9 replies to this topic

[sandik]

Koegler has died -- this obituary is from Opera News and so emphasizes his music writing, but he was an active member of the dance press for what seems like forever. I still use his Oxford Concise Dictionary of Ballet, and will miss hearing his opinion on works I'm not likely to see.

[dirac]

Sad news. His contributions to danceviewtimes were closely read by me and will be greatly missed. RIP.

[Helene]

I always looked forward to reading his reviews in Dance View and danceviewtimes. Just yesterday I re-read his article on the 50th anniversary of John Cranko's arrival in Stuttgart in DV.

Rest in peace, Mr. Koegler.

[diane]

He wrote for the past ten years at least once a week for tanznetz.de, and was an important member of the team there.

He will indeed be missed!

(for those who read German, here are a few links to his columns there: http://www.tanznetz.de/koegler.phtml - and his last one, which should have been the first in a new series: http://www.tanznetz....d=200&tid=22914 )

-d-

[vrsfanatic]

Rest in peace Mr. Koegler. Thank you for all you gave to our wonderful world of ballet.

A critic such as Koegler will be hard to replace. Perhaps not possible at all. He wrote reviews not critiques. A wonderfully educated man with such a passion for ballet.

[Dale]

I'm sorry to read this. I enjoyed his writing very much.

[Pamela Moberg]

I am very sad to hear this - Dr. Koegler was one of the great European ballet historians. His service to ballet and dance was totally invaluable, his "Concise Oxford Dictionnary of Ballet" is always handy for me and there is hardly a day when I dont consult it. May he rest in peace, or maybe he will be dancing with Taglioni somewhere in the Elysian fields...

Slightly off topic in the current circumstances, but I would like to mention that I had some letter exchange with Dr. Koegler. Naturally I have preserved his letters carefully. The other day, I was made aware that the correspondence I had with a former chief librarian of the Royal Library in Stockholm had been donated to a collection. Six of my letters to him ( all about Pehr Christian Johansson) are in the collection for, I dont know about the public, but at any rate for scholars to read. So, if you have any letters or documents, they might be valuable for research, dont throw anything away before making sure they might be valuable to some collection.

[Quiggin]

Maybe someone can translate this bettter than Google and me - but here are some HK reminiscences of Balanchine-watching from koeglerjournal: Baden-Baden, 17.03.2012:

But with the first encounter with Balanchine (and Robbins) and the New York City Ballet at the Berlin Festival in 1952 I suffered a kind of a brainwashing effect: I, an Opera Saul, become a Ballet Paul.

Doch die Erstbegegnung mit Balanchine (und Robbins) und dem New York City Ballet bei den Berliner Festwochen 1952 hatten bei mir eine Art Gehirnwäsche bewirkt, die mich von einem Opern-Saulus (Reste stecken auch heute noch in mir) zu einem Ballett-Paulus werden ließen.

Even though I have [seen] no new Violette Verdy, Patricia McBride and Allegra Kent, and no younger Jacques Amboise, Edward Villella and Nicholas Magallanes as I once discovered among the company members ... they [still] dance with a verve, a pace that even at a very high speed has such a somnambulistic musicality that goes beyond one's eyes [ability to see] (and ears [to hear]).

Und was ist das für eine junge Tänzergeneration – auch wenn ich keine neue Violette Verdy, Patricia McBride oder Allegra Kent und keinen jüngeren Jacques d´Amboise, Edward Villella oder Nicholas Magallanes unter ihnen entdeckt habe. Sie tanzen jedenfalls mit einer Verve, einem Tempo, ja einer Rasanz und immer mit einer so nachtwandlerischen Musikalität, das einem die Augen (und Ohren) übergehen ...

[Alexandra]

An obituary on Horst Koegler is now available on the Dancemagazine website.


The link is:

http://www.dancemaga...n_memoriam/4541

[Helene]

It's written by George Jackson.

Thank you for this.