Biography
Ludwig Güttler earned the nicknames “the Pavarotti of wind instruments” and “King of Trumpets,” yet his reputation rests equally on his scholarship, pedagogy, and commitment to Saxon cultural life as on his performances on trumpet and horn. More than one hundred recordings document a professional life that opened in the 1960s.
His earliest training began at age five with the accordion, piano, cello, and flute; at fourteen he added the trumpet. Between 1961 and 1965 he studied with Armin Männel at the Hochschule für Musik in Leipzig. Thereafter he served as principal trumpeter of Halle’s Handel Festival Orchestra and later of the Dresden Philharmonic, remaining with the latter ensemble until 1980. During those same years he established three period-instrument groups devoted to seventeenth- and eighteenth-century wind repertoire: the New Leipziger Bach-Collegium in 1976, the Ludwig Güttler Wind Ensemble in 1978, and Virtuosi Saxoniae in 1985. After relinquishing his orchestral posts he embarked on an extensive recording career, first for Capriccio and subsequently for Berlin Classics. In 1983 the Deutschen Phonoakademie named him “Discovery of the Year.” He has appeared both as soloist and conductor with all three ensembles in instrumental and choral repertory, and he maintained a long-standing duo partnership with organist Friedrich Kircheis. Throughout his career Güttler has systematically retrieved forgotten works for trumpet, piccolo trumpet, corno da caccia, and other winds from libraries, archives, and castles across Germany and beyond, enlarging the canon well past the familiar contributions of Vivaldi, Bach, Telemann, and Haydn.
From 1972 to 1990 he held a professorship at the Dresden Hochschule für Musik, taught each year at the Weimar International Music Seminar, and regularly conducted master classes while serving on competition juries. In 1986 he created the annual Musikwoche Hitzacker festival, which combines concerts, recitals, workshops, and exhibitions, and he has also directed local opera productions. Numerous honors have recognized both his artistic achievements and his civic engagement. Holding a degree in architecture, he played a central role in the restoration of Dresden’s Frauenkirche between 1994 and 2004; for that work Queen Elizabeth appointed him an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. His discography spans composers from Albinoni to Zelenka.
As he neared eighty and pandemic restrictions curtailed travel, Güttler largely withdrew from public performance, though he continued to anticipate the discovery of unexplored manuscripts and fresh instrumental explorations. The two-disc set In allen meinen Taten gathers highlights from earlier recordings together with 2022 performances of several favorite chorales, a genre to which he has returned repeatedly across his lengthy career.
His earliest training began at age five with the accordion, piano, cello, and flute; at fourteen he added the trumpet. Between 1961 and 1965 he studied with Armin Männel at the Hochschule für Musik in Leipzig. Thereafter he served as principal trumpeter of Halle’s Handel Festival Orchestra and later of the Dresden Philharmonic, remaining with the latter ensemble until 1980. During those same years he established three period-instrument groups devoted to seventeenth- and eighteenth-century wind repertoire: the New Leipziger Bach-Collegium in 1976, the Ludwig Güttler Wind Ensemble in 1978, and Virtuosi Saxoniae in 1985. After relinquishing his orchestral posts he embarked on an extensive recording career, first for Capriccio and subsequently for Berlin Classics. In 1983 the Deutschen Phonoakademie named him “Discovery of the Year.” He has appeared both as soloist and conductor with all three ensembles in instrumental and choral repertory, and he maintained a long-standing duo partnership with organist Friedrich Kircheis. Throughout his career Güttler has systematically retrieved forgotten works for trumpet, piccolo trumpet, corno da caccia, and other winds from libraries, archives, and castles across Germany and beyond, enlarging the canon well past the familiar contributions of Vivaldi, Bach, Telemann, and Haydn.
From 1972 to 1990 he held a professorship at the Dresden Hochschule für Musik, taught each year at the Weimar International Music Seminar, and regularly conducted master classes while serving on competition juries. In 1986 he created the annual Musikwoche Hitzacker festival, which combines concerts, recitals, workshops, and exhibitions, and he has also directed local opera productions. Numerous honors have recognized both his artistic achievements and his civic engagement. Holding a degree in architecture, he played a central role in the restoration of Dresden’s Frauenkirche between 1994 and 2004; for that work Queen Elizabeth appointed him an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. His discography spans composers from Albinoni to Zelenka.
As he neared eighty and pandemic restrictions curtailed travel, Güttler largely withdrew from public performance, though he continued to anticipate the discovery of unexplored manuscripts and fresh instrumental explorations. The two-disc set In allen meinen Taten gathers highlights from earlier recordings together with 2022 performances of several favorite chorales, a genre to which he has returned repeatedly across his lengthy career.