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Kaminski, Heinrich (1886-1946): The Complete Music Autographs in the BSB

Heinrich Kaminski was a German composer. He was born in 1886 in Tiengen in the Black Forest. After initial studies with Philipp Wolfrum in Heidelberg, Kaminski went to Berlin to the Sternsches Konservatorium and the Royal Academy of Arts, where he studied composition and piano. From 1914 he lived in the small village of Ried in Upper Bavaria, and in 1916 he married and became father of five children within a few years. For many years Kaminski, encouraged by friends and patrons, was able to concentrate on composing and a small circle of students. After some major successes as a composer, he was the director of a master class for composition at the Prussian Academy of Arts from 1930-1933 and director of the music society concerts in Bielefeld from 1930-1934. After severe professional and personal strokes of fate, Kaminski spent the last years of his life in seclusion in Ried and died shortly after the completion of his second opera 'Das Spiel vom König Aphelius'. The Bavarian State Library had already acquired individual autographs of his works during his lifetime. Through several purchases from the composer's bequest, the holdings were continuously increased in the following decades. In 2014, the Heinrich Kaminski Society finally donated its valuable and very extensive Kaminski collection to the Bavarian State Library. All autograph music manuscripts were digitized.