Beethoven Prize

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Beethoven monument in Bonn

The Beethoven Prize or Beethoven Prize is a prize named after the composer Ludwig van Beethoven , which has been awarded by various institutions since the 19th century. Mostly it was a composition competition .

Beethoven Prize in Vienna

Based on a donation of 5000 guilders , which a committee in Vienna, which had organized the Beethoven Festival in 1870, had given the management of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna , the Vienna “Beethoven Composition Prize” was donated in 1875 as a grant from the “Beethoven Stipendiumsstiftung” .

According to the regulations, the prize, endowed with 500 guilders, was to be awarded every two years and given on December 16, the birthday of Ludwig van Beethoven. Applicants, who were only allowed to submit a single work from one of the fields opera, oratorio or cantata, symphony, concert and sonata, could initially only be graduates of the Conservatory of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde and were not allowed to leave it longer than six years ago.

The prize, which was advertised for the first time on September 1, 1876, was not awarded, however, and the title of the foundation was changed to “Beethoven Compositions Prize Foundation” and the deadline within which a conservatory graduate was allowed to apply was extended from six to ten years.

In 1878, too, no prize was awarded among the applicants among whom Gustav Mahler was with an overture to the “Argonauts”.

The prize was awarded for the first time on December 18, 1879 - the winner was Hugo Reinhold .

After a further amendment of the statutes of December 16, 1880, with which all graduates of the Conservatory were admitted to the competition regardless of their leaving, the prize was awarded for the second time in 1881/82; it was Robert Fuchs for his Piano Concerto in B flat minor. The jury included Johannes Brahms , Karl Goldmark , Johann Nepomuk Fuchs , Josef Hellmesberger and Franz Krenn . Secondly, she found Viktor von Herzfeld and Hans Fink worthy of the award - Gustav Mahler was again unsuccessful among the applicants with his “Klagende Lied” for solos, choir and orchestra.

Another amendment to the statutes in 1888 lifted the restriction to the Conservatory of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde so that all Austrian composers could participate. In 1889/90 the price was divided between Julius Zellner and Ludwig Thuille .

In order to achieve a further increase in the number of participants, from 1891 onwards, with a new amendment to the statutes, international applications were allowed.

In 1896, on the recommendation of Johannes Brahms , the Beethoven composition prize was converted into a “composition prize of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde” Vienna with completely new statutes and had nothing to do with the original Beethoven prize. The first prize winner was Alexander von Zemlinsky in 1897 , Richard Strauss in 1942 and Hans Pfitzner in 1943 .

Beethoven prizes in Berlin

Prize of the Prussian Academy of the Arts

To mark the 100th anniversary of the death of Ludwig van Beethoven, the Prussian state on December 13, 1926 created by the signature of the then Minister of Science, Art and Education Carl Heinrich Becker a 10,000 Reichsmark doped Beethoven price of the Prussian Academy of Arts annually to " outstanding talented , ambitious younger or recognized older composers who have German nationality ”was awarded. According to the regulations, the eleven-member board of trustees was appointed for three years

  • four members of the Senate and two members of the Cooperative of the Academy of Arts, Section for Music,
  • the director of the University of Music in Charlottenburg,
  • a director of the University of Music in Cologne ,
  • the chairman of the cooperative of German composers,
  • the respective professor for musicology at the Berlin University and
  • a free composer of the younger generation.

It worked on a voluntary basis and had to submit written proposals for the award to the Akademie der Künste by January 1st of each year. The consultations then took place in January or at the beginning of February at the latest in the Akademie der Künste. The following guidelines applied to the award:

  • The amount should be allocated as undivided as possible.
  • If talent and performance are equally valued for two composers, the needy one receives the prize.
  • For older composers, the life's work should be in the foreground, for younger composers, the individual achievement.
  • As a rule, the prize may only be awarded once to a composer. (Exception: unanimous decision of the Board of Trustees)
  • The prize may not be awarded to a member of the board of trustees. (Exception: unanimous decision of the Board of Trustees excluding the candidate)
  • A two-thirds majority in a secret ballot is required to award the prize.

The award was then presented on the anniversary of Beethoven's death, March 28th each year. He received:

City administration award

In 1927, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Beethoven's death, the Berlin city administration announced a Beethoven Prize for performing musicians (orchestra members).

Beethoven prizes in Bonn

Composition competition

A composition prize awarded by the city of Bonn up to and including 1992, decided by the city council in 1959 and awarded for the first time in 1961.

Prize winners:

  • 1961 Heimo pea for Pavimento ; Music for a large orchestra
  • 1963 Milko Kelemen for the composition Transfiguration for piano and orchestra ;
  • 1965 - no price due to poor quality of the submitted pieces
  • 1967 György Ligeti for Requiem
  • 1970 Klaus Huber for Tenebrae ; a passion music for orchestra

In 1973, the Bonn City Council put the Beethoven Prize on a new basis. In addition to the Beethoven main prize, a three-part sponsorship prize to support young talents was now announced. The then GMD Volker Wangenheim wanted to combine symphonic and pop music for pricing.

  • 1974 Bruno Maderna for Aura ; for large orchestra (he had died the year before)
    3rd Prize: in equal parts to Peter Michael Hamel for Dharana ; Orchestral work and Chris Hinze for Live Music Now ; the 1st and 2nd sponsorship awards were not awarded.

In 1977 the city of Bonn did not award the prizes due to tight finances, but thanks to an anonymous donor from Bonn, the awards could still be made. The sponsorship prizes were awarded as town music for the Beethovenfest :

After a few changes, the prizes for the promotion of young composers have now been announced for orchestral works in conventional symphonic scoring:

Due to quarrels between the cultural committee, the city council and the administration, there was no longer a Beethoven festival in the city of Bonn in 1995 , which also meant the end of this Beethoven Prize.

Piano competition

The Beethoven Competition , which is held every two years, has existed in Bonn since 2005, and its first prize, worth 30,000 euros, is also known as the Beethoven Prize. Prize winners are

International Beethoven Prize

In 2015, an International Beethoven Prize for Human Rights, Peace, Freedom, Poverty Reduction and Inclusion was launched, which in December 2015 was awarded to the Syrian-Palestinian pianist Aeham Ahmad as the first prize winner . The 2016 award winner was the Turkish pianist and civil rights activist Fazıl Say , and in 2017 Wolfgang Niedecken was honored. In 2019 the prize was awarded to the Russian-German pianist Igor Levit .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Entire paragraph from: Archive of the Academy of Arts, Berlin, Historical Archive, PrAdK I / 258 Bl.1. Prize winner according to PrAdK 791-793.
  2. ↑ An annual Beethoven Prize of 10,000 marks ( Memento from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ cf. Heimo pea . In: International Biographical Archive 48/2003 of November 17, 2003
  4. ↑ cf. the bottom line . In: the daily newspaper, September 24, 2005, culture, p. 20
  5. ↑ György Ligeti ( Memento from August 11, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (Retrieved July 10, 2013)
  6. ^ Curriculum vitae of Klaus Huber at oh ton ( Memento from April 1, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (Retrieved July 10, 2013)
  7. ↑ Studio Akustische Kunst in the daily program WDR 3 from August 7, 2007 ( Memento from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ^ Biography of Wolfgang Rihm at Universal Edition (accessed July 10, 2013)
  9. ↑ Manfred Stahnke's website (accessed on July 10, 2013)
  10. ↑ Fremde Welten concert on November 23, 1996 ( memento from July 10, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) (accessed on July 10, 2013).
  11. ↑ Entry on Bernhard Jestl in the music information center austria. (Accessed July 10, 2013)
  12. ↑ International Telekom Ludwig van Beethoven Competition Bonn, December 2-12, 2009. Beethoven-competition-bonn.de ( Memento from September 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  13. ↑ Beethoven Prize Winner lives in a refugee home in Hessen ( Memento from December 21, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) , hessenschau.de , December 18, 2015, accessed on December 20, 2015
  14. ↑ Niedecken receives the Beethoven Prize for Human Rights , deutschlandfunkkultur.de, December 12, 2017, accessed on December 12, 2017