Engelmann, Alfred

Teacher, choir conductor

born: 23.03.1926 in Dahlheim (near St. Goarshausen)

died: 14.11.2010 in Wiesbaden

Engelmann gave his first concert at the age of twelve. He studied education in Frankfurt am Main, trained as an opera and concert singer and performed on numerous stages with classical and romantic programs.

After serving in the war and as an American prisoner of war, he settled in Wiesbaden. From 1961 he was principal at the Fröbel School and from 1964 he was principal of the new Ludwig Beck School on the Gräselberg. This was followed by appointments as municipal school inspector (1966), senior school inspector (1968) and director of the school authority.

His great love was choral singing. Even as a young teacher, Engelmann led the men's choral societies 1841 Biebrich, Eintracht Schierstein and Kloppenheim, the Sängerbund Erbach and the Liedertafel Hallgarten from 1950 onwards. He founded children's choirs in Kostheim, Biebrich and Amöneburg.

Due to his pedagogical and organizational skills, he became the federal youth choir director in 1963 and the federal youth advisor in the Hessian Singers' Association in 1972. From 1977 he was President of the Hessian Singers' Association, in 1979 he was elected Vice President and in May 1985 President of the German Singers' Association (since 2005 the German Choir Association) with 1.7 million active members.

For his special voluntary commitment to culture, he was awarded the State of Hesse's Letter of Honor (1977), the Gold Citizens' Medal of the State Capital of Wiesbaden (1979) and the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany on Ribbon (1987).