Gerd Zacher

Gerd Zacher (born July 6, 1929 in Meppen an der Ems ; † June 9, 2014 in Essen ) was a German composer , organist and music writer who developed a new way of handling the organ . He made a major contribution to experimental music and to the development of the graphic and verbal representation of music in place of conventional notation .

Life

education

The family moved several times during Gerd Zacher's childhood. It was not until 1940 that he received his first music lessons from Fritz Lubrich in Katowice , a student of Max Reger . During the Second World War , after another move, he was taught piano and theory by Anton Rump. This also included playing polyphonic literature from old keys , which was later useful for his performance practice. It was also during this time that he began to play the organ and took his first lessons on this instrument from 1945.

After finishing school he studied from 1948 at the Northwest German Music Academy in Detmold composition with Günter Bialas , conducting with Kurt Thomas and organ with Hans Heintze and Michael Schneider . In 1953 he moved to Hamburg , studied piano and theory with Theodor Kaufmann, a student of Ferruccio Busoni , and graduated in 1954 as a “state-certified music teacher”.

Career history

Zacher then went to Santiago de Chile , where from 1954 to 1957 he was cantor and organist at a German Protestant church. In 1957 he returned to Germany and passed the A-exam in church music at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Academy and North German Organ School in Lübeck in order to be able to accept a corresponding position at the Luther Church in Hamburg-Wellingsbüttel . There he worked until 1970, in 1968 he became the church music director of the Evangelical Lutheran Regional Church Schleswig-Holstein , an office that this regional church has occupied since 1925.

Since 1969 Gerd Zacher was a member of the Free Academy of the Arts Hamburg . In 1970 Gerd Zacher was appointed head of the department for Protestant church music at the Folkwang University in Essen . He taught there until 1991. Until 1973 he was also organist at the Immanuelskirche in Wuppertal-Oberbarmen. The Evangelical Church in Essen-Rellinghausen was then available to him for his concert activities.

He went on concert tours at home and abroad and made numerous records. Through seminars and publications, Gerd Zacher also influenced today's interpretation of Bach .

Gerd Zacher lived in Essen with his partner Juan Allende-Blin .

He died at the age of 84 on June 9, 2014 (Whit Monday) and was buried a week later in the Bredeney cemetery.

Act

Commitment to ostracized and new music

Zacher's concert series caused a worldwide sensation with world premieres and the cultivation of the music that was suppressed by the National Socialists . There were premieres of his own works and numerous organ works composed for him or of interest to him by contemporary composers such as Juan Allende-Blin , John Cage , Mauricio Kagel , György Ligeti and Dieter Schnebel . Der Spiegel sums it up: “No German makes more wind for new music”.

The Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music were also essential for him during these years . There he met Olivier Messiaen , Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen , which gave him many new ideas. Besides Manfred Kluge , he was one of the first to make Messiaen's organ music known in Germany.

In 1967 the composer Isang Yun was kidnapped by the South Korean secret service in Seoul , held in custody and tortured. Gerd Zacher was one of the many who through various actions from Germany finally obtained his release. Zacher wrote the Szmaty organ on this occasion . The Polish word means: rags, rags . The motto was the psalm verse : "They have shared my clothes among themselves."

Music writer

Gerd Zacher was interested in expressing his views and discoveries about music publicly. He therefore wrote a lot: about his own works (eg: The Art of a Fugue ) and about a new type of musical notation to which he contributed significantly ( experience in interpreting organ music with graphs ); furthermore about Bach's The Art of Fugue and about other works by Bach, a lot about organs (e.g. tool organ ), because he used them in a completely new way, so that organs were converted for them. Also about organ playing (e.g. about a forgotten tradition of legato playing ) and about organ music (e.g. Max Reger. On organ work or: A fugue is a fugue is a fugue ( Franz Liszt's B-ACH composition for Organ) or: Frescobaldi and the instrumental rhetoric ) published by Zacher.

Dealing with the music of his time also meant dealing with the zeitgeist. (Which becomes clear from the following titles: The experience of the absence of God in the music of the 20th century or: Creative tradition instead of historicism or: Organ music 20, 30 years ago, when our present was still the future .) Inspired by his friendship with the composer With Juan Allende-Blin and his stay in Chile, he translated several works from Spanish into German.

composer

Gerd Zacher already composed as a child, but only accepted works from 1951 onwards. Most exist as manuscripts. A large part of the compositions has been signed by Edition Gravis since 2012 . The number of his compositions begins with the twelve-tone cantata Prière pour aller au Paradis avec les ânes based on the poem by Francis Jammes (1951).

He dealt with Arnold Schönberg's twelve-tone technique and serial music . In his view, the serial processes are a continuation of the tradition through their variety of relationships and through avoidance of redundancies. The suggestions from Messiaen, Boulez and Stockhausen and later from the American composer John Cage were also important .

His instrument, the organ, became a compositional field of experimentation through the use of different amounts of wind, flexible rocker panels and extremely slow pressing of the keys. He was able to use the organ almost like the "speaking tool of an unknown language". In his cycle The Art of a Fugue - Bach's Contrapunctus I in ten interpretations , the possibilities of new music are applied to early music : Without changing a tone of the original, Zacher alienates the music using various historical and contemporary playing techniques.

While Zacher was exploring new possibilities with the organ, he orientated himself towards the avant-garde methods customary at the time for the choral works. Words are broken down into their individual sounds and sustained for different lengths of time. Graphic notation and verbal instructions are often in the foreground. In some compositions he left the individual singers and instrumentalists free to improvise according to given rules.

"700,000 days later"

An example of this is his Passion after Luke 700,000 days later for 12 to 28 choir singers from 1968. In order to produce polyphonies that can not be notated , the work is composed for an ensemble of independent voices in free coordination. Gerd Zacher writes: “The score is laid out in such a way that every choir singer has his own notebook with his own voice. Some of these booklets have been worked out by each individual by making musical decisions, collecting musical material and occasionally doing compositional work - following certain instructions from the score. All kinds of agreements have been made among themselves. So it can happen that every now and then you get to hear as many pieces of music at the same time as there are choir singers. The music has 'fallen into the hands of people'; it endures being written down, sung, and listened to; because that's the only way to have them with us. It itself becomes a parable for the liberating suffering of Christ. In the Bible, however, the parable always includes the sentence: 'Whoever has ears to hear, hear'. The old masters have asked the recipient for their “poor song” to be graciously accepted. I want to continue this tradition for good reason. "(Source of quotation?)

The work is divided into the sequence of pages, turning the pages becomes a common orientation. The score consists of a main part, with many white spots, and an appendix. The actual work is filled in with the material in this appendix. In addition, there are various texts and actions from everyday and non-everyday interaction: the sung newspaper criticism of a music performance; the description of an incident under the theme of "being right"; a passion song sung backwards to “Nä-Nä”; Sentences from a newscaster on the radio; a passion song whistled; Arabic chant. All of this is held together by the text of the Gospel of Luke . It forms the basis of the sequence of the entire composition, but only occasionally appears on the surface of pronounced comprehensibility.

"You are today"

The Christmas Passion You Today was created in 1973. The work for mixed choir a cappella takes about 80 minutes and is based on the story of the Christmas story according to Luke. Each of the verses from the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke is presented in its own sentence - like in a suite. The titles of the individual movements are: census / name / expectation / space emergency revue / field music / blinding scream / joy song / refrain (Passacaglia) / peace cantata / courante / sanctus / vowels incapacitated / acoustic theology / in nomine / stone scream.

The work is a collage of a wide variety of vocal and scenic elements: two-dimensional or punctually combined word fields; simple songs, movement, play, everyday noises such as laughing, screaming, coughing, moaning. Many ideas that already had a style-forming effect in the Passion 700,000 days later are continued here. On the other hand, more traditional is used, so that overall an even greater variety of expressions is created. Aids in addition to your own voice are bells, stones and transistor radios.

Other works

As a church musician, Gerd Zacher composed many other cantatas and passion music, in which his unconventional presentation of music on paper made it easier for choir members who were not professional singers to realize music that was unfamiliar to them. This stimulated him to develop these methods further.

Zacher also used combinations of conventional instruments and electronic music generators, e.g. B. 1987 in the 75 event (ualitie) s for organ and tape. Juan Allende-Blin composed the tape sounds for it.

Time plays an essential role in Gerd Zacher's compositions. He also deals with it in his own way: themes and motifs break up into the smallest of fragments, or time is slowed down so that rows seem to stretch to infinity, and there is overlapping of both or there is again room for regulated improvisation through occasional self-determined improvisations Duration of the individual voices. That was already the case in 1954 in the Five Transformations for piano and it is still the case in 1993 in trapeze for organ.

In the beginning, with all this, he encountered incomprehension and clear rejection from his composer colleagues, as did Stockhausen, who dealt even more intensively with electronic music.

Fonts (selection)

About music

• Analysis of the organ - an interpretation course . In: International Summer Courses for New Music . 26. 1972. Schott, Mainz et al. 1973. (= Darmstadt contributions to new music; 13)
• Bach defended against his interpreters. Articles 1987-1992. (Music concepts; 79/80.) Edition Text and Criticism, Munich 1993.
• Observations on Erik Satie's «Mass des pauvres» . In: Erik Satie . (Music Concepts; 11) 2., ext. Edition. Edition Text und Critique, München 1988, pp. 48–63.
• Canonical changes, BWV 769 and 769 a . In: Bach Johann Sebastian - The speculative late work . (Music Concepts; 17/18) 2., unchanged. Aufl., Edition Text und Politik, München 1999, pp. 3–19.
• The secret text of the Contrapunctus IV by Bach (suggestions of language for the expression of music) . In: Stefan Klöckner (Ed.): Godehard Joppich for his 60th birthday. Bosse, Regensburg 1992, pp. 219-237.
• The Experience of God's Absence in 20th Century Music . In: Wolfhart Pannenberg (ed.): The experience of the absence of God in modern culture. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1984, pp. 137–159.
• The art of a fugue . As a booklet accompanying the Wergo CD 6184-2, 1990
• The risky relationship between sonata and hymn: Mendelssohn's organ sonatas op. 65 No. 1 and 6. In: Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy . (Music concepts; 14/15.) Edition Text and Criticism, Munich 1980, pp. 34–45.
• A fugue is a fugue is a fugue ( Liszt's BACH composition for organ) . In: Music and Church . 47, No. 1, 1977, pp. 15-23.
• Experience in the interpretation of graphically notated organ music . In: Circular letter from the regional church music director of the Evang. Luth. Schleswig-Holstein Regional Church. December 1966, p. 8f.
• Frescobaldi and Instrumental Oratory . In: Music and Church. 45, No. 2, 1975, pp. 54-64.
• “I don't know the person”: a musicological dilemma. (On Bach's “Art of Fugue”, Contrapunctus XI) . In: Music and Church . Vol. 56. No. 6, 1986, pp. 298-299.
• Composed formants. In: Aimez-vous Brahms 'the Progressive'? . (Music concepts; 65.) Edition Text and Criticism, Munich 1989, pp. 69–75.
• Livre d'orgue - an imposition. In: Olivier Messiaen . (Music Concepts; 28.) Edition Text and Criticism, Munich, 1982, pp. 92–107.
• Material collection for Dieter Schnebel's chorale auditions . In: Dieter Schnebel . (Music Concepts, 16.) Edition Text and Criticism, Munich 1980, pp. 12–22.
• Max Reger. To the organ work . In: Music Concepts. No. 115, Edition Text and Criticism, Munich 2002.
• My experiences with «improvisation ajoutée» . In: Werner Klüppelholz (Ed.): Kagel. DuMont, Cologne 1991, pp. 136–154.
• Organ music 20, 30 years ago, when our present was still the future . In: Acta Organologica . Vol. 17, Berlin 1984, pp. 406-415.
• Side notes on counting in Schönberg's A Survivor from Warsaw . In: Arnold Schönberg . (Music concepts; special volume.) Edition Text and Criticism, Munich, 1980, pp. 146–150.
• Creative tradition instead of historicism . In: Acta Organologica. Vol. 17, Berlin 1984, pp. 184-207.
• About a forgotten tradition of legato play . In: Music and Church. 43, No. 4, 1973, pp. 166-171.
• Tool organ . In: The church musician. 19, No. 5, 1968, pp. 1-4.
• On Anton Webern's understanding of Bach . In: Anton Webern I . (Music concepts; special volume.) Edition Text and Criticism, Munich, 1983, pp. 290–305.

Translations of Spanish poetry

• Pablo de Rokha: The great sorrow (translation: Gerd Zacher and Juan Allende-Blin). In: Alternative magazine for poetry and discussion. Issue 21. 1961, pp. 133-135.
• Pablo Neruda : There is no such thing as oblivion (sonata). / Vicente Huidobro : Alone. / Óscar Castro: Angels and paper kites. (Translation: Gerd Zacher and Juan Allende-Blin). In: Gotthard Speer and Hansjürgen Winterhoff (eds.): Milestones in a composer's life. Small commemorative publication for Günter Bialas' 70th birthday . Bärenreiter, Kassel 1977, p. 16f.

Works (selection)

• 1954: Five transformations. for piano, op.3
• 1960: Magnificat. for two-part choir, wind instruments (or organ) and timpani, Edition Hänssler, Stuttgart
• 1961: Differencias. for organ, Ed. Peters, Leipzig
• 1968: Szmaty. (Palm 22.19) for organ. Dedicated to Isang Yun (unpublished)
• 1968: 700,000 days later (a St. Luke Passion). for mixed choir (12 to 28 participants, unpublished).
• 1968/69: "The Art of a Fugue" by Bach's Contrapunctus I in 10 interpretations for organ (CD: Wergo, 1996)
• 1973: It's you today. (a Christmas Passion) (unpublished)
• 1987: 75 event (ualitie) s. for organ and tape. On the occasion of John Cage's 75th birthday (unpublished)
• 1987: Hommecage à John Age. as a "sound gift" at the Cologne University of Music on the occasion of John Cage's 75th birthday.
• 1993: trapeze. (in memoriam Hans Henny Jahnn) for organ (unpublished)
• L'heure qu'il est. for two pianos quarter-tone apart (unpublished)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Deconstruct the Queen! - He freed the organ: On the death of Gerd Zacher. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , June 11, 2014, page 12.
2. ↑ Georg Beck: Research Center Organ Bank: Gerd Zacher (1929–2014). nmz online , accessed June 14, 2014.
3. ↑ Music: horror and shudder . In: Spiegel Online . tape March 13 , 1972 ( spiegel.de [accessed July 12, 2019]).
4. ↑ Gerd Zacher's list of works , from Edition Gravis (Brühl), accessed on June 13, 2014.
5. ↑ Klaus Linder: Gerd Zacher . In: Hanns-Werner Heister and Walter-Wolfgang Sparrer (eds.): Contemporary composers. Edition Text + Criticism, München 1992.
6. ↑ Friedrich Gersmann: Homme à Cage John Age. In: Guitar & Laute 9, 1987, issue 2, p. 60 f.

Movies

• Claus-Ulrich Heinke : Theology on Keys - The Church Musician Gerd Zacher , WDR television, first broadcast April 25, 1987

literature

• "... a new perspective on these old forms". A conversation between Harald Kaufmann and the organist Gerd Zacher. In: Austrian music magazine . 10/2004, pp. 4-8.
• Homage to Gerd Zacher: for Gerd Zacher's 70th birthday. With contributions by Juan Allende-Blin, Philipp CA Klais, Klaus Linder, Gerd Zacher u. a. (Program book 2nd organ week of the Essen Kreuzeskirche.) Ed .: Forum Kreuzeskirche Essen eV, Essen 1999.
• Juan Allende-Blin : Gerd Zacher - some memories . In: Juan Allende-Blin: A life of memory and utopia. Edited by Stefan Fricke and Werner Klüppelholz. Pfau, Saarbrücken 2002, pp. 26–31.
• Richard Hauser: Approaches - Gerd Zachers Festival “The Art of a Fugue” . In: Johann Sebastian Bach - The speculative late work . (Music Concepts, 17/18.) 2., unchanged. Edition. Edition text and criticism, Munich 1999, pp. 114–132.
• Klaus Linder: Gerd Zacher . In: Hanns-Werner Heister and Walter-Wolfgang Sparrer (eds.): Contemporary composers . Edition Text + Criticism, München 1992.
• Diederich Lüken: ... reduce human ignorance ...: the organist Gerd Zacher . In: New magazine for music . Jhg. 147. 11/1986, pp. 30-32.
• Michael Stenger: Essen - New ways through active music . In: New music since the eighties . Vol. 2. Con Brio, Regensburg 1994, pp. 131-137.

Web links

• Literature by and about Gerd Zacher in the catalog of the German National Library
• Zacher's catalog raisonné of the Essen City Library (on his 80th birthday, August 2009) (PDF, Download)