Wolf Dietrich

Subject: Wolf Dietrich
From: Fred McCormick
Date: 26 Nov 09 - 05:25 AM

Wolf Dietrich is, or possibly was, an ethnic music collector, who worked mainly in south east Europe and Asia Minor. A large number of his field recordings have been released over the years, mainly on the Topic and Italian Albatros labels. Yet he remains a remarkably obscure figure, with virtually no information about him on the 'net that I can see.

Would anyone out there be able to sketch in a few biographical details?

Many thanks.

Subject: RE: Wolf Dietrich
From: Fred McCormick
Date: 29 Nov 09 - 05:57 AM

refresh

Subject: RE: Wolf Dietrich
From: alanabit
Date: 29 Nov 09 - 07:16 AM

I found this announcement, about a TV programme, which is due to go out next Friday. I have only glanced through it quickly, but it seems to be saying that Wolf Dietrich was awarded culture prizes for his work as a collector and archiver of art treasures. I can nose around one or two other sites for you if your German is even more dodgy than mine (hardly likely!) If it slips my mind, please PM me by all means. However, I suspect that the likes of Mudguard, Susanne and Wolfgang will all have more worthwhile contributions to make to this thread.

Subject: RE: Wolf Dietrich
From: Fred McCormick
Date: 29 Nov 09 - 07:33 AM

Hi Alanabit. Thanks for pointing that out. I fed it through Goofle translate and it came up with the following.

Wolf-Dietrich Freiherr Speck von Sternburg in practical software t
Wolf-Dietrich Freiherr Speck comes from the family of Star Castle Star Castle, whose ancestor, Maximilian Speck, in the first H? Half of the 19th Century one of the finest private collections of international art amassed whose value is Protected closed today at about 50 million?. Maximilian Speck verf? Gte that was to bergeben after his death the collection to the city of Leipzig?. This concern increased after the turn Wolf-Dietrich Freiherr Speck von Sternburg of and as a result of his Bem? Relations in Leipzig is a major Stiftungsgr? Ndung been signed. The Maximilian Speck von Sternburg Foundation? Reut? Sst of Leipzig 207 images, 700 prints and an art library on permanent loan. Wolf-Dietrich Freiherr Speck von Sternburg was also the one who lie hen the Chateau L? Tzschena back at Leipzig ERBL?, Which his predecessor artistically laid out in 1825 there.

1999 Wolf-Dietrich Freiherr Speck received Sternburg the Maecenas award of the Working selbstst? Ndiger Cultural Institutions eV f? R his exemplary service to the F? Rderung of cultural life in the Federal Republic of Germany. In the same year he was awarded the then s? Chsische Prime Minister? President Kurt Biedenkopf the Order of Merit of Saxony. And anl? Sslich his seventieth birthday? Berreichte Wolfgang Tiefensee him in February 2005 during a ceremony in the Old Town Hall, the honorary medal of the city of Leipzig.

Which suggests that we're dealing with a different Wolf Dietrich. Thanks for trying anyway.

Subject: RE: Wolf Dietrich
From: alanabit
Date: 29 Nov 09 - 09:18 AM

To be honest Fred, I did not have time to read it all through properly. I glimpsed at a few other mentions of Wolf Dietrich, which were definitely concerned with the collector of folk music. However, in a short glance through, I could not find out anything about the man himself. Thinking about it, it is not likely that Wolf Dietrich of Leipzig, who was seventy in 2005, could have done all that folk song collecting, as he would have already been 56 years old when the Berlin Wall fell. It is not impossible, but not many East Germans would have been allowed that much freedom of movement nor would they have had the resources to do it. I have now become slightly curious, but I really must get on and grade some more papers, set a class test and do some lesson prep before I start playing again! If you keep this thread up though, one of the more knowledgeable Mudcatters will inevitably come through with the goods.

Subject: RE: Wolf Dietrich
From: Reinhard
Date: 29 Nov 09 - 12:25 PM

Wolf-Dietrich is the first name of the Freiherr (Baron) Speck von Sternburg featured in this TV programme. So it is just some similar sounding man but very probable not the Wolf Dietrich you are looking for.

Subject: RE: Wolf Dietrich
From: Reinhard
Date: 29 Nov 09 - 12:54 PM

Wolf Dietrich seems to be still alive. There are several Google references of his research on Greek fire-walking rituals. Last month, a Wiesbaden newspaper announced a slide show and talk by Dietrich on this subject for October 29. The annoucement mentioned Sulzheim (in Unterfranken / Bavaria) as his place of residence.

Subject: RE: Wolf Dietrich
From: Fred McCormick
Date: 30 Nov 09 - 04:38 AM

Thanks Alanabit and Reinhard. Greek firewalking rituals sounds very much his line of country.

I very much doubt WD is from East Germany, since his work in non-Warsaw pact countries goes back way beyond the fall of the Berlin wall. Indeed, I get the impression that he is an ethnomusicologist, attached to a university or possibly a museum, in what used to be West Germany.

I first came across the name in the 1970s, via three LPs which he produced for Topic on the music of Greece, Yugoslavia and Turkey. And those countries seem to cover his main field of interest. Indeed, he has produced several CDs in similar vein for Topic since. He has also published quite a lot on the Italian Albatros label, some of which has been re-released on Lyrichord. He was also responsible for a superb double LP called Orient Okzident: Sudosteuropa, as part of a series of ethnic LPs which were issued by West Berlin Museum.

The booklet notes are invariably comprehensive and scholarly, although I think usually translated into English by a third party. And that in turn makes me think it could be language difficulties which explain his obscurity in English speaking countries.

Subject: RE: Wolf Dietrich
From: Wolfgang
Date: 30 Nov 09 - 09:29 AM

He seemsy to be quite elusive: a page about him

Wolfgang