Curt Gerhard Westphal, stage name Gert Westphal, (5 October 1920 – 10 November 2002) was a German-Swiss actor, audiobook narrator, recitator and director, one of the best-known audiobook narrators and speakers in German, described as "König der Vorleser" (king of reciters)[1] and "der Caruso der Vorleser" (the Caruso of reciters).[2] After his reading of her husband's works, Katia Mann called him "des Dichters oberster Mund" (the poet's principal voice).[3] The literary critic Marcel Reich-Ranicki said he was probably the best reciter of German.[4]
Gert Westphal | |
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| Born | Curt Gerhard Westphal 5 October 1920 Dresden, Germany |
| Died | 10 November 2002 (aged 82) Zürich, Switzerland |
| Education | Staatsschauspiel Dresden |
| Occupations |
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| Organizations | |
| Awards | |
Career
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Born in Dresden as the son of a culturally interested factory director,[1] Westphal attended the Realgymnasium in Blasewitz, graduating with the Abitur.[5] He trained in acting with Paul Hoffmann at the Dresdner Staatsschauspielhaus, where he made his stage debut in 1940 in a minor role in Goethe's Götz von Berlichingen. He was then drafted for military service and later became a prisoner of war. In 1946 he moved to Bremen, where he was both a member of the Kammerspiele Bremen and an announcer for Radio Bremen.[1] Starting in 1948, he headed that broadcaster's radio drama division. In 1953, he took the same position with Südwestfunk in Baden-Baden where he remained until 1959. He was in contact with authors such as Alfred Andersch, Ingeborg Bachmann, Gottfried Benn, Max Frisch and Carl Zuckmayer. He commissioned new radio dramas and collaborated with Max Ophüls, Will Quadflieg, Hans Paetsch, Oskar Werner, Walter Jens and Joachim Fest.[5]
As a reciter and audiobook narrator, Westphal recorded major works by German authors, and also translations of writers such as Gustave Flaubert, Victor Hugo, Henry James and Thornton Wilder, with a focus on Russian literature by Chinghiz Aitmatov, Fjodor Dostojewski, Nikolai Gogol, Ivan Goncharov, Maxim Gorki, Nikolai Leskov, Vladimir Nabokov, Leo Tolstoi and Anton Checkov, among others. In 1994, he performed along with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in a series of readings of correspondence, such as between Hofmannsthal and Strauss, and between Zelter and Goethe.[6]
He died in Zürich and was buried in Kilchberg, next to the family grave of Thomas Mann.[7]
Awards
edit- 1975: Literature prize of Kanton Zürich[8]
- 1982: Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany[8]
- 2001: Biermann-Ratjen-Medaille, for cultural achievements for Hamburg[9]
Awards for recordings
edit- Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik
- Ehrenurkunde, 1991, as the first and so far only speaker*[10]
- Das dreißigste Jahr by Ingeborg Bachmann, 2001[11]
- Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull by Thomas Mann, 2002[12]
Awards for audio plays
edit- Hörspielpreis der Kriegsblinden for Prinzessin Turandot by Wolfgang Hildesheimer, 1955 (direction)[13]
- Karl Zczuka Prize for Der trojanische Krieg findet nicht statt by Jean Giraudoux, music by Peter Zwetkoff, 1955 (direction)[14]
- Prix Italia for Wovon wir leben und woran wir sterben by Herbert Eisenreich, 1957(speaker)[15]
- Karl-Sczuka-Preis for Ungeduld des Herzens by Stefan Zweig, music by Peter Zwetkoff, 1961 (direction)[14]
- Prix Italia for A hard day's night by Anders Bodelsen, 1967 (direction)[16]
- Hörspiel des Monats for Udo der Stählerne by Theodor Weißenborn and Josef Alois Gleich, January 1994 (narrator)[17]
Literature
edit- Andreas Kotte, ed. (2005). "Gert Westphal". Theaterlexikon der Schweiz / Dictionnaire du théâtre en Suisse / Dizionario Teatrale Svizzero / Lexicon da teater svizzer [Theater Dictionary of Switzerland]. Vol. 3. Zürich: Chronos. pp. 2084–2085. ISBN 978-3-0340-0715-3. LCCN 2007423414. OCLC 62309181.
- Oliver W. Grabow: Gert Westphal. Gesamtverzeichnis seiner Arbeiten von 1940 bis 2002. Arethousa Verlag, München 2013, ISBN 978-3-934207-22-6.[18]
- Katrin Krämer: Vorlesen ist ein Liebesakt. Gert Westphal – Die Stimme der Literatur, biographic feature, Radio Bremen 2000, aired 22 November 2015
References
edit- ^ a b c Die Stimme der Klassiker. / Gert Westphal, Sprecher, Rezitator und Schauspieler, starb im Alter von 82 Jahren ungekuerzte-lesung.de
- ^ Solothurner Nachrichten, 8 July 1989, article by Kurt Steinmann
- ^ Bernd M. Kraske (ed.): Des Dichters oberster Mund – Gert Westphal zum 70. Geburtstag. Böckel Verlag, 1990, ISBN 3-923793-12-X.
- ^ Peter Lückemeier (22 January 2018), "Eine Stimme, die Welten erschafft", Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German), Frankfurt, p. 10
- ^ a b Zemke, Klaus (18 October 2011). "1985: Interview mit Gert Westphal / "Glücklich bin ich immer, wenn ich Goethe lesen darf" – Gert Westphal über seine Tätigkeit als Rezitator" (in German). Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
- ^ "1994". mwolf.de (in German). Retrieved 30 December 2018.
- ^ Der Friedhof / Gemeinde Kilchberg Kilchberg
- ^ a b "Gert Westphal" (in German). Der Audio Verlag. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
- ^ * Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg: Senator-Biermann-Ratjen-Medaille Hamburg
- ^ "Complete list of Ehrenpreis recipients 1968–2011, p. 3". Archived from the original on 25 September 2020. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
- ^ Hörbuch / Ingeborg Bachmann: Das dreißigste Jahr Archived 15 November 2018 at the Wayback Machine Schallplattenkritik
- ^ Hörbuch / Thomas Mann: Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull. Gelesen von Gert Westphal. Archived 15 November 2018 at the Wayback Machine Schallplattenkritik
- ^ Hörspielpreis der Kriegsblinden Akustische Spielformen – Von der Hörspielmusik zur Radiokunst – Der Karl-Sczuka-Preis 1955–2005 Bund der Kriesblinden
- ^ a b [1][permanent dead link] SWR
- ^ Bremer Rundfunk-Chronik / 1950–1960: Das Jahrzehnt des Hörspiels Archived 15 November 2018 at the Wayback Machine Radio Bremen
- ^ Anders Bodelsen / A hard day's night hoerspiele.dra.de
- ^ Udo, der Stählerne Archived 1 January 2020 at the Wayback Machine goetz-naleppa.de
- ^ Schaffensbilanz. (review) Neue Zürcher Zeitung 16 July 2013, retrieved 16 August 2013
External links
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- Literature by and about Gert Westphal in the German National Library catalogue
- Gert Westphal discography at Discogs
- Gert Westphal at IMDb
- Gert Westphal zum 90. Geburtstag Radio Bremen
- "Lyrik und Jazz": Der Groove von Heinrich Heine Der Spiegel 13 September 2006
