New Music Group Hanns Eisler

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New Music Group Hanns Eisler
General information
Genre (s) New music
founding 1970
resolution 1993
Founding members
Burkhard Glaetzner
Axel Schmidt
Friedrich Schenker
Marion Fritzsch
Ernő Klepoch
Wolfgang Weber
Dieter Zahn
Gerhard Erber
Werner Legutke
Last occupation
oboe
 Burkhard Glaetzner
English horn and heckelphone
Axel Schmidt
trombone
 Friedrich Schenker
Violin and viola
 Matthias Sannemüller
(from 1978)
violoncello
 Wolfgang Weber
Dieter Zahn
piano
 Gerhard Erber
Drums
 Gerd Schenker
(from 1974)
Founder Friedrich Schenker (2005)

The Neue Musik Hanns Eisler group was the most important ensemble for new music from the GDR and, alongside the Ensemble intercontemporain and the Ensemble Modern, one of the most renowned chamber music ensembles for new music in Europe. Between 1970 and 1993 it was decisively shaped by the composer and trombonist Friedrich Schenker and the oboist Burkhard Glaetzner . Musical home was the Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra . More than 250 world premieres document the concert activities of the group from Leipzig . Among other things, she was the winner of the GDR Art Prize and the Schneider Schott Music Prize in Mainz .

history

The Neue Musik Hanns Eisler group was founded in December 1970 on the initiative of the oboist Burkhard Glaetzner and the composer and trombonist Friedrich Schenker in Leipzig . The founding formation included six other members from the Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Gewandhaus Orchestra .

The ensemble was founded at a time when the cultural-political style of socialist realism was still predominant in the GDR. Friedrich Schenker described the self-imposed goals of the ensemble to the politician Gerhard Müller in a letter from 1973 as follows:

“The 'group new music Hanns Eisler' was created to promote contemporary music in the GDR. Based on the name Eisler, whose work is a model and an incentive for our composers, an instrument was created with which the composers can try out, experiment, discuss with listeners or among themselves, or even present what remains and what is successful. In second place are performances of some of Eisler's works and those of exemplary or debatable compositions from socialist foreign countries or humanistic, bourgeois modernism. The 'group new music Hanns Eisler' has set itself the task of attracting new listeners, especially from the younger generation. "

The group was named after the influential composer Hanns Eisler , a representative of the Arnold Schönberg school . Friedrich Schenker explained the choice of the name as follows: "Symbol for progressive, constructive musical thinking of the group, the expression of a critical attitude towards stupidity in music."

The group broke up in 1993 after a concert at the Berlin Music Biennale . In 1992, Sannemüller recognized her work with the words: "Mission accomplished".

occupation

In addition to Burkhard Glaetzner (oboe) and Friedrich Schenker (trombone), the group initially included Axel Schmidt (English horn), Marion Fritzsch (violin), Ernő Klepoch (viola), Wolfgang Weber (cello), Dieter Zahn (double bass), Gerhard Erber ( Piano) and Werner Legutke (drums). Ernő Klepoch and his successor Hans-Christian Bartel (viola), Marion Fritzsch and Werner Legutke left the group in the 1970s and were replaced by Matthias Sannemüller (viola / violin) and Gerd Schenker (drums). The regular line-up consisted of eight instruments.

The ensemble played both in a uniform formation and as a soloist. In addition, the musicians performed in specialized formations such as the Kammertrio Aulos (since 1968), consisting of oboe, cello and piano, and the Leipzig Consort (since 1982), which consisted of viola, English horn, guitar and double bass. The latter also included guitarist Roland Zimmer . All musicians were proven specialists in their field and some of them received international recognition. Alternatively, the group worked with the soprano Roswitha Trexler . The ensemble was regularly conducted by Max Pommer , Friedrich Goldmann and Christian Münch .

repertoire

The core repertoire of the Neue Musik Hanns Eisler group included compositions from the Second Viennese School (Schönberg, Webern and Eisler) as well as Stefan Wolpe , Charles Ives and Paul Dessau . In addition, they premiered works by internationally successful composers in the GDR. a. John Cage's Piano Concerto , Edison Denissow's Choral Variations , Dieter Schnebel's Glossolalie , Kazimierz Serockis Spiral , Karlheinz Stockhausen's Cycle , Iannis Xenakis ' s Nomos Alpha , Isang Yuns Piri and Bernd Alois Zimmermann's Intercommunicatione .

More than 250 new compositions by over seventy composers were created especially for the ensemble. Him were incumbent the first performances of works by major composers such as Edison Denisov Trio , Nicolaus A. Huber Demijour , Friedrich Goldmann's Concerto for Trombone and three instrumental groups , Luca Lombardi line , Krzysztof Meyer interludio drammatico , Wolfgang Rihm's cold and Iannis Xenakis's ALAX . At the request of the group, Luigi Nono designed the Kolomb project . In 1985 they also premiered Walter Zimmermann's Spielwerk for soprano, saxophone and 3 ensembles from Sternwanderung (based on texts by Wilhelm Heinrich Wackenroder and Novalis ) with the Ensemble Modern and the Ensemble Köln under Ernest Bour .

The Neue Musik Hanns Eisler group became an important performance organ for the middle generation of composers in the GDR. In addition to Friedrich Schenker , these include above all Friedrich Goldmann , Reiner Bredemeyer , Paul-Heinz Dittrich , Georg Katzer and Christfried Schmidt . The ensemble also commissioned the younger generation of composers, including a. to Juro Mětšk , Nikolaus Richter de Vroe and Helmut Zapf . The musicians had a considerable influence on the compositional style of the composers mentioned.

External perception

The demarcation from socialist realism was anything but easy. Already after the first concert of the ensemble there was almost a scandal. Works by Wilfried Jentzsch , René Leibowitz and Friedrich Schenker were premiered. The cultural functionary Erhard Ragwitz accused the ensemble of late bourgeois music: “After enough late bourgeois dust has been stirred up here, I would like to say that the name of Hanns Eisler is used as a fig leaf for the group to pay homage to late bourgeois musical ideals. I would like to state that there is no way to Bitterfeld here. "

The travels of the ensemble helped on the one hand to spread music from the GDR in the FRG as well as in Western Europe and Japan, and on the other hand was the prerequisite for the ensemble to be involved in the developments in the West. The ensemble endeavored to "perform outside the dictates of the state". It played regularly at the Leipzig Town Hall Concerts and was invited to well-known international music festivals such as the Styrian Autumn , the Warsaw Autumn , the Donaueschingen Music Days and the Witten Days for New Chamber Music .

For the 20th anniversary, WDR music editor Wilfried Brennecke wrote : “[...] as the best cultural ambassador in your country [...] with an effect far beyond the two German states [...] you were ahead of your time with your programs, with those of you New pieces requested from the best GDR composers, with your excellent interpretations [...] you represented the best Saxon-German tradition in the technical perfection of your reproductions, in the sovereignty of your compositions, in the commitment of your programs [...] ”. The DLF music editor Frank Kämper stated in 2000: "The Eisler group from Leipzig was a kind of East German 'Ensemble Modern' in the GDR - at least in terms of the level of performance of contemporary works and the initiation of new repertoires."

Aftermath

After 30 years of cooperation, members of the Neue Musik Hanns Eisler group (together with the pianist Steffen Schleiermacher and other musicians) founded the progressive platform Forum Contemporary Music Leipzig in 1990, which still exists today . Burkhard Glaetzner, Axel Schmidt and Wolfgang Weber took on professorships at music colleges and, after 1990, largely devoted themselves to education. In 1999, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the MDR Symphony Orchestra, there was a comeback in Berlin, Dessau, Dresden and Leipzig.

Matthias Sannemüller established the Sortisatio ensemble in 1992 . Furthermore, the Ensemble Avantgarde around Steffen Schleiermacher, a pupil of Schenker and Goldmann, is following the tradition of the Hanns Eisler group, Neue Musik in Leipzig.

Awards

Filmography

Discography (selection)

Several recordings were made for the CD documentation Music in Germany 1950–2000 for the German Music Council .

The following CDs have been released by WERGO :

literature

  • Stefan Amzoll : Innovative and provocative. The new music group "Hanns Eisler" was founded 40 years ago . In: Neue Zeitschrift für Musik 172 (2011) 2, pp. 68–70.
  • Burkhard Glaetzner : Address. On my own behalf . In: MusikTexte 37 (1990), p. 61.
  • Burkhard Glaetzner, Reiner Kontressowitz (ed.): Game horizons. New music group “Hanns Eisler” 1970–1990 . Leipzig 1990.
  • Thomas Christoph Heyde : 1970–1990: New Music group “Hanns Eisler” . In: Reinhard Krehl, Silke Steets, Jan Wenzel (ed.): Leipzig Protest Atlas . Text image card . Experimental e. V., Leipzig 2005, ISBN 3-00-016642-4 ( online ; PDF; 34 kB).
  • Eberhardt Klemm : Group “New Music Hanns Eisler” . In: Leipziger Blätter (1982), issue 1, p. 30 f.
  • Frank Schneider : The new music group Hanns Eisler . In: Musik und Gesellschaft (1978), Issue 7, pp. 422-425. (= Ulrich Dibelius , Frank Schneider (Ed.): New Music in Divided Germany . Volume 3: Documents from the 1970s . Henschel, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-89487-248-9 , pp. 224–227)
  • Frank Schneider: A small miracle. The new music group “Hanns Eisler” Leipzig . In: MusikTexte 33/34 (1990), pp. 109–111.
  • Frank Schneider: Creative interpretation. The example of the new music group “Hanns Eisler” Leipzig . In: Camilla Bork, Tobias Robert Klein, Burkhard Meischein, Andreas Meyer, Tobias Plebuch (eds.): Event and Exegesis. Musical interpretation. Interpretation of the music. Festschrift for Hermann Danuser on his 65th birthday . Ed. Argus, Schliengen 2011, ISBN 978-3-931264-77-2 , pp. 721-728.
  • Manfred Vetter: Chamber music in the GDR. Peter Lang, Frankfurt / Main 1996, ISBN 3-631-30257-6 , p. 191 ff.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Meret Forster : The German ensemble scene - an overview . Goethe-Institut , January 2009.
  2. ^ Martin Thrun: New music since the eighties. A documentation on German musical life . Volume 1. ConBrio, Regensburg 1994, ISBN 3-930079-49-6 , p. 222.
  3. ↑ a b Heyde 2005.
  4. ^ Schneider Schott Music Prize Mainz , online edition of the handbook of culture prizes www.kulturpreise.de
  5. ↑ a b c d Frank Schneider : A small miracle. The new music group “Hanns Eisler” Leipzig . In: Musik Texte 33/34 (1990), p. 109.
  6. ^ Andrzej Chłopecki : On the reception of new music in the GDR from the perspective of the "Warsaw autumn". In: Michael Berg, Albrecht von Massow, Nina Noeske: Between power and freedom. New music in the GDR . Böhlau Verlag, Weimar 2004, ISBN 3-412-10804-9 , pp. 107–116, on p. 115.
  7. ↑ Burkhard Glaetzner , Reiner Kontressowitz (ed.): Spiel-Horizonte. New music group “Hanns Eisler” 1970–1990 . Leipzig 1990, p. 37.
  8. ^ Georg-Friedrich Kühn: Self-settlement. Dissolution of the “group new music hanns Eisler” . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , March 22, 1993.
  9. ↑ Burkhard Glaetzner, Reiner Kontressowitz (ed.): Group New Music "Hanns Eisler" 1970–1990. Game horizons. Leipzig 1990, p. 39.
  10. ^ A b c Frank Schneider: The New Music group "Hanns Eisler" . In: Dibelius / Schneider 1997, p. 224 ff.
  11. ↑ Burkhard Glaetzner, Reiner Kontressowitz (ed.): Group New Music "Hanns Eisler" 1970–1990. Game horizons. Leipzig 1990, p. 40.
  12. ↑ Thomas Schäfer (Ed.): Luigi Nono. Departure into border areas . Pfau-Verlag, Saarbrücken 1999, ISBN 3-89727-079-X , p. 70 f.
  13. ↑ Vetter 1996, p. 200.
  14. ↑ Nina Noeske: Musical deconstruction. New instrumental music in the GDR . Böhlau Verlag, Weimar 2007, ISBN 3-412-20045-X , p. 23.
  15. ^ Friedrich Schenker to Paul Dessau . In: Dibelius / Schneider 1997, p. 205 f.
  16. ↑ Burkhard Glaetzner, Reiner Kontressowitz (ed.): Group New Music "Hanns Eisler" 1970–1990. Game horizons. Leipzig 1990, p. 8.
  17. ↑ Volker Straebel: Socialist realism was once the order of the day. The 16th Music Biennale, entirely dedicated to the 1970s, has long been a showcase for the West. Long live the difference . In: Der Tagesspiegel , No. 15915, March 7, 1997, p. 25.
  18. ↑ Burkhard Glaetzner, Reiner Kontressowitz (ed.): Group New Music "Hanns Eisler" 1970–1990. Game horizons. Leipzig 1990, p. 13.
  19. ↑ Frank Kämper: Partnerships and networking are crucial. Amsterdam, Berlin, Warsaw - young positions: The Cologne Festival “Forum New Music 2010” . In: neue musikzeitung , 59 (2000) 2.
  20. ↑ Martina Helmig: Rebels with daring: The new music group "Hanns Eisler" played works from 1985 to 1990. The trombonist stamps through the hall . In: Berliner Morgenpost , vol. 101, October 27, 1999, No. 294, p. 24.
  21. ↑ Alexander Keuk , Benjamin Schweitzer: 13th Dresden Days of Contemporary Music with prologue and world premieres. For lovers: visual music with grandma perfume . In: Leipziger Volkszeitung , October 2, 1999, p. 8.
  22. ↑ Isabel Herzfeld: Worried breaks. The Neue Musik Leipzig group in the small concert hall . In: Der Tagesspiegel , No. 16856, October 27, 1999, p. 32.
  23. ↑ Cold, Sisyphus, ashes. Revived only briefly: The new music group "Hanns Eisler" . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , October 28, 1999, No. 251, p. BS6.
  24. ↑ Christoph Sramek (Ed.): The tones blinded me. Festschrift for the 60th birthday of the Dresden composer Jörg Herchet . Verlag Klaus-Jürgen Kamprad, Altenburg 2003, ISBN 978-3-930550-28-9 , p. 345.
  25. ↑ Marcus Erb-Szymanski: The high art of modernity beyond the spectacular. The Leipzig Ensemble Avantgarde is celebrating its tenth anniversary . In: neue musikzeitung 49 (2000) 9.