Grusnick came from
Spandau and had already become acquainted with the musical aspirations of the
German Youth Movement as a youth and student. From 1919 to 1925, in addition to music and
musicology, he also studied German, English and
sport. In the field of music and musicology,
Hermann Kretzschmar,
Max Friedlaender,
Johannes Wolf,
Curt Sachs,
Georg Schünemann and
Wilibald Gurlitt were among his teachers. On 1 April 1928, he came to
Lübeck as
Studienrat to the . On 4 May 1928, he founded the
Lübeck Singing and Playing Circle, which was influenced by the , to spend their free time together doing sports, hiking and making music together. But already in the founding year, there were also public performances: for example, at the folk dance festival in the Wallanlagen and on 21 October, a first spiritual concert. He soon met the pastor of the , who had also been appointed in 1928. , in 1930, he became cantor at St. Jakobi, a post he was to hold until 1972. The very next year, he met
Hugo Distler, who took up the position of organist at the church in 1931 through the mediation of
Günther Ramin. Working closely together, Grusnick performed many of Distler's choral works, helping him to break through with performances at music festivals and music days throughout Germany and Europe, especially at the Kassel Music Days in 1935. In February 1931, Kühl, Distler, and Grusnick introduced the then-new service form of
Musical Vespers in St. Jakobi, which soon became a firm tradition. In addition to Distler's modernism, Grusnick's choir work focused on the
Baroque composers
Heinrich Schütz,
Johann Sebastian Bach and soon
Buxtehude. As early as 1931, Grusnick made several study trips to
Uppsala, where he undertook source research on Buxtehude's vocal works in the
Düben Collection of the university library there, in the research and processing of which he was to play a decisive role in the decades to come. He subsequently published eleven
chorale cantatas and one solo cantata by Buxtehude in the
Bärenreiter-Verlag, as well as sacred concertos by
Christoph Bernhard that had survived in the collection. He was thus one of the most important editors of Buxtehude's vocal works. After war service and imprisonment from 1939 to 1946, he returned to Lübeck. In 1948, he was appointed
Kirchenmusikdirektor. In 1949, he established the tradition of performing Bach's
St Matthew Passion in St. Jakobi from three different galleries. In 1952, he had the overall direction of the 29th "German Bach Festival" of the
Neue Bachgesellschaft, which took place in Lübeck. In the same year, he brought the Hugo-Distler Archive to Lübeck. He made his last trip to Uppsala in 1986 and published a printable copy of the Buxtehude cantata on "
Nun danket alle Gott" before the end of 1990. == Honours ==