# Erich Keller (1918-2010): concertmaster of the Bavarian RSO



## vlncto (Nov 26, 2012)

*Erich Keller (1918-2010)* was a violinist and the concertmaster of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1945 till his retirement in 1981. He also championed the chamber music and founded the Keller String Quartet, the Munich Chamber Trio (for violin, cello, piano), the Convivium Musicum Munich and was part of the Munich Nonett. In his student days Erich Keller also composed and I had the luck to find these compositions a few weeks ago. I have typeset three compositions of Erich Keller - a Romance for violin and piano, a String quartet and a Waltz for orchestra - and all these scores can be downloaded free of charge from my website. I also added a small sound snippet for the Romance:

*https://www.tobias-broeker.de/rare-manuscripts/erich-keller-archive/*

Here a long biography of Erich Keller:

Erich Keller was born on 21 July 1918 in Augsburg (Germany). He learned violin from an early age and after finishing school he studied music at the conservatory in Augsburg. From 1938 to 1942 he studied violin under Wilhelm Stross at the „Akademie der Tonkunst" in Munich and attended a masterclass with Georg Kulenkampff in 1941. During World War II he also studied medicine and passed the first section of the medical examination to work as an army doctor in Italy.

In 1945 he became the principal concertmaster of the symphony orchestra of the Bavarian radio (Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks) and remained in this position till his retirement in 1981. So Erich Keller was a major part of the development of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra from the restart after World War II to one of the best orchestras in the world, first under principal conductor Eugen Jochum, later under Rafael Kubelik.

Beside his work in the orchestra Erich Keller was highly interested in chamber music and was part of different ensembles. Together with his wife, the pianist Elisabeth Schwarz, and the cellist Max Braun he formed the „Münchner Kammertrio". Erich Keller also founded the „Keller Quartet" in 1945 together with Karl Schindler (2nd violin), Adalbert Huber (viola) and Max Braun (cello). And he was part of the „Münchner Nonett", an ensemble that was founded in 1960 and composers like Harald Genzmer, Werner Egk, Günter Bialas or Berthold Hummel wrote compositions especially for this formation. In 1950 Erich Keller also founded the chamber orchestra Convivium Musicum. In addition to his performing Erich Keller also taught at the conservatory in Augsburg and the Musikhochschule in Munich.

Erich Keller died on 08 September 2010.


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