Samter, Alice |
| COMPOSER (GERMANY) |
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BORN 11 Jun 1908, Berlin - DIED 20 Mar 2004, Berlin CAUSE OF DEATH heart failure GRAVE LOCATION Berlin: Friedhof Heerstrasse, Trahkener Allee 1, Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf (Feld IV-3-26) |
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Alice Samter studied piano with Elsa Blatt and with Amalie Iwan and Professor Start at the Klindworth-Scharwenka-Konservatorium in Berlin. In 1945 her first composition was performed. After her house in Berlin Mitte was bombed she moved to a small apartment in Berlin-Charlottenburg. Many works followed and they were performed in Germany as well as Austria, France, Australia, The USA and other countries. She was well known for her musical aphorisms that were usually no longer than eight minutes. Her work made her wealthy but she never cared for luxury. She never had a car and continued to live in her small apartment in Charlottenburg. In 1988 she received the Bundesverdienstkreuz. She had supported the State Library in Berlin to buy manuscripts by Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn and in 1998 she donated money to what became the Alice-Samter-Stiftung, an organisation supporting music students. Her opera "Nachtwache" (based on the work of Nelly Sachs) was first performed on 9 Nov 2002 in Berlin. |
| Images |
 The grave of Alice Samter at the Friedhof Heerstrasse, Berlin. Picture by Androom (28 Mar 2007) |
Sources • Mende, Hans-Jürgen, Lexicon Berliner Grabstätten, Haude & Spener, 2006 • Alice Samter |
