Albrecht Roser has passed away

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Permalink Reply by Brad Lowe on April 20, 2011 at 10:58am

Correction David, Albrecht passed Sunday April 17th, after complications from a stroke a few years ago.

I had the privilege meeting Albrecht when I was the tech for our 1994 regional festival in Detroit, and had the chance to see and even work a few of his marionettes before his wonderful show. 

Later at the reception, he gave me a couple of posters and his book all signed. 

I will never forget the great experience working with Albrecht and Ingrid Höfer.    
A true marionette genius. He will be missed.

Long live Gustaf & His Ensemble

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Permalink Reply by Yippee on April 20, 2011 at 12:51pm

I'm sorry I never got to meet the man that inspired quite a few puppeteers. I only got to see his work with Between the lions. He seemed like such a nice gentleman. May the wind be forever at your back Mr. Roser. R.I.P

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Permalink Reply by Vixie on April 20, 2011 at 4:42pm

I was fortunate enough to get to see him perform at the 1994 regional festival, and never forgot that experience. As a new performer at the time, he taught me the value of subtle movement in puppet performance, a lesson I have tried to use every time I perform. I was not lucky enough to get to meet him personally, but he was one of the great ones, and will be missed.

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Permalink Reply by Joseph Emory on April 20, 2011 at 10:21pm

A sad day for the Puppetry World.  I was blessed to be able to meet him back in the 70's and watch him perform.  He was such an exacting talent.  What a loss.  Rest In Peace Sir. 

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Permalink Reply by Eric Anthony Smith on April 22, 2011 at 5:20pm

How very sad.I met him at Washington Puppet Festival-an amazing wonderful man-A GREAT PERFORMER ! His magic made our life a wonderful world.

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Permalink Reply by Albert Maly-Motta on April 24, 2011 at 8:54am

Eric Anthony Smith said:

How very sad.I met him at Washington Puppet Festival-an amazing wonderful man-A GREAT PERFORMER ! His magic made our life a wonderful world.

What a loss to all of us. I would not have chosen to become a professional puppeteer without his example.

His connection and apprenticeship with German puppet maker and designer Fritz Herbert Bross was one of the fortunate cases where a gifted performer met with a great puppet designer. Not all designers are good performers and vice versa. Thru Bross' teaching, Roser was able to evolve his own very personal style. He always stated that the real impulse comes from a well designed marionette and the puppeteer has to listen to what the puppet has to say.
So many modern puppeteers only use the puppet as a glorified prop. In Rosers world the marionettes themselves were the stars, He treated them with reverence and respect.
His own clown Gustaf took him out of the depressions he suffered when he came back from the war.
Very sad to think that we will probably never hear Gustaf playing his Charlie Kunz medley again....

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Permalink Reply by David C. Herzog on April 24, 2011 at 9:01am

I ask Herr Roser to autograph my book Gustav uns seinEnsembel, and told him in my limited and  incorect German "Herr Roser mine Grossfadder vas nommen Gutstav. He gave me a big smile

 

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Permalink Reply by Phillip Huber on April 25, 2011 at 11:56am

This is very sad news. Albrecht Roser was one of the great influences of my early career. I will never forget his performances and the beautiful interaction that occurred between puppeteer & puppet. His precise & fluid manipulation style gave a special elegance to his presentation, dispelling the myth that marionettes must be awkward & silly. His characters were fully developed & compelling personalities who displayed their thought processes to the audience.  This great artist will always be alive through the beautiful work he created!

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Permalink Reply by Bruno Descaves on June 9, 2011 at 7:02pm

I am also very sad with the news! His teaching really gave me an insight that the marionettes are "art" and that I was going in the right direction.

Never forget when he brought the austrian old wooden toy to the workshop, it was a little car with 4 little balls as wheels with a big ball on top of them. Then he said that a performance should be like this car. He rolled it on the table and all of us said: oohh.  You see? all the small wheels are rolling to the left as well as the car but,... the top BIG  ball is rolling the other way round!!!

You should lead the public to one direction but the reaction should be a surprise.

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