Dieter Bäumle

Dieter Bäumle (born February 3, 1935 in Thalwil ; † November 22, 1981 ) was a Swiss composer .

Life

Was born the son of a pastor in Thalwil. Very early on, he showed an extraordinary musical talent. His first composition was created when he was eight. A year later he received his first piano lessons from Ernst Hörler, who also supported him in his attempts at composition. A little later, the gifted student attended composition lessons with Willy Burkhard. After a short time with Theo Lerch, he entered the Zurich Conservatory at the age of 16 as a pupil of Walter Frey, where he earned a teaching and concert diploma with the highest distinction. At the same time he also took part in master classes with Rudolf Serkin and Edwin Fischer .

The young pianist achieved one of his first major successes at the age of twenty in the Tonhalle Zurich with his favorite concert, the Piano Concerto in D minor by Johannes Brahms. The Tonhalle Society wrote in its program: “The young Zurich Dieter Bäumle has proven his high level of musicality and brilliant technical ability in some places. It is one of the greatest hopes of the youngest up-and-coming pianists. "

Despite many sensational appearances at home and abroad, Dieter Bäumle failed to make his breakthrough to world class pianism. Severe inner tremors, combined with tragic external circumstances, shadowed his life as an artist. His extraordinary talent did not mature, which depressed him until the end of his life. The acclaimed pianist for his part was unable to find a job as a musician in Switzerland despite intensive efforts and kept his family just above water with odd jobs. It was not until 1971 that he found a job as a piano teacher at the Schaffhausen Cantonal School . His amiable, understanding and patient interaction with his students was a lasting mark of his fruitful pedagogical work.

At the age of 42, fate drew him again into the dark depths. Dieter Bäumle became incurably ill with leukemia and died at the age of 46 in Schaffhausen.

As a very versatile composer, Dieter Bäumle wrote not only classical music but also jazz, entertainment, school and church music. However, he took particular care of the compositions for piano.

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Gallows songs

The gallows songs based on texts by Christian Morgenstern were created in 1973 at the suggestion of Edwin Villiger, who was looking for songs for his canton school choir. The compositions were created in close contact with choral practice. Bäumle brought the first movements into rehearsals and marked both the entire instrumental part and, if necessary, the choral movement on the piano. He was amazed and happy to see how the young people responded to the compositions with growing enthusiasm and intuitively grasped their message. So he brought sentence by sentence, felt the waves of joy come over and over again like a surf and felt the happiness of the creative artist to be immediately understood in his message.

The 12 poems from Morgenstern's Galgenliedern are summarized with the stylistic device of contrast. The introduction sounds in a simple homophonic movement; Rhythms intercepted in the chorus of language accompanied by playful triplet courses. Hammering piano ostinati, surrounded by wind and string passages characterize the second movement, the covenant song of the gallows brothers. In the third movement, the lament of the instruments, which slide into chromatic corridors, illustrates the sayings of the hanged men. Ironic naivety speaks of the music to prayer. The snappy music to Lunovis contrasts strangely with the bizarre figure of the moon sheep. The raven Ralf, an ironic-sentimental «Valse triste» evokes the atmosphere of the old Viennese coffee house. As the opening of the second half of the work, the large Lalula has a special significance; the reduction to a one-part choir over driving piano accompaniment gives the nonsensical text a peculiar weight. In the twelve-eleven, the various shapes of the gallows songs are transformed by the instruments into bizarre sound figures, while the choir limits itself to simple text recitation. In the last sentences the bell tones of Big Ben haunt, the lonely Hemmed rattles, the floods of water patter around the whale fish and the wooden-dry rattles of the picket fence between the gaps.

Bäumle's tonal language is rooted in tradition and incorporates newer elements from jazz and popular music; the musical means are independent, original and employed with sparkling imagination. Humor, wit and irony speak from the setting as well as soul and gentle melancholy. (after Edwin Villiger)

Cantata op. 11 "Out of deep need I scream to you"

For the world premiere in 1980 in the Schaffhausen Minster, the music critic Rita Wolfensberger , who is well-known with Diete Bäumle, wrote :

“In the end, there was even a world premiere that evening: the cantata 'Out of Deep Need' by Dieter Bäumle, composed in 1962, was given a gripping, expressive performance. By having parts of the choir sing and recite alternately with a speaking voice and by assigning very decorative tasks to the accompanying gel, Bäumle achieves a musically extremely diverse, dramatic and varied event without having to unnecessarily increase the level of difficulty: a very skilfully made, basic musical and subtle work . "