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Helmut Barbe

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Helmut Barbe (28 December 1927, Halle (Saale) – 18 April 2021, Berlin) was a German composer.[1]

Barbe studied at the Berlin School of Church Music [de] where he was taught by Gottfried Grote and Ernst Pepping. Between 1952 and 1975 he was the cantor at the church St. Nikolai [de] in Berlin's Spandau quarter. After this, he took a post as a professor at the Berlin University of the Arts in what was at that time West Berlin.

In 1956 Barbe premiered his musical Hallelujah, Billy[2] at the German Evangelical Church Assembly in Frankfurt am Main. This led commentators to identify him as a pioneer of contemporary worship music, in German Neues Geistliches Lied (NGL, literally: new spiritual song).[3]

References

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  1. ^ "Helmut Barbe death notice". Tagesspiegel. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  2. ^ Ernst Lange [in German]. "Halleluja, Billy Ein christliches Musical in 5 Akten von Ernst Lange, mit Songs von Helmut Barbe. Textliche Bearbeitung: Klaus Stolzmann" (PDF). Theater am Lindenhofe, Hannover. Retrieved 3 June 2015.[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ René Frank (2003). "Adaption von Gospelgesängen". Das neue geistliche Lied: neue Impulse für die Kirchenmusik. Marburg: Tectum Verlag [de]. p. 54. ISBN 978-3-8288-8573-8.