Ammerland on Lake Starnberg has always been a great fascination for artists.
Wilhelm Kempff, one of the most important pianists of his time, also lived here.
Münsing -
In the world of classical music, the pianist Wilhelm Kempff (1895-1991) was a celebrity, even a world famous.
His interpretations of Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann and Schubert set standards.
The nickname he earned was: the poet at the piano.
His way of playing only from the wrist fascinated connoisseurs and laypeople.
He also made an impression as a person: his modesty and complete freedom from airs made him popular.
There were repeated samples of his skills in his adopted home Ammerland, where he lived from 1955 to 1991 according to the community's registry.
His family consisted of his wife Helene and the children Irene, Dietrich, Angela and Diana.
There was a lot of talk about his concert evenings in small groups in his house at Wallgraben 16.
The house was later sold, it no longer exists today.
Kempff also composes operas
Kempff was born on November 25, 1895 in Jüterborg, south of Berlin.
During the First World War he studied at the Berlin Conservatory, although his final exam was waived because of his outstanding ability.
He made his debut in the Berlin Philharmonic in 1918 with Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto under Arthur Nikisch and the Berlin Philharmonic.
From 1924 to 1929 Kempff was director of the Stuttgart University of Music.
From 1931 to 1941 he gave summer concerts in the Marble Palace in Potsdam.
Although Kempff did not compose any propaganda music during the years of the Nazi dictatorship, he dedicated his opera “Familie Gozzi”, which was set in Italy, to the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in 1934.
In 1944 Hitler added Kempff to the God-gifted list, which was to save him from being deployed in the war.
Nevertheless, in 1945 Kempff was drafted into the Volkssturm.
Today the verdict is: Kempff was all too easily caught up in the Nazi propaganda.
He apparently compensated for this later through his commitment to world peace as well as through international artistic understanding in his Beethoven courses.
A Japanese island bears his name
After the war, Kempff worked mainly as a pianist.
Between 1920 and 1980 he made numerous recordings for Deutsche Grammophon.
He is celebrated on concert tours around the world.
He achieved particular success in Japan, where he performed ten times between 1936 and 1979.
A small Japanese island is named Kempu-san in his honor.
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The many awards include the German Record Prize (1981) and the Bavarian Maximiliansorden (1984).
He writes his experiences as a pianist in the book "What I heard, what I saw".
In 1986 the virtuoso moved to the Italian artist colony Positano on the Amalfi Coast, where he had given Beethoven interpretation courses for decades.
Wilhelm Kempff, who had spent almost 30 years in Ammerland, died on May 23, 1991 at the age of 96 in Positano.
His grave is in Wernstein Castle in Upper Franconia.
The Wilhelm Kempff Foundation looks after the artist's memory.
