Petersen, Friedrich

Organist

born: 08.01.1881 in Lübeck

died: 22.01.1933 in Mainz

Petersen, son of the head pastor at Lübeck Cathedral, studied in Leipzig and Sondershausen until he was appointed organist of the Marktkirche on April 1, 1905. He was also to combine the musical work of the new Kurhaus with its concert hall and the new Sauer organ with the work of the choir of the Cäcilienverein. In addition to his organ duties in the services of the Marktkirche, Petersen was also committed to his "Wednesday Concerts". Petersen has performed more than 600 over the years - a huge amount of artistic and organizational work. His achievements paved the way for successful guest concerts in Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Leipzig, Bremen, Kiel, Stuttgart and even the Netherlands.

In the last years of his life, Petersen regularly performed Bach's St. John Passion on Good Friday and his Christmas Oratorio in December with the Bach Choir, which he founded in 1920 (it existed until 1939). In 1912, an organ fund was founded, which collected 12,000 gold marks over ten years to expand the Marktkirche organ. Petersen saw it as his task to cultivate Bach's church music. He was the first to perform Bach cantatas in their original form and instrumentation in church services in Wiesbaden. Since 1917, he has performed around 20 cantatas.

He died of a heart attack while performing a Bach cantata in the Christuskirche in Mainz. In his memory, a "Musical Celebration" was held in the Marktkirche on March 6, 1933 under the direction of Kurt Utz, cantor at the Christuskirche Mainz, who succeeded him in office.