d. 11 March 1974). He is buried in the Waldfriedhof Dahlem.

Konrad Wölki (27 December 1904 – 5 July 1983) was a German composer, mandolinist and music educator who contributed to the musically critical appreciation of the Zupforchesters (German mandolin orchestras—may also include other plucked string instruments or conventional orchestral instruments). Historian Paul Sparks labeled Wölki "the founding father of modern German plucked-string music."He was a senior member of the German Mandolin and Guitar Player Federation (D.M.G.B.) until he was forced out in 1935 and replaced with a Nazi party member. In 1961 he helped create the Bund Deutscher Zupfmusiker (League of German plucked instrumentalists, BDZ), with members from his own D.M.G.B. and the German Workers Mandolinists Federation (D.A.M.B.), another mandolin organization closed down under the Nazis).The D.M.G.B. federation published compositions for its members to play. Wölki, the DMGB's "most significant figure" composed music in the 1920s for the mandolin and guitar based orchestras "that demonstrated the dramatic potential and range of color" possible for the plucked orchestra.In the 1930s, Wölki explored 18th century mandolin music from 1760s and 1770s Paris and reached a conclusion that caused controversy. He found that the classical music of the period that used mandolin had been played without tremolo. While some cherished the tremolo, others embraced "a return to classical methods". His influence through the works he composed resulted in a restraint in the use of tremolo in new German compositions.He was the author of a history of the mandolin, Geschichte der Mandoline (1939), and a three-volume mandolin method, Deutsche Schule für Mandoline. He continued to teach in Berlin, educating many of the next generation of mandolinists.He composed or arranged 103 pieces of published music.

Kurt "Kutte" Widman (2 March 1906 – 27 November 1954) was a German bandleader and jazz musician.
Widmann started out on drums, then later learned to play accordion and trombone. He was playing locally by 1924, and led a quintet at the Hotel Imperator in Berlin in 1933 which played swing jazz; Hans Berry was one of his sidemen. He directed his own dance orchestra from 1938 to 1942, which frequently appeared at the Haus Vaterland. He recorded in 1938–1939, including under various pseudonyms such as Billy Blackmoore, John Weepster, and John Webb. Once war began with England, censorship forbade these names, but the band was allowed to continue performing, including at events for German troops. Widmann was drafted to the Wehrmacht during the war but was released in 1944 due to health reasons. He continued playing events in Germany even as Allied troops began invading, playing cinema houses in between films.
After the war, Widmann formed a new band which played during the American occupation, sometimes using older arrangements from the war period, but also employing Berlin-based arranger Walter Jenson. He recorded again in the late 1940s, and died of a stroke in 1954. The 1955 film Music in the Blood, directed by Erik Ode, is based on his life with Viktor de Kowa in the lead role.

Grete Sultan (born Johanna Margarete Sultan) (June 21, 1906 – June 26, 2005) was a German-American pianist.

Ernst Hermann Ludimar Meyer (8 December 1905 – 8 October 1988) was a German composer and musicologist, noted for his expertise on seventeenth-century English chamber music.

Bruno Balz (6 October 1902, in Berlin – 14 March 1988, in Bad Wiessee) was a German songwriter and schlager writer.
From the time he wrote the music for the first German sound film until his retirement in the 1960s, Balz was responsible for the lyrics to over a thousand popular hits. Much of his output was in conjunction with the composer Michael Jary; their songs helped make the singer Zarah Leander popular.
Balz was arrested several times for homosexuality. In 1936, he spent several months in prison, and was released under an agreement that mandated that his name was no longer to appear in public. To maintain the appearance of propriety, he entered a "lavender marriage" with a woman named Selma. He was rearrested in 1941 by the Gestapo and was kept in the Gestapo headquarters in Prinz-Albrecht-Straße. He was released from imprisonment by the intervention of Jary, who persuaded officials that he could produce songs that would aid the war effort. Within a day of his release, they had written two of their greatest successes, "Davon geht die Welt nicht unter" ("This Will Not End the World") and "Ich weiß, es wird einmal ein Wunder gescheh'n" ("I Know Some Day a Miracle Will Happen"). His film songs for Leander, a star of UFA musicals which were later criticised as having helped public and armed forces morale during the war, became anthems for homosexuals imprisoned in concentration camps.
The fall of the Nazi regime did not spell an end to the persecution of Balz, as Paragraph 175, the law against homosexuality, continued in force. Thus his name is considerably less well-known than if he had been properly credited for his lyrics.
Balz's companion was painter and actor Jürgen Draeger, who was enjoined by a clause in Balz's will from talking about their relations for ten years following Balz's death.
The Bruno Balz Theatre in Berlin is named for him.

Wolfgang Rosenthal (8 September 1882 – 10 June 1971) was a German oral surgeon. Until the mid-1930s, he also pursued a parallel career as a bass-baritone singer.
After the destructive bombing of the Johanniskirche in Leipzig it became necessary to identify the physical remains of Johann Sebastian Bach before they could be reburied at the Thomaskirche nearby: Rosenthal was able to combine his knowledge of anatomy with his insights (confirmed by further anatomical investigations) into the physical effect of a lifetime of organ playing on a musician's legs to provide the necessary identification.

James Simon (29 September 1880 – 12/14 October 1944) was a German composer, pianist and musicologist.