Fritz Werner

Fritz Werner, born on December 15, 1898 in Berlin, Germany, was a German choral conductor and organist. He studied at the Berliner Akademie für Kirchen- und Schulmusik, the University of Berlin, and the Preußische Akademie der Künste. In 1935, he became an organist at Bethlehem Church in Potsdam-Babelsberg. Werner founded the Heinrich-Schütz-Chor Heilbronn in 1947 and conducted it until 1973, focusing on the music of Heinrich Schütz and Johann Sebastian Bach. Werner's compositions included the cantata "Trauermusik" (1935), the symphony Symphonie in d (1954), and the oratorio Veni, sancte spiritus (1964). He received the Bundesverdienstkreuz I. Klasse in 1973 and Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1974. Werner passed away on December 22, 1977.