Harald Genzmer

Harald Genzmer (February 9, 1909 – December 16, 2007) was a German composer of contemporary classical music.
Born in Blumenthal, near Bremen, Germany, he studied composition with Paul Hindemith at the Berlin Hochschule für Music beginning in 1928.

From 1938 he taught at the Volksmusikschule Berlin-Neukölln. During the early part of the second world war he served as a military band clarinetist. When his pianistic abilities were noticed by the Musikmeister, he was put on detached duties as a pianist/accompanist for "Lazarettenkonzerte", concerts for recuperating wounded officers.He was based for some time near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, where he made the acquaintance of Richard Strauss. When the war ended, he was offered a post at the Munich Musikhochschule. This was blocked by the American authorities, and so, from 1946 to 1957 he taught at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg im Breisgau.

From 1957 to 1974 he taught at the Munich Hochschule für Musik. Above his piano hung a framed critique from the Sueddeutsche Zeitung of the premiere of the 1955 Sinfonietta for Strings, stating it as a work destined only for oblivion. Sharing the frame was a cutting from a few years later, reporting that in the previous year it had been the most performed work for string orchestra in Europe.

Among his notable students are Bertold Hummel and the Egyptian composer Gamal Abdel-Rahim.

He died on December 16, 2007 in Munich.