Everything for Grieg!
Both in the GDR and in reunified Germany and beyond, Hella Brock was one of the most important Edvard Grieg scholars of her generation. She died on 30 November 2020 in Dippoldiswalde at the great age of 101.
Already during her academic traineeship from 1955 to 1959 at the Institute of Music Education of the Martin Luther University of Halle – then headed by Professor Fritz Reuter (1896–1963) – Hella Brock began to engage with the work of Edvard Grieg. Since the analysis of various tonal techniques was part of her remit, it soon came about that she also examined the particular features of the harmonic relationships in the Norwegian's music, becoming more closely acquainted with his art in this way.
During her professorship at the Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald (1963–1972), Edvard Grieg – his life, his social and societal views and his work – once again entered the focus of her extensive scholarly work. Her interest grew, and so the idea arose in the professor of music education of writing a Grieg biography. Research on the subject began, but the demands of the day repeatedly interrupted the work on her project. When in 1972 she was appointed full professor of theory and methodology of music education at the Karl Marx University of Leipzig, Hella Brock, despite increasing pressures, did not abandon the project of a Grieg monograph but pursued the idea further.
After her retirement in 1980, she then devoted herself exclusively to the Norwegian national composer. She learned the Norwegian language and even managed, under GDR conditions, to be allowed to travel to Norway for research purposes in 1985, where she established contact with the Grieg scholars there. In 1990 the time had come: her book Edvard Grieg: Eine Biografie, provided with numerous original photographs, was published by the Reclam Leipzig publishing house. After almost 50 years, a biography was published in Germany for the first time again, written by the German musicologist Hella Brock, of the one among the Scandinavian composers who, with his work, had put Norway on the musical map of the world. In 1998 the Schott Music publishing house also published the monograph within its series Musik Atlantis Schott. The previous German Grieg biography was by Karl Gustav Fellerer, from 1942.
On the subject of Edvard Grieg, Hella Brock subsequently produced further publications: Edvard Grieg im Musikunterricht (1995), Edvard Grieg – Briefwechsel mit dem Musikverlag C. F. Peters 1863–1907 (in collaboration with Finn Benestad, 1997), Edvard Grieg als Musikschriftsteller (1999), Griegs Musik zu Ibsens Peer Gynt (2001). She also newly and completely translated Grieg's autobiographical essay Mein erster Erfolg (in: Edvard Grieg als Musikschriftsteller), which, though slightly abridged, had appeared in German at C. F. Peters in 1910.
And then her most significant undertaking: with the aim of establishing in the building of the C. F. Peters music publishing house Leipzig a meeting place commemorating the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg, in 1998 Hella Brock, together with an initiative group, founded the EDVARD GRIEG – Gedenk- und Begegnungsstätte e. V., once again a first event of its kind within the music history of the Federal Republic.
At the age of 15, Edvard Grieg had come to Leipzig to study piano and composition at the conservatory of the day. In C. F. Peters, the young Grieg found, in the trade fair and music city, the publisher that is still responsible for the complete edition of his works today. The publisher's location since then has been the house at Talstrasse 10, where Grieg could also stay when he was in Leipzig.
In the late 1990s, the Wiesbaden physician Dr. M. Y. Abdel-Aziz bought the publishing building at Talstrasse 10. The house, however, had fallen into such a dilapidated state during the GDR era and afterwards that its renovation proved unavoidable. But the building permit could only be put into practice if enough tenants could be found. At the time in question, no one was interested in an apartment in this building.
The house, which was so closely tied to the life and work of Edvard Grieg in Leipzig, was thereupon threatened with total demolition. The news of this brought Hella Brock and the association into action; the Royal Norwegian Consulate was asked for support, and the City of Leipzig was urged, in this case, to refrain from the regulation it had adopted. The efforts were successful, and the renovation could begin. On 30 June 2004 the topping-out ceremony was celebrated at the Talstrasse 10 building, and on 7 November 2005 the EDVARD GRIEG – Gedenk- und Begegnungsstätte could be ceremonially inaugurated. Happily, Professor Hella Brock, as association president, received the symbolic key.
On her initiative, the 5th German Edvard Grieg Congress took place in Leipzig from 24 to 26 September 2004. Under the motto Edvard Grieg – Weltbild und Werk, scholars, Grieg researchers, music practitioners and interested music lovers met for a joint exchange of experiences. Among the speakers were guests from Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, England and the USA.
And Hella Brock also organised the 6th German Edvard Grieg Congress from 19 to 21 September 2008, on the theme "Edvard Grieg – Norweger und Europäer in Wort und Werk". The congress met with lively interest. Alongside speakers from Norway and Germany, it was above all scholars from Eastern Europe who presented their research findings on Grieg's work and influence in their respective countries.
With a concert by the Norwegian pianist Rune Alver, the International Edvard Grieg Congress came to its conclusion at the Leipzig meeting place on 16 May 2009. The congress had quite deliberately chosen this place. As the then president of the International Edvard Grieg Society (IGS) and current director of the Edvard Grieg Research Centre at the University of Leipzig, Prof. Dr. habil. Patrick Dinslage, put it: "Leipzig and above all Talstrasse 10 is, with regard to Edvard Grieg, a very important and decisive place. This is where Grieg's music publisher C. F. Peters has its seat. In this house, Grieg himself came and went for many years. Here one can practically sense his work and influence." On this day, the honorary president of the EDVARD GRIEG – Gedenk- und Begegnungsstätte e. V., Hella Brock, was appointed an honorary member of the International Edvard Grieg Society. The laudatio was given by the doyen of Norwegian Grieg research, Prof. Dr. habil. Finn Benestad.
Hella Brock was 89 years old when, in 2008, after 10 years, she handed her presidency into younger hands for reasons of age. And so we all knew her – Hella Brock as a person and a scholar:
Utmost dedication
Greatest precision in her
scholarly work
Outstanding command of language
Critical
Highly compassionate and
helpful
A committed European and
opponent of National Socialism
Unbroken
Hella Brock, a kind and
charming woman
Grande dame of
Edvard Grieg research
by Joachim Reisaus