Born in
Grimma on 28 December 1928,
Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, BWV 190 and the
St Mark Passion. Hellmann took the Bachchor on concert tours to France, Poland and Israel. He collaborated with singers such as
Peter Schreier,
Aldo Baldin,
Ria Bollen,
Ursula Buckel,
Eva Csapó,
Agnes Giebel,
Julia Hamari,
Ernst Haefliger,
Philippe Huttenlocher, Georg Jelden,
Helena Jungwirth,
Siegfried Lorenz,
Adalbert Kraus,
Horst Laubenthal, Karl Markus, Barbara Martig-Tüller, Friedreich Melzer,
Klaus Mertens,
Siegmund Nimsgern,
Ernst Gerold Schramm, Verena Schweizer,
Jakob Stämpfli,
Ortrun Wenkel,
Kurt Widmer and Edith Wiens. With the Bachchor Mainz, he recorded more than 100 Bach cantatas, broadcast by SWF once a week. Hellmann conducted the Requiem by
Jean Gilles, Haydn's
Harmoniemesse, the
Oratorio de Noël by Saint-Saëns, Beethoven's
Missa solemnis, the four
Choralkantaten by
Max Reger, and Frank Martin's
Golgotha. In 1974, he was appointed professor at the
Musikhochschule München, where he was the director from 1981 to 1988. Among his students were
Gabriel Dessauer and
Pierre Even. He was emerited around 1995. Hellmann died in 1999 in
Deisenhofen at age 70. In a memorial service in the Christuskirche, the Bachchor performed Bach's
Es erhub sich ein Streit, BWV 19, because Hellmann had loved the tenor aria "Bleibt, ihr Engel, bleibt bei mir!" (Stay, ye angels, stay with me). == Recordings ==