|
The German choral conductor and music therapist, Johannes Th. Eschen, was born in the family of an Evangelical priest, and first completed a degree in church music. He was the first church musician in the young Evangelischen Gemeinde Altenberg (1953-1956). He soon gathered a circle of singers around him: the Evangelische Kirchenchor Altenberg was founded. The program included chorale movements and psalms by Heinrich Schütz, Hugo Distler and Walter. From 1960, he worked as a church musician in Wolfsburg, before studying music therapy with Mary Priestley at the Guildhall School in London.
After teaching music therapy at the Evangelische Fachhochschule in Hannover, Johannes Eschen was appointed to the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg in 1974 and served in this post until 1990. At the time he was the only chair in this subject in Germany and is considered one of the early pioneers of music therapy training. His work was characterized by the development and establishment of the new and important discipline of music therapy as artistic psychotherapy in practical research and teaching. He placed freely improvised music at the center of music-therapeutic support for patients. Even today, the Institut für Musiktherapie, which he set up in his last year in office together with the then President of the Hochschule Hermann Rauhe and his successor in office Hans-Helmut Decker-Voigt, is an important focus of the Hamburger Musikhochschule. The university honored him in 1998 with an honorary doctorate.
Johannes Eschen was one of the most important pioneers in the development of music therapy in Germany. Together with the psychiatrist Konrad Schily, he created the “Mentorenkurs Musiktherapie Herdecke”, the first two-year full-time course in music therapy, whose bold concept of “training trainers” represented a significant impetus for the academic training landscape of music therapy. Music therapists trained there later taught at the music therapy university locations in Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Münster, Witten and in training courses in Åalborg/Denmark, Pécs/Hungary and in New York, some of them in managerial positions. He worked as a music therapist ALSO at the Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, the Gemeinschaftskrankenhaus Herdecke and in private practice. He edited the book Analytical Music Therapy (Jessica Kingsley Publishers (2002).
Johannes Eschen was was one of the founding members also the longstanding chairman of the Deutsche Musiktherapeutische Gesellschaft (DMtG; formerly: DGMT), of which he was Chairman (1977-1985), President (1985-1986) and Honorary Chairman for his life's work (since 1990). He died unexpectedly on the day of his 85th birthday on June 16, 2013 in Vienna. |
