Horst-Tanu Margraf (26 October 1903 − 1978) was a German conductor, Generalmusikdirektor of Halle (Saale) from 1950 to 1969.
After the National Socialists seized power, he joined the Nazi Party on May 1, 1933 (membership number 2,415,680).Federal Archives R 9361-IX CARD FILE/27600828Fred K. Prieberg: Handbook of German Musicians 1933–1945. 2nd ed., Kopf, Kiel 2009, ISBN 978-3-00-037705-1, p. 4754. Walther Siegmund-Schultze: Brought Handel's Music to the Light and into the Hearts of People. In: Freiheit, April 11, 1978, p. 5. During the Second World War he also performed as a guest in German-occupied territories, for example with the pro-German Philharmonisch Orkest van Antwerpen (1943).Eric Derom: Symphonic Music in Occupied Belgium, 1940–1944: The Role of “German-Friendly” Music Societies. In: Revue belge de Musicologie / Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Muziekwetenschap 69 (2015), pp. 109–125, here: pp. 110, 117. Then, he worked briefly at the Städtische Bühnen Lemberg (Lvov, occupied Poland), where he was appointed Music and Opera Director in the spring of 1943.Fred K. Prieberg: Handbuch Deutsche Musiker 1933–1945. 2nd ed., Kopf, Kiel 2009, ISBN 978-3-00-037705-1, p. 4754; cf. Various Reports. In: Music in War 1 (1943), p. 236. Already in the summer of the same year, however, the Lvov Theater was forced to relocate to Kraków due to the approaching Red Army.Bogusław Drewniak: Theater in the Nazi State. Scenario of German Contemporary History. 1933–1945. Droste, Düsseldorf 1983, ISBN 3-7700-0635-6, p. 107. Margraf performed there in 1944 with the propaganda orchestra Philharmonic of the General Government.Ernst Klee: Cheerful Hours in Auschwitz. How German Artists Kept Their Murdering Compatriots in Occupied Poland in Good Spirits. In: Die Zeit, No. 5, January 25, 2007.
After the war, in Halle, he was one of the founders of the Handel Festival. He conducted the Staatskapelle Halle in several operas of George Frideric Handel, some in their first modern production, such as Rinaldo in 1954. He conducted for the festival Radamisto (1955), Poro (1956), Admetos (1958), Giulio Cesare (1959) and Imeneo (1960).First Climaxes Handel Festival, HalleJubiläumsjahr Handel Festival, Halle
He conducted the Händel-Festspielorchester Halle [Handel Festival Orchestra of Halle] in recording Handel's 12 Сoncerti grossi op.6, made in 1966 and 1967.
In 1966 he conducted a recording of a shortened version of Imeneo with Günther Leib in the title role, Hans-Joachim Rotzsch as Tirinto, and Sylvia Geszty as Rosmene.Imeneo operone.de
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