Gerhard Lampersberg

Gerhard Lampersberg composing in 1968 (private photo Renate Spitzner)

Gerhard Lampersberg (actually Gerhard Lampersberger ; born July 5, 1928 in Hermagor ( Carinthia ); † May 29, 2002 in Klagenfurt ) was an Austrian composer , author and patron of the Austrian literary avant-garde .

Life

Gerhard Lampersberg studied at the Vienna University of Music with Alfred Uhl . As an autodidact , he acquired knowledge in the field of free, extended twelve-tone composition in the tradition of Anton Webern . In 1954 Gerhard Lampersberg married the singer Maja, née Weis-Ostborn (1919–2004), who received the Tonhof as a dowry.

The Tonhof

He worked as a poet and composer, but acted as a patron of numerous Austrian writers to a broad public. From the 50s, many talents of the Austrian avant-garde came to his Tonhof near Maria Saal in Carinthia, which was a place to live and work and an important meeting point for the cultural scene of the time. He housed u. a. HC Artmann , Thomas Bernhard , Peter Turrini , as well as Christine Lavant , Wolfgang Bauer , Peter Handke and Gert Jonke . In the winter months he relocated this meeting place to Vienna in his private rooms on Gumpendorfer Strasse and in the Schottenhof . There he conducted private concerts with and for children who were severely abused or disabled.

Thomas Bernhard had ambivalent feelings towards his former sponsor, which developed into open hostility on the occasion of the publication of Bernhard's novel Holzfalls . Thomas Bernhard used Lampersberg as a template for the composer Auersberger in this novel. Lampersberg sued in 1984 against the distribution of the book. The verdict of the subsequent process ordered the confiscation of the printed copies of the novel. However, Lampersberg withdrew the lawsuit a short time later. For his part, Thomas Bernhard reacted with a ban on the distribution of all of his works for the Republic of Austria, which his publishers Suhrkamp Verlag and Residenz Verlag did not comply with.

Gerhard Lampersberg speaks to the children about composing and poetry

For Lampersberg, literature and musical creation were complementary to one another. In 1995 he remarked: “I also wrote chamber music . But the word was very important to me from the start. I only set my own texts to music later. Today I only set my own music to music because it is simply more practical, I feel just as important as a poet as as a composer, if I can be immodest ”. He set classical texts to music (from Sappho to Shakespeare to Lorca ), but also works by his “protégés” from the Tonhof. His compositional style sketched Lampersberg follows: "silence - meditation - contemplation . Lack of virtuosity and outward appearance ”(1994).

In addition to the setting of his own texts as song cycles , his oeuvre also includes masses , chamber music and orchestral pieces as well as numerous scenic pieces. His works have been performed at the Darmstadt Summer Courses , the Music Protocol in Styrian Autumn , the Hombroich Festival , which was initiated by Lampersberg, and at numerous other festivals.

Works

• the boy with the brocade , dramolet (text: HC Artmann). 1954-1963
• the roses of the wasteland , opera (text: Thomas Bernhard). 1958
• STALLO , ballet for speaking voice , strings and percussion (text: HC Artmann). 1961
• digits , ballet according to hubert fabian kulterer. 1963/1976
• the trip to the island of nantucket , petit opéra (text: HC Artmann). 1966
• la cocodrilla , oper (text: HC Artmann). 1967
• ladies' voices , opera (text: Gertrude Stein). 1968
• Lélia , chamber opera based on George Sand (Libretto: Mechthild Rausch). 1993

• Symphony . 1956 (Fl. Klar. Fg. - Mr. Trp. Pos. - Cel. Hf. Git. - Viol. Vla. Vcl.). UE
• ahne , for violin and orchestra. 1980
• im moose , for alto and chamber orchestra (text: Annette von Droste-Hülshoff). 1983-1984
• nobody knows , monologue for voice and piano (based on maurice maeterlinck). 2 versions, 1981/1986
• Herr, oh Herr , 3 duets after Christine Lavant for soprano, baritone, chamber orchestra. 1988
• two duets for female voices and pianoforte (based on christine lavant). 1988
• “Zederhausmesse” , 1989, “Maria Saaler Tonmitschnitte”, private gift to Renate Spitzner a. Gerald Spitzner
• the angels for voice and piano (based on christine lavant). 1992
• the bliss of all , for recitation, saxophone, celesta, bassoon (text: Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock). 1990
• four fragments by sappho for saxophone, voice and piano. 1991

• Chamber music: quartet for strings 1980. et c.
• Organ Music: portraits of the suspect jesus 1971 / 79. glasfenster 1968. et c.
• Piano works: diary 1990. furia sacra 1986. colored stones 1976. labores juveniles 1975. sonata 1966. et c.

• Whatever Berlin remains free (score / action with Martin Kippenberger). Berlin: "Café Einstein", 24. u. March 25, 1981
• bruder + josef (action with the sculptor Anatol). Insel Hombroich: 1st Island Festival, June 3, 1986
• Perturbation . Language composition. Klagenfurt (Ritter Verlag) 1987
• Diary . Weitra (Verlag Bibliothek der Provinz) 1992, ISBN 3-900878-71-4 .

Discography

• colored stones , recorded by the Ensemble Avantgarde at MDG, contains nine pieces (MDG 6131 760).
• The CD GERHARD LAMPERSBERG (ORF CD 3138. 2012) was produced by ORF , with instrumental works, cantatas and the ballet STALLO .

literature

• Nikolaus Fheodoroff: The “Tonhof” - center of culture and hospitality. Marie-Thérèse Kerschbaumer: L'Après-midi de Lampersberg ; Alexander Doent: Lampersberg and the Museum Island Hombroich . In: Austrian music magazine. 2009 / H. 6, pp. 18–28 (udT: “Oases of hearing”).
• Alexander Doent: Note about the research task “Tonhof” . In: Grassl / Kapp / Szabó (eds.): ANKLAENGE. Vienna Yearbook for Musicology. Vienna 2006.
• Martin Mosebach : poet and model . In: Nice literature. Essays. Munich / Vienna 2006.
• Christine Lavant : Letters to Maja and Gerhard Lampersberg. Edited by F. Hafner et al. A. Russegger. Salzburg / Vienna 2003.
• Richard Schroetter: the roses of the wasteland. The composer, poet and patron Gerhard Lampersberg (er). DRK , February 21, 2012
• Alexander Doent: The Music of Gerhard Lampersberg: Catalog raisonné 1948-1998. Vienna 2016 (= dissertation, University of Music).

Web links

• Literature by and about Gerhard Lampersberg in the catalog of the German National Library
• Gerhard Lampersberg in the literary archive of the Austrian National Library
• Entry on Gerhard Lampersberg in the Austria Forum  (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )