Friedrich Gulda

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Memorial plaque on the house at Marxergasse 24, Vienna III.

Friedrich Gulda (born May 16, 1930 in Vienna ; † January 27, 2000 in Weißenbach am Attersee ) was an Austrian pianist and composer .

Life

The pianist

Gulda started playing the piano at the age of seven . In 1942 he began studying music with Bruno Seidlhofer (piano) and Joseph Marx (music theory and composition) at the Vienna Music Academy, today's University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna . At the age of 16 he was successful in the Geneva International Music Competition and quickly achieved world fame. His extremely precise Mozart and Beethoven interpretations, striving to be particularly faithful to the work, are still considered milestones in the history of interpretation to this day. Gulda is characterized by extremely precise and rhythmically accented playing.

His repertoire included works by J. S. Bach , Mozart , Beethoven , Schubert , Chopin , Debussy and Ravel , with his interpretations of Beethoven's piano sonatas and Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier in particular causing a sensation. In his concerts he often played works by Bach true to the original on a clavichord .

Gulda had an excellent memory. For example, as workshop participants report, he only needed to look at the musical text of Robert Schumann's “ Forest Scenes ” for a few minutes in order to then play the work by heart.

One of Gulda’s most famous students is the Argentine pianist Martha Argerich .

The composer

Gulda was also active as a composer and wrote a concerto for violoncello and wind orchestra for Heinrich Schiff , among others, with the movements Ouverture, Idylle, Cadenza, Minuet, Finale alla marcia. In 1981 he wrote the Concerto for Ursula for percussion instruments and orchestra for his partner Ursula Anders . In 1967 he set some of Christian Morgenstern's gallows songs to music and published them together with Georg Kreisler (vocals) and Blanche Aubry (vocals). He published some “modern Viennese songs” together with the singer Albert Golowin, who was strikingly similar to him and who differed from him mainly in his black beard and thick-rimmed glasses - it was only after years that some critics found out that Albert Golowin and Friedrich Gulda were identical.

Jazz and pop

At a young age Gulda also discovered a love for jazz , which he saw as the decisive direction in modern music development. In 1951 he met the jazz musician Joe Zawinul , who was about the same age . From the mid-1950s he built a reputation as a jazz interpreter and composer. In his concerts he tried more and more to break the separation between serious and popular music . In 1971 he published a 110-page volume with his own works at Papageno in Vienna under the title "Piano Composition" (this includes the works: Play Piano Play , Sonatine , Prelude and Fugue , Variations on Light My Fire and Variations ). From 1972 to 1978 he played mainly free improvised music in the Trio Anima with Paul Fuchs and Limpe Fuchs and later together with the singer and percussionist Ursula Anders . He composed jazz piano pieces and combined classical music and jazz in his concerts. Nevertheless, he was denied real recognition for this. The music critic Robert Fischer writes : "Friedrich Gulda's excursions into jazz were once only touched with pointed fingers by the high priests of classical music, like something that one has to endure because he plays Mozart so beautifully."

Gulda was one of the few musicians in the world who, in addition to performing as a classical pianist, was able to contribute to the jazz greats of their time on the same pianistic and improvisational level.

From 1986 to 1989 he gave several concerts with Joe Zawinul.

Most recently, Gulda also worked with techno and house musicians. On his last album Summerdance in 1999 he "mixed" with DJ Pippi a . a. "Techno and Classic".

Appear on stage

Gulda's appearance on stage was unconventional. He once played the Krummhorn naked on stage . He also repeatedly deviated from the announced program in concerts and performed other works. In 1969, on the occasion of the Beethoven Ring being awarded by the Vienna Music Academy, Gulda criticized what he saw as the dusty and ossified training company in his acceptance speech in front of directors, professors and students. A few days later he returned the ring of honor. In the summer of 1973 Gulda played the opening concert at the 5th International Music Forum Viktring, which he initiated , but instead of the well -tempered piano by Johann Sebastian Bach , the pianist (accompanied by Paul and Limpe Fuchs) began with unusual sounds. When the music lecture ended after two and a half hours and most of the guests who had come in evening attire had left the hall, Gulda played the well -tempered piano for two hours . In the winter of 1980/81 he played all of Mozart's piano sonatas in a series of concert matinees at the Bavarian State Opera.

In 1999 Gulda gave a Paradise Night in the Konzerthaus in Vienna , which he organized weeks before his actual death after a false report of his death that he had launched as a resurrection festival and was supported by dancers, the Paradise Girls , and DJs .

Private

Friedrich Gulda was married to Paola Loew from 1956 to 1966, and the marriage resulted in two sons, David Wolfgang and Paul . In 1967 he married Yuko Wakiyama on his Japan tour, the marriage resulted in son Rico ; this marriage broke up in 1973. Since 1974 he lived and worked with the musician Ursula Anders . His sons Paul and Rico became pianists. Paul Gulda also appeared as a conductor, Rico Gulda as a cultural manager and producer.

Sickness and death

Grave of Friedrich Gulda in Steinbach am Attersee

In later years the chain smoker Friedrich Gulda developed a serious heart condition and had to undergo several bypass operations. As the cover description of his last Schubert recording from August 1999 (released under his own label Paradise ), Gulda already knew about his imminent death. He died on January 27, 2000, the birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , whom he had adored the most of all composers, and was buried in the cemetery of Steinbach am Attersee in Upper Austria .

The gravestone bears the inscription

"If you want to fly with me, let the earth shake in time"

reception

Friedrich Gulda exhibition

The musical instrument museum at Schloss Kremsegg in Kremsmünster documents the artist's artistic work and international career. The focus is his domicile in Weißenbach am Attersee , where he died on January 27, 2000. Another focus of the exhibition is devoted to the discography and the original instruments of Friedrich Gulda.

Friedrich Gulda Park

A park in the 3rd district of Vienna, Landstrasse, was named after Friedrich Gulda.

Memorial in Friedrich-Gulda-Park in Vienna-Landstrasse by Lois Anvidalfarei (2011)

Movies

  • 1981: Der Wanderer - Friedrich Gulda 1981 , portrait of János Darvas, LOFT / Bodo Kessler Film, 1981, first broadcast: WDR October 17, 1981, editor: Manfred Gräter ( information about the film )
  • 2002: Friedrich Gulda - So what ?! - Director: Benedict Mirow (with Fridemann Leipold, texts spoken by Ulrich Mühe ) ( information about the film ); released as DVD on October 12, 2007 by Deutsche Grammophon (UNI 734376)

Awards

literature

  • Klaus Geitel : Questions to Friedrich Gulda. Notes on Music and Society , Rembrandt Verlag, Berlin, Augsburg 1973.
  • Kurt Hofmann: Friedrich Gulda - from conversations with Kurt Hofmann , Langen Müller, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-7844-2287-X .
  • Wilhelm Svoboda : Friedrich Gulda. Fragments of a portrait , Vienna 2006, ISBN 3-902157-18-6 .
  • Wanderer between worlds. Discography, speeches, interviews, statements, photos , Verlag Bibliothek der Provinz, Weitra 2006, ISBN 978-3-85252-733-8 .
  • Irene Suchy : Friedrich Gulda. Ich-Theater , Styria, Vienna, Graz, Klagenfurt 2010, ISBN 9783222132902 .
  • Herbert Hopfgartner: Friedrich Gulda, the "wild thinker" in: Music Education, Vienna: AGMOE 2010 ISSN  0027-4798 .
  • Ursula Anders (Ed.): Friedrich Gulda: a life for music , Verlag Bibliothek der Provinz, Weitra 2010, ISBN 978-3-85252-676-8 .
  • Ursula Anders (Ed.): Concert directory 1946–1999 , Verlag Bibliothek der Provinz, Weitra 2015, ISBN 978-3-99028-440-7 .

Web links

Commons : Friedrich Gulda  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Friedrich Gulda  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b ESC Records - Mi Gente. In: www.esc-records.de. December 7, 1996, accessed on February 24, 2018 (The "receipt" was inserted on February 25, 2014, but makes it difficult to see who interviewed whom. Apparently Joe Zawinul was asked about his album My People , via the ESC Records here informed.).
  2. ^ Robert Fischer : Anything goes. In: All that Jazz. The story of a music. Reclam publishing house, Stuttgart. 3rd, expanded and updated edition 2007, p. 428.
  3. ^ Gunther Baumann : Encounters with Gulda (II). "I don't play music like that!" In: ders., Zawinul. A life from jazz , ISBN 978-3-7017-1291-5 , pp. 157-160.
  4. ^ Gulda and Zawinul concert. Retrieved May 16, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Harald Reiter: "My father was also consciously anti-establishment in his private life". In: www.welt.de. May 16, 2010, accessed on February 24, 2018 (interview with Gulda's son Paul Gulda ).
  6. ↑ Summer Dance by Friedrich Gulda & DJ Pippi & Ingmar Hansch & Arian Beheshti on Amazon Music. In: www.amazon.de. Retrieved February 24, 2018 .
  7. ^ Sarah Meixner: Friedrich Gulda (1930-2000) curriculum vitae. In: www.klassika.info. Retrieved February 24, 2018 .
  8. ↑ I don't want to be a living corpse: André Müller talks to the piano player and composer Friedrich Gulda. In: Die Zeit vom June 2, 1989, accessed on October 8, 2017.
  9. ^ The grave of Friedrich Gulda. In: knerger.de. Klaus Nerger, accessed on August 9, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Gulda, Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian pianist and composer
DATE OF BIRTH May 16, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna , Austria
DATE OF DEATH January 27, 2000
Place of death Steinbach am Attersee , Austria