Herbert Collum

He continued from 1930 to 1934 at the Church Music Institute in Leipzig, where he studied organ with Karl Straube and Günther Ramin, piano with Carl Adolf Martienssen, choral conducting with Kurt Thomas, and musical composition with Johann Nepomuk David and Fritz Reuter.

His appointment in 1935 as principal organist at the Kreuzkirche, Dresden, signalled the beginning of his creative period; he remained in that post until his death in April 1982 at the age of 67.

To mark the 200th anniversary of J S Bach's death, he organised 24 concerts between September 1949 and August 1950, featuring the Collum Choir and members of the Staatskapelle Dresden.

He began reaching harpsichord at the Musikhochschule Dresden in 1964, the same year as his appointment to the jury of the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition.

The concert tradition founded by him has been continued under the direction of the current Kreuzkirche organist, Holger Gehring [de], resulting in the organ becoming one of the best known in Saxony.

Gravestone of Herbert Collum in the village church of Reinhardtsgrimma
The village church of Reinhardtsgrimma in Saxony, where Collum regularly performed on the Silbermann organ and was later buried
Silbermann Organ in the village church of Reinhardtsgrimma , used by Collum in his recordings of Bach's works