Bertold Hummel and Kurt Heynicke
Relations between the Hummel family and Kurt Heynicke and his wife Grethe had probably existed since Heynicke’s resettlement to Merzhausen in 1943. Bertold Hummel’s father, Gustav – originally from Hüfingen (near Donaueschingen) – was transferred to Merzhausen in 1932 to work as a senior teacher at the local primary school. Gustav Hummel, who had an interest in culture and was a prominent figure in the community (an honorary citizen), certainly did not remain a stranger to Heynicke for long. In letters to Bertold Hummel, the Heynickes often refer to his parents.

On 13 October 1947, Bertold Hummel set one of Heynicke’s lullabies to music.

On 22 October 1956, at Heynicke’s suggestion, they composed a cheerful‘Badisches Weinlied’ for a wine song singer and piano, which Heynicke sent to the light music department of SWF but which was rejected as being too unpopular.

Following the world premiere of Hummel’s opera *The Emperor’s New Clothes* in June 1957 at the Städtische Bühnen Freiburg, Heynicke wrote a favourable letter to Hummel with minor suggestions for improving the libretto. This likely led to plans for a joint opera.

Around 1959, Heynicke proposed two plays: “Die Laternengarage”: Two cars, a street lamp, a scrap dealer and a policeman are the main characters of the play. Houses form the chorus. The text is sent to the publisher Bernhard Bosse, who is keen for Hummel to write a youth opera. No further negotiations take place. “Die Jungfrau und der Teufel”: Clara, a florist, is looking for a husband. She is sent to the Devil by the heavenly men-allocation office because she complains about the man she has been assigned. This leads to unusual situations and a moral. There are brief sketches by Bertold Hummel for both works. Heynicke is clearly the more active member of the team on both projects. As the plays are written in a conversational style typical of Heynicke, Hummel is unlikely to have found much inspiration for setting the dialogues to music.

In 1961, Bertold Hummel set to music a song for Merzhausen, the lyrics for which were written by Kurt Heynicke to mark the 100th birthday of the Eintracht Merzhausen men’s choir, led by Hummel’s father, Gustav Hummel.

In 1971, Bertold Hummel set to music, for a songbook published by the Breisgau Singers’ Association (Edition Tonos, Darmstadt), a motet for four-part mixed a cappella choir, which was included in the composer’s catalogue ofworks.

Hummel would visit Heynicke time and again whenever he went to see his parents and his sister Elisabeth in Merzhausen. They would exchange Christmas and New Year’s greetings.

The libretti mentioned above, as well as a number of poems for children which Heynicke offered to Bertold Hummel for setting to music, are preserved in the composer’s estate.

Martin Hummel

Peter Rau: Kurt Heynicke – The Fate of a Poet in Merzhausen 1943–1985 – A Little Book of Texts and Pictures

Biography
Kurt Heynicke, born in Liegnitz in 1891, the son of a labourer, a primary school pupil, an office worker, a merchant.
Do you smile, O human being, who feels this blessed existence?
Oh, we are nothing. An animal in a stable. Only our soul is sometimes a cathedral, within which we can pray to one another.

Born on 20 September 1891 in Liegnitz, Silesia. Primary school: Liegnitz, Dresden, Zeitz, Berlin. Subsequently an office clerk at an insurance company. Contracted tuberculosis at the age of twenty. Sanatorium. Earlier attempts at writing resumed after recovery. First poem published by HERWARTH WALDEN in *Sturm*. More followed. His first collection of poems, *Rings fallen Sterne*, was also published there. War. Four years as a soldier. Remained productive as a poet whilst serving (see the section *Die Hölle Erde* in *Das namenlose Angesicht*). After the war, returned to office work in a small town in the Mark, in Duisburg at the Klöckner Group, and in Solingen at Deutsche Bank. In between, an attempt to make a living as a freelance writer. Stayed with the poet ALEXANDER VON BERNUS at Stift Neuburg near Heidelberg. There, I came into intellectual contact with STEINER’s anthroposophy. In 1919, I was awarded the Kleist Prize for my collection of poems <Das namenlose Angesicht>. In 1933, I joined the Düsseldorf Schauspielhaus run by LUISE DUMONT and GUSTAV LINDEMANN as a dramaturg; they had already staged my play <Der Kreis> back in 1920. After two years, I moved to the Stadttheater in Düsseldorf, where I also directed. These years in the theatre were very fruitful for me: I wrote a number of plays, all of which were performed at reputable theatres.

In 1932 I moved to Berlin, where I also worked for Ufa. From a certain point onwards, I felt drawn to the novel. I freely admit that these are the sort of novels one refers to in Germany as ‘entertainment’. Eventually, I moved from Berlin to the edge of the Black Forest, near Freiburg. I am a storyteller, but I would be a poor one if I did not also seek to entertain my readers. After the war, I wrote a series of radio plays and was awarded prizes for them on two occasions. And above all: I still write poetry. Taking into account the personal developments of a lifetime, I have remained a man of faith, just as I was in the early days of my poetic career. Kurt Heynicke (1951)

SZ on his 90th birthday