1959 - 1978

Chronic lack of space

The chronic lack of space at the Hamburg University of Music in the first half of the 1950s only improved in 1956 when part of the teaching activities were moved from the Curio-Haus in Rothenbaumchaussee to the nearby Budge-Palais on Harvestehuder Weg, where there was also a small chamber music hall. However, this relocation was initially only considered an interim solution, as the town hall still hoped to sell the building to the Shah of Persia, with whom the city was in negotiations, as the seat of a prestigious consulate general. Nevertheless, the university was granted the sum of one million DM for a new building in its medium-term financial planning, which Wilhelm Maler, as Philipp Jarnach's successor in the office of director, immediately secured in writing in 1959.

Wilhelm Maler

The new director Wilhelm Maler (1902 - 1976) had been a pupil of Hermann Grabner in his native Heidelberg. He then studied in Munich with Joseph Haas and in Berlin with Philipp Jarnach before becoming a lecturer in music theory at the Musikhochschule in Cologne in 1925. From 1931 to 1944, he also taught at the University of Bonn. From 1944 to 1945, Maler was called up to the Wehrmacht and did military service. From 1946, he co-founded the Nordwestdeutsche Musikakademie, now the Detmold University of Music, until he was finally called to Hamburg in 1959 by his former teacher Philipp Jarnach.

Studio for New Music

Werner Krützfeld, Dean of the Composition Department from 1975 and Vice President at the HfMT from 1990 until his retirement in 1996, remembers his first years in Hamburg: "Painter was preceded by legendary fame. He had made the Detmold University of Music into the most respected training institute at the time. We young teachers in particular expected miracles from him. (...) My first intensive encounter with Wilhelm Maler took place in 1960. One of his first official acts was to produce a series of papers, including a 'prospectus' about the university. Here I found the information that the university had a 'Studio for New Music'. I had never heard of this before, but I thought it was a fantastic idea. In my youthful exuberance, I usurped Maler's ideas and simply 'founded' the studio. Maler listened to my ideas with a mild smile, but said: 'Go ahead. The 'Studio for New Music' then became a forum for composers at the university, whether they were teachers or students, and still exists today."

Hajo Hinrichs and the "University of Music and Performing Arts"

In 1967, the university was renamed the "Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst" (State University of Music and Performing Arts) in order to also identify the courses of study for Music and Drama in the name. Wilhelm Maler is succeeded by Hajo Hinrichs in 1969. After studying conducting at the Cologne University of Music, the Oldenburg-born conductor initially worked as a solo repetiteur at the Oldenburg State Theater. Further stations in his career leading to the position of First Opera Conductor are Osnabrück, Innsbruck, Berlin and Magdeburg. However, Hinrichs not only rehearsed and conducted operas, but also composed passionately himself: "Die kluge Wirtin" (1943), "Vanina Vanini" (1951) and "Drei Fenster" (1959). In 1951, his old Cologne composition teacher Wilhelm Maler brought him to the Detmold Academy of Music as a professor. It was also Maler who appointed Hajo Hinrichs as deputy head of the opera department at the Hamburg Musikhochschule in 1959. In 1969, he was first elected Director and then, from 1974 until his retirement in 1978, the first President of the Hamburg University of Music and Drama.

New independence and first construction phase

During his presidency, Hinrichs appointed the composer György Ligeti and Kammersängerin Judith Beckmann to the Hamburg University of Music and Theater and, together with the University of Hamburg, established the inter-university course in music theater directing with Götz Friedrich and Helmut Franz at the helm. Like his predecessor, Hinrichs fights for a new building for the Musikhochschule and is finally able to reap the fruits of his efforts on June 11, 1970 with the laying of the foundation stone for the first construction phase. During his era, the University of Music was given the democratic constitution it has today: he played a key role in the introduction of a self-governing model for art colleges and a presidential constitution, which was reflected in the Art College Act of the time. He vehemently and successfully defended this newly gained independence of the university in his efforts to prevent a comprehensive university in Hamburg, which would not have taken the special features of a small art university into account in any way.

"Outstanding merits"

At a ceremony on March 20, 2001, Hermann Rauhe, then President of the HfMT, presented his predecessor Hajo Hinrichs with the university's medal of honor for his many years of successful work at the university. Hajo Hinrichs is also celebrating his 90th birthday on this day. In his laudatory speech, Hermann Rauhe said: "Hajo Hinrichs has rendered outstanding services to this university over the years as Deputy Director, Director and President. The development and profile of the university were decisively shaped by his cultural-political vision and his extraordinary personal commitment to the goals and fortunes of the university."