Kurt Schwertsik

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Kurt Schwertsik (2015)

Kurt Schwertsik (born June 25, 1935 in Vienna ) is an Austrian composer and music teacher .

Life

Schwertsik studied composition with Joseph Marx and Karl Schiske and horn with Gottfried von Freiberg at the Academy for Music in Vienna. In 1955 Schwertsik became a horn player with the Tonkünstler Orchestra of Lower Austria , but his main interest was in the development of new music , so that in the mid-1950s he studied the laws of serial composition at the Darmstadt summer courses . As a result, he founded the ensemble “die reihe” together with Friedrich Cerha in 1958 in order to present the works of new music that were badly neglected in Viennese concert life at the time. During a stay in Cologne around 1960, studies with Karlheinz Stockhausen , Mauricio Kagel , Cornelius Cardew and John Cage followed . Schwertsik used a scholarship for Rome and a stay in London (1960/61) to evaluate Cologne's impressions and to reflect on his own goals.

From 1962, Schwertsik began to experiment with tonality . In 1965 he founded the “Salon Concerts” with the composer and pianist Otto M. Zykan . In 1966 he taught composition at the University of California in Riverside , while he completed further studies with Oswald Jonas . From 1968 he was horn player with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and - after further studies with Schönberg's student Josef Polnauer at the end of the 1960s - concentrated in the following decades on composing, which resulted in the creation of a large number of works for a wide variety of ensembles. From 1979 to 1988 he headed the composition class at the Vienna Conservatory and from 1989 until his retirement in 2003 taught composition as a full professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna .

The composer's legacy is in the archive of the contemporary collection of artistic legacies and bequests at Danube University Krems .

Offices

Kurt Schwertsik is President of the Joseph Marx Society, which - founded in the spring of 2006 - strives to maintain the music of the influential composer and teacher Joseph Marx . With this, Schwertsik not only assumed the office of president of an organization for the first time in his career, but at the same time affirmed his age commitment to melody in the sense of the sound philosophy taught by Joseph Marx.

family

Schwertsik is married to the actress Christa Schwertsik ; This makes him the stepfather of Katharina and Julia Stemberger .

Awards

Compositional style

His works testify to reservations about any form of exaggerated seriousness, which is often manifested in the choice of the work title. His music, which is good-natured despite being insidious, is driven by the desire to express the truth and the important without further ado, whereby the composer often looks for deeper philosophical meaning even in the bizarre, but in the end never seems to take himself too seriously. In terms of musical aesthetics, the composer always remains unpredictable, since he can never be tied to the choice of means. Kurt Schwertsik undoubtedly owes it to his easily accessible tonal language and humoristic and ironic disposition that he has become one of the most played contemporary composers in Austria and has now also earned a reputation as one of the most important Austrian composers on an international level.

Works (selection)

Fonts

  • what & how do you learn? (MUSIKZEIT: Vienna 2020) - Narration of the learning time

Instrumental works

Orchestral works:

  • Earthly sounds
  • Sinfonia-Sinfonietta
  • Mob style symphony
  • Epilogue to Rosamunde
  • Mr. Marteins
  • Dracula's house and court music
  • ... for Audifax and Abachum

Solo concerts with orchestral accompaniment:

  • Violin Concerto No. 1
  • Violin Concerto No. 2
  • Flute concert
  • Trombone concert
  • Guitar concert
  • "Divertimento macchiato per tromba ed orchestra" (2007) (trumpet concert)

Stage works

  • The long way to the great wall op. 24 (1974). Opera in 2 acts. Libretto: Richard Bletschacher . WP May 13, 1975
  • Waltz dreams. Strauss & Strauss ... when dancing still helped (1976). Ballet in 2 acts. Premiere February 16, 1977 Cologne (Opera)
  • The fairy tale of Fanferlieschen Schönefüßchen op. 42 (1981/82). Opera in 10 scenes. Libretto: Karin and Thomas Körner (based on Clemens Brentano ). Premiere November 24, 1983 Stuttgart (State Opera; direction and set design: Axel Manthey; conductor: Dennis Russell Davies)
  • Eternal Peace (The Peace Banquet) op. 58 (1990). Operetta. Libretto: Thomas Körner. WP January 8, 1995
  • Ulrich legend op.63 (1992). Play in one act. Libretto: Richard Bletschacher . WP 1992
  • Café Museum or The Enlightenment op. 67 (1993). Opera in 2 pictures. Libretto: Wolfgang Bauer . WP October 9, 1993
  • The world of the Mongols op. 72 (1996). Opera in 2 acts. Libretto: Michael Köhlmeier . WP February 9, 1997 Linz (Landestheater)
  • Katzelmacher (2000-2002). Opera in one act. Libretto based on the piece by Rainer Werner Fassbinder . Premiere June 1, 2003 Wuppertal (Opera House; Director: Gerd Leo Kuck; Conductor: Martin Braun)
  • Sleep of the Righteous (2004). Operelle . Libretto: Kristine Tornquist . Premiere October 31, 2004 Innsbruck (Tiroler Landestheater; client: sirene Operntheater Wien)
  • Chalifa and the Monkeys (2011). Opera . Libretto: Kristine Tornquist . WP August 25, 2011 Vienna Expedition Hall of the bread factory. (Client: Sirene Operntheater Wien)
  • Mozart in Moscow (2014). Opera . Libretto: Ad de Bont . Premiere October 31, 2014 at the Nationaltheater Mannheim as part of the Mannheim Mozart Summer.

Vocal works

  • Starck German songs and dances for baritone and orchestra
  • The Fury of Disappearance for mixed choir
  • numerous songs

Chamber music

  • Dreams of love for 7 instruments
  • Eichendorff quintet
  • Adieu Satie for bandoneon and string quartet
  • Ganesha Walkabout for string quartet
  • Sheet metal section in the latest taste for wind quintet
  • Horn postil , four pieces for four horns, op.46 (premiere 1983)

literature

  • Friedrich Spangemacher (Ed.): Kurt Schwertsik , Musik der Zeit, Documentations and Studies Volume 8. Boosey & Hawkes: Bonn 1990. 100 pages
  • Joachim Diederichs (Ed.): Kurt Schwertsik , Composers of Our Time Volume 32. Lafite Verlag, Vienna 2020, ISBN 978-3-85151-101-7 , 224 pages.

Web links

Commons : Kurt Schwertsik  - Collection of images, videos and audio files