Johannes Gelbke

Johannes Woldemar Gelbke (19 July 1846 – 1 March 1903) was a German composer, choir lieder, conductor and singer He became known especially in Germany for his song Horch!

Father Ernst Ludwig Gelbke (1812 Radeberg - unknown) was "veterinarian and company blacksmith in the local Königl.

[2] On the recommendation of his teachers, Johannes was admitted to the Gymnasium zum heiligen Kreuz Dresden [de] after attending the Radeberg primary school.

(Kreuzschule) as boarding school pupil and because of his excellent soprano voice he was accepted into the alumnae choir (Dresdner Kreuzchor).

[2] On 30 April 1866, the eve of the consecration of the new building of the Kreuzschule on Dresden's Georgplatz, the "Dramatische Kleinigkeit: Dornröschen" (Little Drama: Sleeping Beauty) was premiered in the hall of the famous Lincke’sches Bad, a Singspiel written by Kreuzschule pupil Hermann Unbescheid (later Studienrat and Prof. Dr.) and set to music by Gelbke.

His best-known work in Germany is probably the setting of the poem Heimkehr by Emil Schimpke,[5] which is still mainly sung today by male choirs and quartets under the song title "Horch, die alten Eichen rauschen".

Listen to this Lied:[7] Text: (Orthography and typesetting according to original by Emil Schimpke in [5]) after[8] No specific information is available about his numerous compositions from 1882 onwards in Buffalo.

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth, a park in his honour was renamed Gelbkehain [de] in his native town of Radeberg on 19 July 1946.