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Born in Karlsruhe in 1952, he
studied music theory and composition with Eugen Werner Velte at the
Hochschule für Musik in Karls-ruhe. In 1970 he attended the Darmstadt
Courses for the first time. He continued his studies in composition with
Karlheinz Stockhausen (1972/73) and Klaus Huber (1973–74) and in
musicology with Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht. In 1973–78 he taught music
theory and composition at the Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe. In 1985
he succeded E.W.Velte as Head of Composition. He has lectured at the
Darmstadt Courses since 1978. His honours include the Berliner Kunstpreis,
the Reinhold-Schneider-Preis, the Kranichsteiner Musikpreis, the Rolf
Liebermann-Preis, the Compositional Award of the Foundation of Prince
Pierre de Monaco, the Jacob Burckardt-Preis of the Goethe Foundation and
the Bach Prize of the City of Hamburg. In 2001 he received the title of
‘Officier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres’ from the French
Foreign Affairs Ministry and an award of the Royal Philharmonic Society
for Jagden und Formen. Earlier this year he received the Ernst von Siemens
Foundation Award. He holds an honorary doctorate from the Freie Universität
in Berlin. He is a musical advisor of the Deutsche Oper and a board member
of the German Music Council and the gema Association.
Wolfgang Rihm’s 50th birthday was celebrated in the 2001–2002 season
by a wide range of events featuring of his music, staged by many European
festivals and concert organisations.
Selected works: 3 symphonies (1969, 1975, 1976–77), String Quartet No. 1
(1970), Tristesse d’une étoile, string quartet (1971), Paraphrase for
cello, percussion and piano (1972), Magma for large orchestra (1973),
Dis-Kontur for large orchestra (1974), Sub-Kontur for orchestra
(1974–75), Faust und Yorick, chamber opera (1976), String Quartet No. 3
Im Innersten (1976), Jakob Lenz, chamber opera (1977–78), La musique
creuse le ciel for two pianos and orchestra (1977–78), Abgesangsszenen
I–V for mezzo-soprano, baritone and orchestra (1979–81), String
Quartet No. 4 (1979/81), Tutuguri, ballet, text by Antonin Artaud
(1981/82), Monodram for cello and orchestra (1982–83), Dies for soloists,
choir and orchestra (1984), Aufzeichnung: Dämmerung und Umriß for large
orchestra (1985), Die Hamletmaschine, opera, text by Heiner Müller
(1983–86), Klangbeschreibung I–III (1982–87), Chiffre I–VIII for
chamber ensemble (1982–87), Oedipus, opera according to Sophocles,
trans. by Hölderlin (1986–87), Unbenannt I–III for orchestra
(1986–88), Die Eroberung von Mexico, opera according to Artaud
(1987–91), La Lugubre gondola/Das Eismeer for two orchestral groups and
piano (1991), Gesungene Zeit, music for violin and orchestra (1991),
String Quartet No. 9 Quartettsatz (1993), Musik in memoriam Luigi Nono,
five essays for orchestra (1990–92, rev. 1994), Séraphin, music theatre
(1994), in-schrift for orchestra (1995), Pol-Kolchis-Nucleus for chamber
ensemble (1991–96), Maximum est unum for solo voices, choir, organ and
orchestra, text by Eckhardt and Nicolaus Cusanus (1996), String Quartet
No. 10 (1997), Styx und Lethe for cello and orchestra (1997–98), Sotto
voce (Notturno) for piano and orchestra (1999), Spiegel und Fluss for
orchestra (1999), Vers une symphonie fleuve I–V for orchestra
(1992–2000), Deus Passus for solo voices, choir and orchestra
(1999–2000), Concerto (Dithyrambe) for string quartet and orchestra
(2000), Vier Male for clarinet (2000), Rilke: Vier Gedichte for tenor and
piano (2000), Auf einem anderen Blatt for piano (2000), Jagden und Formen
for orchestra (1995–2001), Die Stücke des Sängers for harp and
orchestra (2000–01), Lavant-Gesänge for alto and piano (2000–01),
Bonus for chamber ensemble (2001), Astralis (Über die Linie III) for
choir, cello and kettledrums (2001), Sechs Gedichte von Friedrich
Nietzsche for baritone and piano (2001), Aria/Ariadne for soprano and
instrumental ensemble (2001), Das Lesen der Schrift for orchestra
(2001–02), Trio for Violin, Clarinet and Piano (2003).
Pol – Kolchis – Nucleus
There is, evidently, no ticket to be had for a trip from a Pol to a
Nucleus, passing a Kolchis en route. Do we want to be guided or
chauffeured, anyway? Three short pieces: a triptych. Pictures (finished,
unfinished – who knows?) being crowded together unintentionally in an
artist’s garret can sometimes reveal for a short moment the potential
for mutual references. The disposition of three implies immediately
‘altar’ (as Klaus Lankheit wrote about the triptych as a ‘formula of
pathos’). The inevitable onward march of time in music, nevertheless,
prevents any self-conscious sanctity from being established. Three short
pieces: each with its own history.
Pol was conceived as a birthday greeting for Paul Sacher’s 90th birthday
in a version for six instruments. For the triptych, instrumental colours
were overlaid onto the 6-instrument version to make up the 13 instruments
for which Nucleus is scored. Nucleus owes its existence completely to the
Badenweiler cause (the Romerbad Festival in Badenweiler which in 1996 was
dedicated to Pierre Boulez): a gree-ting to Pierre Boulez. It is a
potential germ for further growth, spin-offs and metastases. Similar to
the superimposition in Pol, the harmony of the outer sections crystallizes
in the piano part, so that it becomes almost palpable: in Pol, this has
produced a closely-woven, static fabric composed of different individual
strands.
In contrast, Nucleus is thought of in a more integrated way, possibly in a
more organic way. A whole body of sound becomes ‘visualised’ motion.
Indeed, we hear the whole process as if perceiving a sculpture in time.
For a long time this has been one of my aspirations in music and listening.
But also here a horizontal harmonic motion is shaped by vertical chordal
blocks dissecting – not unlike articulation marks – the flowing
narrative by binding and releasing, strapping and discharging; but never
as clear-cut as punctuation. This harmonic dichotomy of motion and
articulation stems from the syntax of the listener’s response, from the
transformation of tension and, last but not least, from the demands that
sensory response fundamentally poses for me all the time: Durs Grünbein
once spoke of ‘poetics which follows mimetically the natural nervosity’.
What he referred to was the ‘thunder-like reflexes in some texts...
given the precision of the structure, and additionally, the swinging
spider net’ (in a letter to me dating from 26/04/96). I may appropriate
this theme for my own purposes and creative aspirations as somebody
modelling sound. Grünbein was referring to his own texts. It just happens
to coincide with my notions and ideals about form and forming.
Kolchis, the central piece written for five instruments, was dedicated to
Kurt Kocherscheidt. It was performed at his last big exhibition in Vienna
(at the Secession). The title, The Boys from Kolchis, was written on the
wall underneath his images. Kocherscheidt died in the same year, in 1992.
I owe many impulses to the sensual teasing and the sinister beauty of much
of his works.
It might be possible to hear my three little pieces as one form
articulating one wave of unified energy which is constituted out of many
stimuli. Question mark and colon coexist.
Josef Häusler asked me to write a text about my pieces. He has known me
for 25 years and knows very well how much I hate creating such texts while
at the same time forcing myself to produce them – often enough as a
gesture for friends. I would have loved to read his response to my notes
– after all he is the one who is most intimately familiar with my
artistic potential and limitations. But time was too short. Damocles’
sword of having to explain music in words is still soaring above the music
whereas the music changes its position constantly. Should the sword fall
it could hit the wrong writer, or better still the wrong interpretation.
But maybe the Gordian knot has become the sword’s target meanwhile…
The work was premiered on 13 November 1996 in Badenweiler by the Ensemble
Intercontemporain under Pierre Boulez.
Duration: ca. 18 min.
Wolfgang Rihm
(translated by Elke Hockings / Miranda Jackson)
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