Born in 1939 in Passau, he studied composition with Franz Xaver Lehner (1962-63) and Gźnter Bialas (1964-67) in Munich, with Stockhausen in Darmstadt (1967), and with Luigi Nono in Venice (1967-68). In 1965-66 he worked with Josef A. Riedl in the Electronic Music Studio in Munich. In 1969-71 he was a member of Riedl's team. He was deputy president of the German section of the iscm (1971-74). In 1975-80 he cooperated with Peter Maiwald's alternative theatre touring group, which presented 'political revues' in pubs and at mass rallies in the then West Germany. He received the Berliner Förderungspreis in the field of music (1988).
Since 1974 he has worked as a Professor of Composition at the Folkwang-Hochschule in Essen. He taught at the Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt (1988) and has given master classes in many countries. He is a member of the Academies of Art in Berlin and Leipzig (since 1992/1993).

Selected works (since 1980): Lernen von for large orchestra (1980), Morgenlied for large orchestra (1980), Trio mit Stabpandeira for viola, cello and double-bass (1983), Spahrenmusik for orchestra (1981), Nocturnes for orchestra (1984), Nudo que ansi juntáis for 16 voices in three groups, words by St Teresa of Avila and Pablo Neruda (1984), Cantiones de circulo gyrante for choir, solo voices, solo double-bass and 14 instrumentalists, words by St Hildegard of Bingen and Heinrich Böll (1985), Von Zeit zu Zeit. String Quartet No. 2 (1985), La force du vertige for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano (1985), Petite piéce for three basset horns (1986), Protuberanzen, three pieces for orchestra (1986), Vier Stźcke for orchestra and tape (1986), Air mit Sphinxes for chamber ensemble (1987), Doubles, mit einem beweglichen Ton for string quartet (1987), Go Ahead for orchestra (1988), Herbstfestival for four percussions (1989), Seifenoper OmU for ensemble (1989), String Trio (1989), An Hölderlins Umnachtung for chamber ensemble (1992).

La force du vertige. The state of vertigo presents a remarkable confrontation with oneself and one's own capacities. Sartre defines vertigo not so much as the fear of falling into abyss as the fear of throwing oneself into it. Similarly, A. Glucksmann defines it as the fear of that other Self, the self one might turn into a moment later.
Moving from one's potential to other potential selves, lunging into the unknown - this was the experimental phase of my state of mind when I was composing La force du vertige. This is reflected in the diverse textures, the ordering of dynamics and the frequent microtonal changes of intervals in the piece. This is perhaps made particularly clear in the structure of the work's first half, called 'pursuing figures', from which I could not free myself psychologically until the composition was finished. In the thrill of vertigo, and in opposition to Gluckmann's reactionary book of the same title, the work takes an about-turn toward the following radical principle: action rather than vertigo.

Nicolaus A. Huber