Hermann Meier (composer)

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Hermann Meier (born May 29, 1906 in Selzach ; † August 19, 2002 in Zullwil ) was a Swiss composer .

Life

Hermann Meier received piano and organ lessons and continued his education in theoretical subjects at the Basel Music Academy . Nevertheless, he did not pursue a career as a musician. Instead, he became a teacher. He worked as a village school teacher in Zullwil (Solothurn) for 47 years. In addition to his professional activity, Meier had a family of seven to support, he devoted himself to composition throughout his life and performed musically as a conductor of village choirs in the Schwarzbubenland . He regularly visited nearby Basel, where he came into contact with the works of Arnold Schönberg , Anton Webern and others. He took composition lessons from Wladimir Vogel and René Leibowitz .

In 1948, at the instigation of Vladimir Vogel, a preparatory meeting for a " Dodecaphonic Congress" took place in Orselina , at which Meier met Luigi Dallapiccola , Gian Francesco Malipiero , Karl Amadeus Hartmann , Rolf Liebermann and Erich Schmid , among others .

Despite intensive efforts, according to current research, Meier was only able to experience three performances of his works up to the age of 70, all of them at the house music evenings for contemporary music by the Bernese couple Hermann and Irène Gattiker. The novelty of his work provides an explanation: he explored composition techniques early on and took up aesthetic positions like hardly anyone else in Switzerland. Probably before Jacques Wildberger and thus as the first Swiss composer, he explored serial and selective techniques, worked at the same time as Iannis Xenakis or György Ligeti on sound surfaces and wrote very reduced scores full of pauses in the mid-1950s. Meier has been working with graphic plans since the mid-1950s, which he named after the painter Piet Mondrian Mondriane , whom he admired .

In 1975 Meier was able to realize the composition sound layers at the renowned experimental studio of the Heinrich Strobel Foundation . For this composition he received a work award from the Canton of Solothurn in 1976, the only official honor during his lifetime.

The composer Urs Peter Schneider became the first interpreter to vehemently advocate Meier. In the mid-1980s the Ensemble Neue Horizonte Bern premiered various pieces of Meier under the direction of Schneider. Dominik Blum , a student of Schneider, published the first CD with works by Hermann Meier in 2001 in Edition Wandelweiser . Hermann Meier died in Zullwil in 2002. Only posthumously do the signs of a rediscovery of Meier increase. In 2009 his estate was accepted into the Paul Sacher Foundation, aart-verlag Zürich started with a complete edition of his works and in 2010 the Basel Sinfonietta premiered two of his 28 orchestral works for the first time on the initiative of the composer Marc Kilchenmann . At the Donaueschinger Musiktage 2018, the piece for large orchestra and piano four hands HMV 62, composed in 1965 and then rejected by the SWF, had its late premiere with the SWR Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Peter Rundel . In addition, articles on Hermann Meier have appeared in the specialist journal dissonanz-dissonance and the Swiss music newspaper .

reception

Hardly played in his lifetime, the composer has been rediscovered in recent years. So big, sometimes indignant, the rejection in the 1940s, so positive are the current reviews:

“It is likely to have exceeded thirty by a long way, and yet nobody knows it, it is not a term for anyone. But just as his head cannot deny the artist (or at best the thinker), so his composition cannot deny the musician. Although it contains some unfermented things, although it is a little awkwardly written and a little abruptly shaped. Of the four listed, Meier is the boldest, most ruthless and yet again the most poetic. He expects himself and the listeners - and last but not least, the musicians most of all. If the otherwise so disciplined members of the Tonhalle Orchestra burst out laughing at the end and one of them whistled, they deserve the only rebuke for this exciting half-day at work. They in particular should have known from examples from the past that the same thing happened to works by their contemporary mediators, which they, the interpreters of today, perform as masterpieces with the greatest dedication. "
“The event, which imposed hard duties on those involved and which certainly did not give the patient conductor unanimous pleasure, came to an inglorious end with the arduous plowing through of a chaotic symphony movement by Hermann Meier, which the orchestra was pecking at, to its own horror and that of the fortunately only a few listeners. It was all too understandable that the Tonhalle musicians protested in an unequivocal manner against such unreasonable demands. "
“The composer Hermann Meier belongs to Olivier Messiaen's generation , is around twenty years older than Stockhausen , Goeyvaerts , Boulez or Barraqué and wrote a piece of music in the fifties and sixties that today, in retrospect, is considered to be on par with the work of the last four got to."
“'Dodecafonist, serialist, avant-garde' - this concise characterization of Meier by the Winterthur pianist Dominik Blum already implicitly names key reasons for Meier's lifelong outsiderhood and his isolation within the Swiss music artist scene . Meier (...) was already drawn to new compositional techniques when they used to give goose bumps to the majority of the Swiss composers' guild and provoked protests. (...) From 1952 he tried out serial techniques in the broader sense, as they were developed at the same time in the context of the Darmstadt courses. "
“In terms of composition, Hermann Meier cannot be regarded as a representative of his own generation; he is more likely to be assigned to the group of about twenty years younger (Boulez, Stockhausen). Meier is therefore by far the oldest representative of the post-war avant-garde. He explored serial and selective techniques very early on, created cluster compositions as early as the 1950s and turned to noise composition and electronic music in the 1970s. In the seclusion of the Schwarzbubenland he created a downright shockingly innovative work for decades, which is unparalleled in this country. "
“No less than 28 orchestral works were written between 1950 and 1970. They reveal an objective, clear-thinking composer. It is very noticeable how Meier thinks in often unmatched blocks and how he distances himself from traditional thematic developments. Flat passages, well equipped with tonal elements and repetitions. In other words: strict construction combined with freedom. "
“Hermann Meier lived as a primary school teacher in Zullwil, Solothurn, and in his free time he made scores of a radicalism that amazed. His orchestral pieces are works of block-like force and motor energy, somewhere between Varèse and Penderecki and yet different from anything else. "
“The Swiss composer Hermann Meier (1906–1992) [sic!] Has - involuntarily - secretly created an oeuvre that is second to none. The consistency with which Meier built the piece for a large orchestra in 1960 is unique for the period around 1960; the radicalism is impressive. ... Great music. "

Catalog raisonné

Piano solo

  • Piano piece (1937) HMV 3: Marcia - Intermezzo - Scherzo
  • Piano piece (1937) HMV 4: Allegro con fuoco - Andante - Molto Vivace - Adagio - Allegro
  • Variations and fugue for piano (not dated) HMV 6
  • Sonatina for piano (not dated) HMV 7
  • Prelude for Piano (1942) HMV 8: Passacaglia
  • Piano piece (1945) HMV 9: Adagio - Allegro non troppo - Allegro molto
  • Piano piece Losone (1945) HMV 10
  • Six Piano Pieces (1946) HMV 13
  • Piano piece (1947) HMV 16
  • Sonata for piano (1948–49) HMV 24
  • Piano variations for Hermann Gattiker (1951–52) HMV 27
  • Two piano pieces for Lilo Mathys (1955–56) HMV 36
  • Piano piece (1956) HMV 37
  • Piano piece (1957) HMV 39
  • Piano piece (1957) HMV 40
  • Little elegy for piano for Gaby Stebler (1968) HMV 69
  • Piano piece for Charles Dobler (1968) HMV 70
  • Piano piece for Urs Peter Schneider (1987) HMV 99


Two pianos and piano four hands

  • Piece for two pianos (1958) HMV 44
  • Thirteen Pieces for Two Pianos (1959) HMV 45
  • Composition for two pianos (1959) HMV 46
  • Piece for two pianos (1959) HMV 47
  • Piece for piano four hands (1960) HMV 51
  • Piece for two pianos for Paul Baumgartner (1963) HMV 58
  • Piece for two pianos (1963) HMV 59
  • Piece for two pianos or piano four hands (1964–65) HMV 61
  • Piece for two pianos for Helena Stebler (1965) HMV 63
  • Piece for two pianos (1965) HMV 64
  • Piece for two pianos (1983–84) HMV 94


Three and more keyboard instruments

  • Piece for three pianos four hands (1967) HMV 67
  • Piece for piano, harpsichord and electric organ (1968–69) HMV 72
  • Piece for two pianos, two electric organs and two harpsichords (1969) HMV 73
  • Six pieces for keyboard instruments (1970) HMV 74
  • Sound surface structure or wall music for Hans Oesch (1970–71) HMV 75 pieces for two pianos (I four hands), two harpsichords and electric organ
  • Piece for two pianos, two electric organs and two harpsichords each four hands (1971–72) HMV 76
  • Piece for two pianos, two harpsichords and two electric organs (1973) HMV 77
  • Piece for two pianos, two harpsichords and two electric organs (1973) HMV 78
  • Piece for three pianos (1984) HMV 95
  • Electronic study for three pianos (1984) HMV 96
  • Large wall without pictures for piano, harpsichord and electric organ each four hands (1988–89) HMV 100


Songs


Chamber music

  • Piece for two violins (not dated) HMV 1
  • Piece for violin solo (not dated) HMV 2
  • String trio (not dated) HMV 5
  • Trio for flute, clarinet and bassoon (1945–46) HMV 11
  • String Quartet No. 1 (1945–46) HMV 12
  • Three pieces for violin and piano (1946) HMV 15
  • Piano quartet (1947) HMV 17
  • String Quartet No. 2 (1947) HMV 18
  • Four canons for three strings (1947) HMV 19
  • Invention for violin solo (1947) HMV 20
  • Trio for flute, oboe and clarinet (1948) HMV 22
  • Piece for four trombones (1952) HMV 29
  • Piece for two pianos four hands and percussion (1963) HMV 57
  • Quintet for piccolo, oboe, horn, bass clarinet and contrabassoon (1989) HMV 101


Orchestral works

  • Symphony No. 1 (1948) HMV 21
  • Symphony No. 2 (1948–49) HMV 23
  • Orchestral piece No. 1 (1950) HMV 25
  • Orchestral piece No. 2 (1951) HMV 26
  • Orchestral piece No. 3 (1952–53) HMV 30
  • Orchestral piece (1953), homage to Hans Arp HMV 31
  • Orchestral piece (1954) HMV 32
  • Orchestral piece No. 4 (1955) HMV 34
  • Orchestral piece No. 5 (1955) HMV 35
  • Orchestral piece No. 6 (1956–57) HMV 38
  • Orchestral piece No. 8 (1HMV 21) Symphony No. 1 (1948) HMV 41
  • Orchestral piece No. 9 (1957–58) HMV 42
  • Orchestral piece No. 10 (1958) HMV 43
  • Orchestral piece (1959–60) HMV 48
  • Piece for large orchestra (1960) HMV 49
  • Piece for large orchestra (1960) HMV 50
  • Piece for large orchestra, piano four hands and percussion (1960–61) HMV 52
  • Piece for large orchestra (1961) HMV 53
  • Piece for large orchestra and two pianos (1961–62) HMV 54
  • Piece for large orchestra and piano four hands (1962) HMV 55
  • Piece for large orchestra (1962–63) HMV 56
  • Piece for large orchestra and three pianos (1964) HMV 60
  • Piece for large orchestra and piano four hands (1965) HMV 62
  • Piece for strings, wind instruments and two pianos for Oscar Niemeyer (1966–67) HMV 65
  • Requiem for orchestra and two pianos (1967) HMV 66
  • Piece for string orchestra, two Hammond organs four hands and two pianos four hands (1967–68) HMV 68
  • Piece for strings, wind instruments and two pianos for Werner Heisenberg (1968) HMV 71


Electronic works

  • Electronic piece (1975) HMV 79
  • Electronic piece (1975) HMV 80
  • 19 3/5 minute piece for electronics (1976) HMV 81
  • Electronic piece (1976) HMV 82
  • Sound layers (1976) HMV 83
  • Second electronic piece (1977) HMV 84
  • Almost a Lullaby (1977) HMV 85
  • Electronic piece (1977) HMV 86
  • Homage to Judd (1978) HMV 87
  • Surface constellations (1978) HMV 88
  • Electronic piece (1979) HMV 89
  • Flecken (1980) HMV 90
  • Electronic piece (1981) HMV 91
  • Constellations for sound bars (1982) HMV 92
  • 22 3/4 minute electronic piece (1983) HMV 93
  • Electronic Works II (1986) HMV 97
  • Electronic piece (1987) HMV 98

Discography

  • Hermann Meier: works for piano solo , Edition Wandelweiser (EWR 0001)
  • Chamber music and orchestral works 1960-69 , in it: piece for large orchestra; Piece for orchestra with two pianos; Piece for piano, electric organ and harpsichord; Piece for piano four hands . Ensemble Neue Horizonte Bern, Basel Sinfonietta , conductor: Jürg Henneberger, MGB 2010
  • Grammont Sélection 6 , Musiques Suisses No. 6, MGB CTS-M 140, 2013; contains Requiem for orchestra and two pianos (1967) HMV 66
  • hermann meier: works for piano solo 1949-1987 , edition Wandelweiser (EWR 1715/16)
  • Wall music: music for keyboard instruments by Hermann Meier, Marc Kilchenmann , Herman van San , dbwaves (003) in it: sound surface structure or wall music for Hans Oesch, piece for two pianos (I four hands), two harpsichords and electric organ (1970-71) HMV 75 ; Large wall without pictures for piano, harpsichord and electric organ each four hands (1988–89) HMV 100

Secondary literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Closing concert of the Donaueschinger Musiktage 2018
  2. ↑ Unnamed author in Basler Nachrichten of April 20, 1949.
  3. ↑ Unnamed author in the national newspaper of April 27, 1949.
  4. ^ Alfred Zimmerlin in the NZZ of May 27, 2000.
  5. ↑ Doris Lanz : New Music in Old Walls, The Gattiker House Evenings for Contemporary Music - A Bern Concert History 1940-1967 ; Publishing house Peter Lang.
  6. ^ Marc Kilchenmann : Various things about Hermann Meier; Dissonance No. 108, December 2009.
  7. ↑ Torsten Möller : The outsider as a radical lateral thinker; Swiss music newspaper, January 2010.
  8. ^ Sigfried Schibli in the Basler Zeitung of January 26, 2010.
  9. ^ Alfred Zimmerlin in the NZZ , January 26, 2010.
personal data
SURNAME Meier, Hermann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss composer
DATE OF BIRTH May 29, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Selzach
DATE OF DEATH August 19, 2002
Place of death Zullwil