Prague, 1901 – 1991, Stepperg / Upper Bavaria
Winterberg came from a German-speaking Jewish family in Prague. He received piano lessons from Therese Wallerstein from an early age and studied at the German Academy of Music in Prague with Fidelio F. Finke and Alexander Zemlinsky, as well as at the Prague State Conservatory with Alois Hába. His mixed marriage to the German-Czech pianist and composer Maria Maschat presumably spared him from the National Socialists for the time being. However, the marriage was divorced in 1944 “in accordance with the Reich Marriage Act” and Winterberg was deported to Theresienstadt. Freed from the ghetto, Winterberg returned to Prague and found out that Maria and their daughter Ruth had been expelled to Germany under the Beneš Decrees; their Czechoslovak citizenship was annulled. As a Czechoslovak citizen, Winterberg applied for a passport in order to retrieve his musical manuscripts from Maria Maschat. After arriving in Germany in 1947, he decided not to return to Prague – presumably because of the threat of a communist takeover. He was slow to gain a foothold in Germany and took time and effort to assert his claim for compensation payments as a Jew persecuted during the Nazi era. Refugees from communism did not have this status anyway. Through personal connections, Winterberg managed to get a job as a freelancer at Bayerischer Rundfunk, he taught at the Richard Strauss Conservatory and was supported by the Esslingen Artists’ Guild, an “association of displaced cultural workers”. Although some of his works were performed by Winterberg’s former fellow student, the conductor Fritz Rieger, by the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and his chamber music works were also played, recognition and prosperity failed to materialize during his lifetime.
Peter Kreitmeir, the composer’s grandson, who has been working posthumously with his musical grandfather since 2010 and researching their shared family history, is the copyright holder. For the scholarly research of his grandfather’s musical oeuvre, Kreitmeir consulted the Exilarte Center of the mdw, which maintains a cooperation with the music publisher Boosey&Hawkes for the sheet music edition.
Hans Winterberg’s autographs can be found both at the Sudeten German Music Institute (SMI) in Regensburg and at the Exilarte Center of the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.
Exilarte sheet music edition by Boosey & Hawkes
Sudeten German Music Institute (SMI) (Upper Palatinate District)
