Friedrich Cerha

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Friedrich Cerha (born February 17, 1926 in Vienna ) is an Austrian composer and conductor .

Friedrich Cerha at the celebration of his 80th birthday in 2006

Life

At the age of 17, Friedrich Cerha was hired as an air force helper in 1943 and had to do his service in Achau , south of Vienna. Even there he participated in acts of resistance. After a semester at the university, he was sent to an officers' school in occupied Denmark in November 1944 . There he took a pile of blankly signed marching orders and deserted . After some time, in which he had managed to stay undetected within German territory with the help of his march papers, he was integrated into a unit during a Russian advance near Pomerania. He later deserted a second time and made his way to western Austria. There he lived in the mountains for several months in order to escape captivity by the Allies as a soldier in the Wehrmacht .

Cerha received his training at the Vienna Music Academy (violin, composition, music education) and at the University of Vienna (musicology, German studies, philosophy). In 1958, together with Kurt Schwertsik , he founded the ensemble die reihe , which mainly performed contemporary music in Austria. In addition to his compositional activities, he performed as an interpreter of works by Alban Berg , Arnold Schönberg and Anton Webern . For Alban Berg's opera Lulu , which Berg was unable to complete himself, Cerha orchestrated sections of the third act that remained unexecuted, according to Berg's notes. The opera premiered in 1979 under Pierre Boulez in Paris.

From 1959 Cerha was a teacher at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna and from 1976 to 1988 professor for “Composition, Notation and Interpretation of New Music” there. His students include Georg Friedrich Haas , Dirk D'Ase , Karlheinz Essl and Benet Casablancas .

Friedrich Cerha also emerged as an opera composer, including

Baal after Bertolt Brecht , premiered in 1981 at the Salzburg Festival under Christoph von Dohnányi ,
The Pied Piper by Carl Zuckmayer , premiered 1987 at the Steirischer Herbst in Graz under his own direction,
Der Riese vom Steinfeld , text by Peter Turrini , premiere 2002 at the Vienna State Opera under Michael Boder .

Further premieres of his works took place in January 2006 ( Impulse for large orchestra, a commissioned work by the Vienna Philharmonic for the 150th anniversary of its existence) and in March 2006 ( concert for soprano saxophone and orchestra from 2004).

Cerha, who continues to be active as a composer even in old age, stands out primarily as a composer of orchestral works. B. a concerto for percussion and orchestra for Martin Grubinger (premiere 2009).

Style and reception

The musicologist Werner Grünzweig characterizes Cerha's early work in the loose-leaf encyclopedia of contemporary composers as follows: “After the end of the war, Cerha first dealt with the neoclassicism that dominated concerts and teaching . The Divertimento , written in 1947/1948 and revised in 1954, pays homage to Stravinsky . Later, the works of Anton Webern and from 1956 the serial techniques of the avant-garde became the starting point for further independent compositional developments ( Relazioni fragili , Espressioni fondamentali , Intersecazioni ). With Mouvements , Fasce and his Spiegel cycle (1960/1961) he has created a sound language that is completely free of traditional formulations. "

The music and theater scholar Sigrid Wiesmann describes this phase similarly in the Metzler Composers Lexicon : “C., interested in composing from his youth, has experienced all the currents of music of our time and never subordinated himself to these currents in his sound combinations. Few echoes of Stravinsky are overcome very early, the music of the Vienna School is only developed as a conceptual basis. Even serially conceived pieces like Relazioni fragili for harpsichord and orchestra (1956–57 / 1975) are serially different from what one has learned. Sound compositions such as Trois mouvements for orchestra (1960) do not become cloud images, but rather states within which the sound changes consistently in the smallest of steps. Perhaps this is C's 'breakout': that in all of his compositional developmental phases he already thinks and writes outside of a current before it has been declared as such. "

In the mirrors of 1960/61, Wiesmann writes, "a theatrical aspect emerged for the first time, since C. linked the musical processes with pictorial ideas."

Lothar Knessl , music journalist with a focus on new music , finds Cerha's compositions "inappropriate". This means "on the one hand that Cerha's compositions for the stage - and not only these - are permeated by the sound images of their time of creation, perhaps also reflect subcutaneously the zeitgeist." formulated, strengthened by a versatile tonal language that can be summarized as a personal style: unmistakably Cerha, apart from any polystylistic mishmash and therefore unadjusted. On the other hand, 'unadjusted' existentially refers to the main protagonists of his stage works. How these individuals, who stand outside of social norms, are to be dealt with is at the discretion of the recipient; sympathy is not excluded. "

The operas Baal (1974–1980), Der Rattenfänger (1984–1986) and Der Riese vom Steinfeld (1997–1999), all of which can be summarized under the abbreviation (or “ label ”) “Mechanisms of Power”, are the most popular Works by Cerha. The amount of media attention that was paid to their world premieres "clearly exceeds what premieres of other contemporary operas received in their temporal context". Baal in particular polarized : "The spectrum of media reporting ranges from exuberant admiration and approval [...] to strongly critical positions [...], for which daily newspapers generously allow space in their cultural sections."

Awards

Works

Fonts

  • Turandotstoff in German literature (Dissertation: University of Vienna 1950)
  • Writings: a network (Lafite publishing house: Vienna 2001) - collection of texts and introductions to works
  • Texts on stages of development and works from 1935 to 2017 (MUSIKZEIT: Vienna 2018)

Compositions

  • Spiegel I-VII , 1960-72
  • Symphony , 1975
  • Requiem for Hollensteiner , 1982/83
  • Baal chants , 1983
  • No deeds , 1983 ff.
  • Momentum for Karl Prantl , 1988
  • Five pieces for clarinet in A, violoncello and piano , 1999–2000
  • Concerto for soprano saxophone and orchestra , 2003–2004
  • Concerto for violin and orchestra , 2004
  • Quintet for oboe and string quartet , 2007
  • Concerto for percussion and orchestra , 2007–2008
  • Like a tragicomedy for orchestra , 2008–2009
  • Fragment, dreamed for ensemble , 2009
  • Paraphrase on the beginning of Beethoven's 9th Symphony , 2010
  • Zebra Trio , for string trio , 2011
  • Diary for orchestra , 2012
  • Three movements for orchestra , 2015

literature

  • Lothar Knessl: Friedrich Cerha. Fonts - a network . In: Composers of Our Time . tape 28 . Verlag Lafite, Vienna 2001, ISBN 978-3-85151-065-2 , p. 312 .
  • Sabine Töfferl: Friedrich Cerha - doyen of contemporary Austrian music. A biography. New Academic Press, Vienna 2017. ISBN 978-3-7003-1981-8 , 296 pages.
  • Harald Kaufmann : Notes on Friedrich Cerha. On the occasion of the world premiere of “Spiegel III” in Stockholm . In: Werner Grünzweig , Gottfried Krieger (Ed.): From inside and outside. Writings on music, musical life and aesthetics . Wolke, Hofheim 1993, p. 100-103 .
  • Nikolaus Urbanek: Mirror of the New. Musical aesthetic investigations into the work of Friedrich Cerha . In: Varia Musicologica . tape 4 . Lang, Bern a. a. 2005, ISBN 978-3-03910-445-1 .
  • Lukas Haselböck (Ed.): Friedrich Cerha. Analyzes - essays - reflections . Rombach Verlag KG, Freiburg i. Br./Berlin/Wien 2006.
  • Matthias Henke , Gerhard Gensch (ed.): Mechanisms of power. Friedrich Cerha and his music-dramatic work . Studienverlag, Innsbruck 2016.
  • Joachim Diederichs (Ed.): Friedrich Cerha. Sources, documents . Verlag Lafite, Vienna 2018, ISBN 978-3-85151-085-0 , p. 240 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "Literally - Friedrich Cerha" , Radio Orange 94.0 , 16. u. January 23, 2017.
  2. ^ Werner Grünzweig: Friedrich Cerha . In: Hanns-Werner Heister , Walter-Wolfgang Sparrer (ed.): Contemporary composers . 2. Subsequent delivery. edition text + kritik, Munich 1992 (loose-leaf work, therefore no page number).
  3. ^ A b Sigrid Wiesmann: Cerha, Friedrich . In: Horst Weber (Hrsg.): Metzler composers lexicon. 340 factory history portraits . With 313 illustrations. Verlag JB Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 1992, ISBN 3-476-00847-9 , p. 150 f .
  4. ↑ Lothar Knessl: Not adapted. On the stage work of Friedrich Cerha . In: Matthias Henke , Gerhard Gensch (Ed.): Mechanisms of power. Friedrich Cerha and his music-dramatic work (=  archive of contemporaries - collection of artistic legacies and bequests, Krems. Writings ). 1st edition. tape 1 . Studienverlag, Innsbruck / Vienna / Bozen 2016, ISBN 978-3-7065-5196-0 , p. 15–26 , here p. 15 .
  5. ^ Matthias Henke: Foreword . In: Matthias Henke, Gerhard Gensch (Ed.): Mechanisms of power. Friedrich Cerha and his music-dramatic work (=  archive of contemporaries - collection of artistic legacies and bequests, Krems. Writings ). 1st edition. tape 1 . Studienverlag, Innsbruck / Vienna / Bozen 2015, ISBN 978-3-7065-5196-0 , p. 9–11 , here p. 10 .
  6. ^ Gerhard Gensch: Mechanisms of media power. On the reception of Friedrich Cerha's musical work in German-language print media . In: Matthias Henke , Gerhard Gensch (Ed.): Mechanisms of power. Friedrich Cerha and his music-dramatic work (=  archive of contemporaries - collection of artistic legacies and bequests, Krems. Writings ). 1st edition. tape 1 . Studienverlag, Innsbruck / Vienna / Bozen 2016, ISBN 978-3-7065-5196-0 , p. 219–230 , here p. 226 .
  7. ^ Gerhard Gensch: Mechanisms of media power. On the reception of Friedrich Cerha's musical work in German-language print media . In: Matthias Henke , Gerhard Gensch (Ed.): Mechanisms of power. Friedrich Cerha and his music-dramatic work (=  archive of contemporaries - collection of artistic legacies and bequests, Krems. Writings ). 1st edition. tape 1 . Studienverlag, Innsbruck / Vienna / Bozen 2016, ISBN 978-3-7065-5196-0 , p. 219–230 , here p. 220 .
  8. ^ Gerhard Gensch: Mechanisms of media power. On the reception of Friedrich Cerha's musical work in German-language print media . In: Matthias Henke , Gerhard Gensch (Ed.): Mechanisms of power. Friedrich Cerha and his music-dramatic work (=  archive of contemporaries - collection of artistic legacies and bequests, Krems. Writings ). 1st edition. tape 1 . Studienverlag, Innsbruck / Vienna / Bozen 2016, ISBN 978-3-7065-5196-0 , p. 219–230 , here p. 223 f .
  9. ^ ISCM Honorary Members
  10. ↑ Honorary doctorate for Friedrich Cerha | University of Siegen. Retrieved May 18, 2017 .
  11. ↑ Between sleep and wake . In: FAZ , December 28, 2011, p. 37
personal data
SURNAME Cerha, Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian composer and conductor
DATE OF BIRTH February 17, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna