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Table of contents:

The recordable beginnings
From the foundation until 1945
The time after 1945
New awakening 1963
The time after 1967

The first written proof of the existence of a music band in Sulzbach is a bill, dated on 1889, which was found in the registry of the city hall Sulzbach. Unfortunately there aren't any further proofs available until the foundation of the music band "Edelweiss" in 1923. The above mentioned date was confirmed by major Franz Schüssler during his festival speech for the music contest of the county Miltenberg in 1962.

A further date, which is very important for Sulzbach's music is 1904. It is proved by the statements of some older people, that Mr. Josef Hirsch moved from Dornau to Sulzbach in that year. With this man the town's musical life was regenerated.

With this occasion also the band "Ziemlich" has to be mentioned. Mr. Josef Ziemlich, who died on the 19th of June, 1981 at the age of 93, said that the band played on events in and around Sulzbach as entertainment for the people. Before his death Mr. Ziemlich handed over the handwritten scores to the conductor Dietmar Rhese.

The music band "Edelweiss" was composed out of two rivaling bands in 1923. It was founded by twelve young men and their chairman Valentin Fäth. Being the last foundation member, the 97 years old Wendelin Hasenstab died in May 2002. On the following foundation picture he is the man on the left:

The first conductor was Paul Usinger from Erlenbach. In the first few years the band practiced at the home of Josef Hirsch. Then they changed to the restaurant "Rose" and later to "Krone". When the restaurant "Krone" was renovated in 1978, the band had to look for a new practicing room. They found one in the restaurant "Sonne", which was the band's club pub until 2000. In this year the band found a new practicing room in the "Braunwarthsmühle", an old mill which was renovated by the city of Sulzbach.

A short time after its foundation, the Fries Brothers joined the band and under the leadership of conductor Wilfried Bergmann, the band's abilities improved.

In the time of the foundation the band bought instruments, having a value of 2000,- Deutsch Marks. The band didn't have enough money, consequently the members had to play on 3 feasts for free. The rest of the costs was advanced by the municipality of Sulzbach (major was Wilhelm Lebert). In return, the band committed to make music for the following six years for the Catholic Church for free. That meant 13 processions per year.

During the second world war, a lot of active musicians had been called to the arms. But soon after the end of the war the band became new life.

The time after the war was documented by several people. The following report is taken from the records of Mr. Burkhard Grein:

"The sounds of the terrible war, which lasted from 1939 until 1945 had become silent, American soldiers were placed in Germany's cities and towns. Most of the men were still in prisoner's camps. Corpus Christi was close and - as the older musicians thought - it wouldn't be very festive without sacred music. One of the founding members, it was Michel Aulbach, decided to convoke all available musicians of Sulzbach, to create a little band, which could embellish the divine service and the procession. A few days before the feast, the musicians met for their first practice at Linus Fries' home."
The members were:

These were the first men, who played at Corpus Christi after the war in 1945. In the following time all processions were beautified with music. Remarkable is that foundation member Michel Aulbach played - in spite of his age - on every occassion with his trumpet."

With time more and more members of the former-times band returned from war captivity. Burkhard Grein's report can be continued:

"On desire of the American soldiers we created a band, which played dance music for them in the restaurant "Engel".

On the 26th of December, Linus Fries convoked all the musicians of Sulzbach to a general meeting. At the meeting they decided to keep the band's original name "Edelweiss". The band was joined by a lot of new people, among others Alois Karl. Alfons Durschang was played - in occasion of his marriage in 1946 - the first after-war serenade.

The band practiced regularly with their first principal Peter Herberich (elected in 1947) and conductor Linus Fries and so they could improve their musical abilities."

In 1950 to 1960 the band experienced with their conductor Julius Singer a new musical highlight. During this time the band was led by the principals Peter Herberich, Burkhard Grein, Theo Hohm, Adolf Eisenträger and Anton Sommer.

In the years 1962/63 the active members Alois Karl, Josef Wadel, Kaspar Schmitt, Simon Reis and Julius Singer died, one after another in a short time. This loss nearly meant the musical "End" for the band. There weren't a lot of junior musicians available and as result of the wrangling around the succession of conductor Julius Singer, there were several argues between the members and some of them even left the club.

In 1962 the managing board with the principal Karl Schmitt decided to found a youth band in order to preserve the music band. The club had 97 members and the expenditures for buying and repairing instruments amounted to 5600 DM. Until May their total expenditures were 9000 DM. The costs were supplied with donations and contributions. The municipality Sulzbach herself, with burgomaster Heinrich Klement supported the band by providing 2000 DM.

Finally, in March 1963, 26 boys at the ages of 9 - 15 were equipped with instruments and were taught, how to play them by Josef Hofmann, Karl Schmitt, Adolf Eisenträger, Alfons Durschang, Alfred Kühnel, Josef Fries and Dietmar Rehse. The following persons were participated in the foundation of the youth band (listed in the minutes of 1963):

Luckily some of the parents agreed with buying their son's instruments so that the music club got back a part of the enormous expenditures. In that way they could avoid a financial collapse.

With their principal Karl Schmitt, the band had their first practice on the 14th of September 1963. Then they practiced weekly in the restaurant "Krone". 

After a hard crisis, which showed that the active band would dissolve in the foreseeable future, Alfons Durschang took over the guidance of the youth band on the 29th of November 1963. Already a few weeks later, on the 23rd of December, the young people made their debut on a concert in the restaurant "Sonne", where they performed a choral, a little walz and a folksong.

Encouraged by their success, the band went on with their musicial education and on the 11th of April, 1965 the band played on a concert in the restaurant "Engel". Gradually, the young people took over the jobs of the adult band, like creating the programs of the yearly concerts and finally the two bands were united. 

In 1966, the youth band took part in the Musikfest of the county in the town "Sand am Main". Playing on a music competition they were very successful. For the first time the personal and financial engagement of the band and the community of Sulzbach were rewarded. The band gave an example for a lot of other towns. Youth bands were founded in the neighbour villages and on the 18th of December 1966 the bands from Hausen and Rossbach performed together with the one from Sulzbach a concert in the restaurant "Sonne". They gave half of their proceeds to a welfare institution.

Caused by several unnamed reasons, conductor Alfons Durschang wanted to resign from his function in January 1967. But on condition that Dietmar Rehse would be his substitute, he could be persuaded to go on in his work. After some month of common work, Rehse took over the musical leading because Alfons Durschang's state of health wasn't the best. Durschang was appointed to a honorary member and until his death he still sometimes conducted on concerts.

The managing board and the conductor realized that it was necessary for the preservation of the band, to instruct young people. Around 1964 the music band had a recorder group, where children got musical education. From 1978 until 1984 a second youth band existed, which was also joined by musicians from the surrounding towns. This band was detached by a new formation in 1987. At the moment 23 children from Sulzbach, Dornau and Ebersbach get musical education. 

Apart from practicing and public appearances also non-musical activities play an important role in Sulzbach. For example, several camps and youth hostel-stayings have been organized since 1969. The band also had connections to other music clubs, the most important one still is the friendship with the Basque group Zarpaï Banda from Hendaye (in the South of France). In 1998 the band celebrated their 20 year old partnership with the French. 

To test their musical abilities, conductor Dietmar Rehse wanted the band to to take part in the yearly music competitions of the area. But they also had international success, for example they one the second price on a competition in Brno (Czechoslovakia) in 1990.

In 1992 Dietmar Rehse celebrated the jubilee of having been the band's conductor for 25 years. This jubilee clearly pointed out the unity of the maestro and his band. Nevertheless, Dietmar Rehse wanted to resign from his job in the following year. One reason for that was that he wanted to learn to play the bassoon.

Just like his father, Winfried Rehse is working on the increasing of the band's abilities. Important for that is, to promote the education of young musicians. Besides the band has to be provoked by new, more difficult pieces.

Especially in former times, activities like the passing of performance tests (called D1, D2, D3), in connection with the Music Assocation of Northern Bavaria played an important role. Some of our band's members were founding members of the Music Association's youth band, which came into being in1988. Some of our instrumentalists still play in this renowned band. Thus they couldn't only increase their know-how, they also played with international acknowledged ensembles and they even recorded CDs. 

Our young musicians regularly take part in music competitions of the county. As result of having had such good orchestral instructions, a lot of musicians could become well known instructors. Today our music band has their own instructors for nearly every instrument. Some of our members had so much fun with their hobby "music" that they turned it to a profession.

The musicians of the music band "Edelweiss" Sulzbach in 2007

Consequently the music band "Edelweiss" Sulzbach has all assumptions that are important for the future work in the club.

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