Born in
Königsberg, Rosenfeld studied
musicology from 1952 to 1954 at the
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin as well as
music theory and
musical composition at the
Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" Berlin from 1954 to 57 with
Rudolf Wagner-Régeny. From 1958 to 1961 he was master student of
Hanns Eisler and
Leo Spies at the
Akademie der Künste der DDR, from 1961 to 1964 lecturer at the Berlin and lecturer for music theory at the Deutsche Hochschule für Musik Berlin and for film music at the
Konrad Wolf Film University of Babelsberg. After successes with classical music (
Violin Concerto, 1963), Rosenfeld became one of the most prominent and busiest film composers of the
DEFA in the 1960s. From 1964 he worked as a freelance composer and lived in
Bergholz-Rehbrücke. He wrote the music for cinema, documentary, short films, children's and
animated films. Among them are classics like
The Rabbit Is Me (1965),
Alfons Zitterbacke (1966) and
The Banner of Krivoi Rog (1968). One project that he supervised from 1966 until his death, even after the
German reunification, was the long-term documentation
The Children of Golzow. Rosenfeld composed six operas, among them
The Everyday Miracle (after
Evgeny Schwartz, premiere 1973 in
Stralsund),
The Mantle (after
Gogol), first performance 1978 in
Weimar),
Die Verweigerung (after Gogol, first performance 1989 in
Osnabrück) as well as
Kniefall von Warschau about
Willy Brandt (
libretto by
Philipp Kochheim, premiere 1997 in
Dortmund).
Dem Andenken und zur Ehre aller verfolgten Zigeuner, Requiem for Kaza Katharinnna, (
To the memory and honour of all persecuted gypsies) was premiered in 1991 in the
Church of Peace of Potsdam-
Sanssouci and released on CD in 1996. In October 1986 he was elected as successor of
Wilhelm Neef as chairman of the Potsdam district association of the . Rosenfeld has received several awards for his achievements. In 1968 he received the
Hanns Eisler Prize, in 1973 the
Art Prize of the German Democratic Republic and in 1980 the
National Prize III. class. Rosenberg died in
Bergholz-Rehbrücke near
Potsdam at the age of 72. == Compositions ==