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Born in 1970 in Gadderbaum nr. Bielefeld,
he first studied the guitar, gaining the diplomas of the
Hochsches Konservatorium in Frankfurt (1995) and of the city's
Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst (1999), where
he studied with Thomas Bittermann and Michael Teuchert. He
also studied composition under the guidance of Claus Kühnl,
and subsequently with Nicolaus A. Huber at the
Folkwang-Hochschule in Essen (diploma in 2001).
As a guitarist he has worked in the theatres in Giessen and
Darmstadt, Frankfurt Opera and the Radio Symphony Orchestra
of Frankfurt. He also performed in a duo with Christopher
Brandt, as well as in various rock groups and experimentral
ensembles. In 2001, together with Mark L. Kysela he founded
strom Ensemble (acoustic instruments and live electronics).
It won Second Prize at the 'Junge Kultur' Competition in Düsseldorf
(2001). He participated in numerous interdisciplinary
projects ('Pause' - Leuven 1999, 'Choreographen und
Komponisten' - Berlin 2002). He collaborates with performers
such as Tabea Zimmermann and Christian Dierstein, and with
'Ensemble Modern' and 'Ensemble Atmosphere'. He won First
Prize in the competition organized by Deutsche Studienpreis
der K¹rberstiftung (2002).
He lives and works as a freelance artist in Frankfurt.
Selected works: [tl: ] for solo saxophone
(1993), Inquisition for soprano saxophone/guitar (1995),
Gesang des Unkerichs for two voices and a vocal performer
(1996), Der blutige Schaffner for saxophone quartet (1996),
Dampf for accordion orchestra (1997), Krusten for string
quartet (1998), Pause, ballet music for two electric
guitars, cheoreography by Nik Haffner and Thomas McManus
(1999), Arnold S. for clarinet, cello, trombone and piano
(1999), Das geliehene Ohr for viola sextet (1999/2000),
An-Sprache for solo body-percussion (2000), Stehender Falz
for flute, alto saxophone, cello and piano (2001).
An-Sprache is a 10-minute solo piece for
body-percussion. The aim of my work was to make the human
body sound. The performer finds himself in a very special
situation: he is both performer and instrument, i. e., the
object of the music. Being himself the object, he cannot at
the same time be the creator of the music.
For the composer it means this: writing music, which sounds
like a body, he cannot use the body in the same manner in
which he would use a percussion instrument. The appeal of
the piece lies not in the body imitating a drum but in
producing sounds to which the body itself approaches
('an-spricht').
The body is the place where the music happens. Consequently
the score contains anatomical terms and gives directions as
to how the fragments corresponding to given parts of the
body should be treated. The body moves. Sometimes the
movements intensify to become gestures. An-Sprache is
choreography ruled by acoustics.
These actions go on within the body itself. The vocal sounds
in the speech apparatus are presented in a newly developed
system of notation, in which special clefs define, on the
five-line stave, the place of articulation. This system
differs from the one commonly used, in which a sound is an
indivisible whole. Here, sound is a complex formed out of
various characteristics, such as the shape of the lips, the
direction of breath and the position of the tongue in the
oral cavity. It is possible to compose using such criteria.
Through the newly gained musical context, speech is taken
back to a state practised by a child during the 'lallphase'.
It pronounces 'l' without knowing the letter 'l'. Instead it
finds joy in experimenting with the capabilities of its own
body, discovering the places in the oral cavity as parts of
its body.
Music is often described as the most abstract form of art.
Some even say that it symbolizes the highest state of
spirituality itself. In An-Sprache I have tried to formulate
an aesthetic opposition to such statements. No choirs of
angels! Music has its feet firmly on the ground.
An-Sprache places itself against every superficial elevation
and negation of the human body. Its sound possesses a dry
and brittle charm. It is these very limitations which lead
to musical dynamism.
Robin Hoffmann |
