Johannes Petzold
Johannes Petzold was a German church musician, composer of several hymnal songs and docent at the Thuringian Church Music School.
Life
Born in Plauen, Vogtland, Petzold, son of a pattern draughtsman in the lace and curtain industry of his home town, studied education in Leipzig 1932–1935, majoring in music. One month after his matriculation he became a member of the "New Saxon Teachers' Association".As a result of the Gleichschaltung of the teachers' associations, he belonged to the Nationalsozialistischer Lehrerbund from the On 7 July 1933, he joined the Sturmabteilung.
After graduating, he worked as an primary school teacher in small villages in the Vogtland and Ore Mountains regions. As a "young teacher" he became a member of the National Socialist German Workers' Party with effect from 1 May 1937..
Already at the beginning of his studies, he came into contact with the and took part in singing weeks with Alfred Stier and Hugo Distler. His lifelong friendship and collaboration with began in autumn 1932 with a joint choir tour through Saxony. Petzold's early compositions and texts were self-published until 1945.
On 26 March 1940, he married the community helper Hiltrud Schaale. She belonged to the Confessing Church and had come into conflict with the authorities and the Gestapo several times in connection with her work. Both were united by a craft-creative relationship with music. She also composed and wrote poetry, some of which he set to music.
In February 1940, he was called up for active military service. He took part in the war in Belgium and France as a soldier; he was discharged on 29 July 1941 as a "gunner in the reserves" because of a tuberculosis illness. For the same reason, his work as a teacher ended in March 1942.
Petzold spent the following years in hospitals and sanatoriums until he was able to work to a limited extent after a successful thorax operation and became cantor in Bad Berka / Thuringia in 1952. At the University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar he took part as a guest student in lessons in with Johann Cilenšek and continued his education in organ playing. In 1957 he was awarded the title of Kirchenmusikdirektor.
In November 1961, he was appointed to the Thuringian Church Music School in Eisenach as a lecturer in composition, history of music and ear training. In addition to his teaching activities, he took on numerous singing duties at singing weeks, choir meetings and community events. He retired in 1977.
Petzold died in Eisenach at the age of 72.
His son is a violinist, composer and audio book director.