Ludwig Güttler facts for kids
Ludwig Güttler (born 13 June 1943) is a famous German musician. He is a master at playing special kinds of trumpets, like the Baroque trumpet, the piccolo trumpet, and the corno da caccia. He also leads music groups, and he started a small orchestra called Virtuosi Saxoniae. Sometimes, his name is written as Ludwig Guttler.
Ludwig Güttler has won many awards, including "Discovery of the Year" in 1983. He also received the Frankfurt Music Prize in 1989 for his amazing musical work. He helped start the Rheingau Musik Festival in Hesse and has played there often since 1988.
Ludwig Güttler also led the group that worked to rebuild the Dresdner Frauenkirche. This famous old church was destroyed during World War II. It was rebuilt between 1994 and 2004. Because of his efforts, Queen Elizabeth II gave him a special award called the Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2007.
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Life Story
Ludwig Güttler was born in 1943 in a town called Sosa, in the Ore Mountain area of Saxony, Germany. He studied music at a school in Leipzig. From 1965 to 1969, he played in an orchestra at the Handel Festival. Then, from 1969 to 1980, he played with the Dresden Philharmonic orchestra. He also taught trumpet at a music school in Dresden until 1990. From 1980 to 1990, he taught at a yearly music workshop in Weimar.
Since the mid-1970s, Güttler has mostly played music by himself as a soloist. Later, he also started leading orchestras. He loves playing old trumpet music from the 1700s, especially on the high-pitched piccolo trumpet. He also helped create a modern brass instrument. This new instrument could play music written for the old corno da caccia. A person named Friedbert Syhre in Leipzig made this instrument.
Güttler is also in charge of two music festivals: "Sandstein und Musik" (Sandstone and Music) in Saxon Switzerland, which started in 1983, and the Musikwoche Hitzacker in Hitzacker. He is also a member of the Saxon Academy of Arts.
Virtuosi Saxoniae
Ludwig Güttler started several music groups. In 1976, he formed the Leipziger Bach-Collegium. In 1978, he started the Blechbläserensemble Ludwig Güttler (a brass ensemble). Then, in 1985, he created the small orchestra called Virtuosi Saxoniae. This group is made up of musicians from the Staatskapelle Dresden. They focus on playing music from the 1700s that they find in libraries in Dresden. This includes opera music, church music, and music for small groups.
Rheingau Music Festival
Ludwig Güttler has supported the Rheingau Musik Festival since it began in 1988. He has performed there and helped plan the festival. In 2011, he played with his Brass Ensemble. In 2012, he led his Virtuosi Saxoniae orchestra at Eberbach Abbey. They played music by famous composers like Bach, Handel, Johann Friedrich Fasch, Christoph Förster, Telemann, and Mozart.
Awards and Honors
In 1983, Ludwig Güttler won a record prize from a German music award group, being named "Discovery of the Year." In 1988, he received the Georg-Philipp-Telemann-Preis from Magdeburg. In 1989, he won the Frankfurter Musikpreis. He also received the National Prize of East Germany twice, in 1978 and 1985. However, in 1989, he gave these prizes back. He asked that the money from them be used to help rebuild the Frauenkirche.
Rebuilding the Frauenkirche
After Germany became one country again, Ludwig Güttler became the leader of the group that worked to rebuild the Dresden Frauenkirche. He also helped manage the Frauenkirche foundation. He often led "Wiederaufbaukonzerte" (concerts for the reconstruction) to raise money and support. For all his hard work in rebuilding the Frauenkirche, he received several special honors.
In September 2007, the German President, Horst Köhler, gave him the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. On 26 May 2005, Erich Iltgen gave him the Sächsische Verfassungsmedaille. In November 2007, Queen Elizabeth II gave him the Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). She gave him this award to thank him for his help in rebuilding the Frauenkirche and for bringing the German and British people closer together through this project.
