Wolfgang Fortner (born 12 October 1907 in Leipzig – 5 September 1987 in Heidelberg) was a German composer, composition teacher and conductor. From his parents - both singers - Fortner very early on had intense contact with music. In 1927 he began his studies at the Leipzig Conservatory (organ, composition) and at University, (philosophy, music history, and German studies). Still during his study some of his early compositions were officially performed . In Berlin he encountered Arnold Schoenberg and wrote his Leipzig professional degree thesis on the Kammermusik set of Paul Hindemith. In 1931 he closed his studies with the State Exam for a high teaching office, after he accepted a lectureship in music theory at the Evangelischen Kirchenmusikalischen Institut Heidelberg. There followed attacks on his music as Cultural Bolshevism. In 1935 and 1936 Fortner created the Heidelberg Chamber Orchestra, with which he supported New Music and undertook expanded concert journeys for "armed forces support", from Scandinavia to Holland to Greece. In the same year he also took over the directorship of the orchestra of the Hitler Youth of Heidelberg, a string orchestra, formed from juvenile laymen, whose directorship changed in 1939 again. 1940 he was drafted into the army as a medical soldier. In 1941 he joined the Nazi Party; in the same year he published the "Heidelberg Song Book for Soldiers" (without contributions of his own.) After the end of the war, Fortner underwent Denazification due to the Bandwagon effect and was found not affected by professional disqualification. Fortner moved to the Heidelberg Kohlhof and there a group of very young students formed around him, who showed interest in the modern music of 1933. In 1948 he joined the circle of the Darmstadt courses of new music, and taught within their framework. In 1954 he became a professor for composition, then from 1957 up to his retirement in 1973 taught in Freiburg. In 1964 he took up the leadership of the Musica Viva concerts after the death of Karl Amadeus Hartmann. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.