Michael Denhoff

Michael Denhoff (born April 25, 1955 in Ahaus ) is a German composer and cellist .

Life

Denhoff has lived and worked in Bonn since 1982 . He completed his studies at the Cologne University of Music . His teachers include Günter Bialas and Hans Werner Henze ( composition ), Siegfried Palm and Erling Blöndal Bengtsson ( violoncello ) and the Amadeus Quartet ( chamber music ). As a composer and chamber musician, he took on various educational tasks, such as a teaching position for composition at the University of Mainz (1984/85) and a visiting professorship at the National Conservatory in Hanoi (1997 to 1999). Since 2008 he has been a lecturer in chamber music at the Robert Schumann University in Düsseldorf .

From 1985 to 1992 he was conductor of the "Academic Orchestra Bonn", which he co-founded. He has also conducted other orchestras and ensembles, such as the “Pro Nova Ensemble” of the Duisburg Philharmonic for CD recordings. As a cellist, he formed the “Denhoff Piano Trio” with his brother Johannes Denhoff (violin) and the pianist Richard Braun. Since 1992 he has been a member of the "Ludwig Quartet Bonn"; he also works more closely with the pianist Birgitta Wollenweber .

As a composer, he has received several prizes and awards, including the Music Promotion Prize of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (1976) and that of the State of Lower Saxony (1981), the Johann Wenzel Stamitz Prize (1977) and the Bernd Alois Zimmermann Prize Cologne (1986), the Rome Scholarship at Villa Massimo (1986/87), the Westphalian Music Prize (1989), and the “Villa la Collina” working scholarship (1996). He was most recently awarded the Gerda and Günter Bialas Prize in 2013

Denhoff's music has received international attention and recognition. First and first performances took place at various festivals, u. a .: International Beethoven Festival Bonn , Munich Biennale , MusikTriennale Cologne , Piano Festival Ruhr , Witten Days for New Chamber Music , Summer Music Days Hitzacker , Days of New Music Hanover, Ensemblia Mönchengladbach, Budapest Spring Festival, Budapest Autumn Festival, Festival International du Domaine Forget, European Musicale, Festival Latinoamericano de Música, Cantiere Internazionale d'Arte Montepulciano , Festival di Nuova Consonanza Roma, Saptamana Muzicii Contemporane Bucureşti, Culture Weeks of the FRG in the Caucasus , Epidaurus Festival in Cavtat ( Croatia ).

In 2000 Denhoff was the organizer himself; Together with the pianist Susanne Kessel he organized the concert series "Jahr100KlavierStücke" in Bonn, in which many internationally recognized pianists performed in 50 concerts and offered a chronological review of the piano music of the 20th century.

In addition, he initiated the WORTKLANGRAUM series in Bonn in 2008, which has been presenting mainly contemporary music and literature under his artistic direction since 2009 with eight events a year each year and engaging in a mutual dialogue under changing mottos.

music

Denhoff's music shows a close relationship with poetry and the visual arts. Numerous orchestral and chamber music works were inspired by poetry and literature or works of the visual arts. There are instrumental works and cycles for pictures by Chagall , Klee , Kandinsky , Dürer and above all Goya (El sueño de la razon produce monstruos 1982, Desastres de la Guerra 1983, Los disparates 1988). Most recently, between 1996 and 2005, he created the five-part piano cycle sculptures, which was designed as an interdisciplinary dialogue with the sculptor Wolfgang Ueberhorst .

In literature, it was above all Rainer Maria Rilke , Paul Celan , Samuel Beckett and Mallarmé who left their mark on his work (including Nachtfantasien 1982, Atemwende - piano cycle based on Paul Celan 1984-87, Two once so one - Beckett moments 1992 , Mallarmé cycle 1995/96).

Characteristic of his compositional thinking are also cycles in the manner of a musical diarium (Klangtagebuch 1984; Hebdomadaire 1990). Above all, this includes the almost three-hour piano quintet Hauptweg and Nebenwege 1998, which contains the most essential aspects of his music, its reference to musical tradition, but also the influences from literature and the fine arts as in a preliminary résumé . Another cycle, the creation of which was also planned for a year, is his extensive melody project “Strophen”, in which, in addition to a solo version, there are also various chamber music variants of the individual numbers, which remain open in their respective instrumental scoring. Most recently, his vocal cycle Schönste Lieder (Most Beautiful Songs), which comprises 52 numbers, was also produced every one year .

Denhoff's compositional vocabulary testifies to a keen sense for harmony and form, the roots of which can be found in composers like Bernd Alois Zimmermann , on whom he wrote his thesis, Olivier Messiaen , Morton Feldman and György Kurtág . Not outward virtuosity, but rather introverted thoughtfulness and sometimes downright irritatingly simple transparency of the sound movement are characteristic of many of his more recent works, whose differentiated colors seem to define a very unique form of beauty.

LPs, CDs and SACDs with Denhoff's works have been released by labels such as WERGO, COL LEGNO, CYBELE, TELOS, MD + G and CONFIDO. Printed editions of his works were published by Breitkopf & Härtel , Edition Gravis , Ricordi / Mannheimer Musikverlag, Edition Moeck and Tonger.

Selection of works

Musical theater

THE PELICAN - Chamber opera based on Strindberg op.64

Oratorio

DREAM BOOK OF A PRISONER for baritone, speaker, choir and orchestra op.51
IN UNUM DEUM - Credo for soprano, baritone, choir, organ and small orchestra, op.93
MAGNIFICAT for choir with two solo quartets, saxophone quartet and four percussionists op.98

Choir

VOZ MIA, CANTA, CANTA - song cycle based on poems by Juan Ramón Jiménez op.37
THE DIMENSION OF STILLNESS op.58
CREDO op.93a
THREE SHAKESPEARE SONGS op.113 for mixed choir

singing

LE JARDIN DE MA MÉMOIRE - Music with Guillaume Apollinaire for vocal quintet and saxophone quartet op.108
SCHÖNSTE LIEDER - vocal cycle op. 110 after 52 songs in movements by Michael Donhauser for mezzo-soprano, baritone, clarinet (s), viola, harp and piano
VISAGE DU DESTIN for male quartet and piano op.61
SCHATTENFORMEN - Stele for the Droste for soprano, tenor (& 4 tom toms), harp and piano op.69
WITH CLOSED EYES - six songs based on poems by Heinz-Albert Heindrichs for soprano and piano op.45
LIKE A LINE OF DARK BLUE SILENCE op. 80 - Seven songs based on poems by Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger for mezzo-soprano and accordion
SILENCE, ET PUIS op. 101 - Fragments based on the last notations by Marguerite Duras for alto voice and viola
GREGUERÍAS (after Ramón Gómez de la Serna ) op.121a for soprano (with piano chair & various utensils)

orchestra

SINFONIA I op.11 for orchestra
TEMPUS IMPLETUM - Expressions of Time and Space (Sinfonia II) op.21
MELANCOLIA - Approaches to an engraving by Dürer op.26
LONELINESS - in memoriam W. Buchebner op.33
Disasters of War - Orchestra images by Goya op 36th
NIGHT PICTURE ( Mahler Moments) op.57
INTERIORS ... REMEMBERING op. 71
MATCH for saxophone orchestra and bass drum op.90

concert

UMBRAE - in memoriam Bernd Alois Zimmermann - for violin, violoncello and orchestra op.13
OMAGGIO for violin, oboe and orchestra op.40
TABLEAUX SOMBRES for Heckelphone and Orchestra op.60
REMARKS AND REVIEWS for saxophone quartet and orchestra op.68
CELLO CONCERT op.109

ensemble

… OUVERT… - Meditation for variable instrumentation op. 99
MALLARMÉ CYCLE - twelve quartets for twelve musicians op.75
IGITUR - reading for chamber ensemble op.85
RUE SEDAINE, 11PM for ensemble op.104

Chamber music

STROPHEN - Das Melodienprojekt 2009 op.107 (various instrumentations from solo to larger ensemble)
TWO ONCE SO ONE (Beckett Moments) for string quartet, viola and violoncello op.66
MAIN WAY AND SIDE WAYS - Recordings for string quartet and piano op.83
SOUNDS AND SHADOWS for piano, string quartet and long-distance clarinet op.86
9 STRING QUARTETS (op. 1, op. 19, “Mystiques Barcarolles”, op. 30, op. 55, “Since atwain I”, op. 66a, “frottages”, op. 70, op. 73, “nel interno”, op. 79 , "If from afar ..." op. 83a)
5 PIANO TRIOS (op. 7, op. 27, "Black Ballet" op. 74,1, "Nachtstück" op. 74,2, "Cueillaison d'un Rêve" op. 83b)
4 SAXOPHONE QUARTETS (“gegen-sätze” op. 39, “svolgimenti” op. 46, “pnoxoud” op. 59, five sacred chants op. 98a)
LOS DISPARATES - Sketches after Goya for Trio basso op.54
WITHOUT WORDS - Six poems for violin and piano op.111
CHAMPS DE MARS - Inventions after Marc Chagall for viola and piano op.9
TENEBRAE for viola and piano op.82
EL SUENO DE LA RAZON PRODUCE MONSTRUOS - Goya -Impressions for violoncello and piano op.32
… AS WHEN NO WORDS for piano and long-distance cello op. 77
SEVEN BAGATELLES for violoncello and piano op.92
... INS UNGEWISSE ... (in memoriam Luigi Nono ) for double bass and violin (and playback of Kb. & Vl.) Op. 97
MARAMBA (in memory of Paula Köhlmeier ) for flute (also bass flute) and celesta op.100
FIVE EPIGRAMS for piano and percussion op.102
ETUDE DE COULEURS for two pianos op.115

Solo works

NIGHT FANTASIES (on Rainer Maria Rilke poems) for guitar op.31
AUS TIEFER EMERGENCY - Invocation for Organ op.41
MONOLOGIES I - V for five soloists op. 50, 1–5 (I “Sotto voce” for registered piano, II “Wenn aber…” for Campanula, III “Poco a poco” for bass flute and playback, IV “In the interstices” for harp, V "M'illumino d'immenso" for mezzo-soprano and 3 gongs)
ATEMWENDE - piano cycle after Paul Celan op. 49, 1–7
HEBDOMADAIRE - 52 pieces of the year for a pianist op.62
SCULPTURES - piano cycle op. 76, 1–5
INVENTION I - XII for player piano (s) op. 88, 1–12
… AL NIENTE… for piano op. 95
NIGHT SHADOW GROWTH - nine pieces for piano op.96
THE MEMORY AND THE HAND (meditation on five notes) for piano op.103
LIGHT (E) PIECES - Eleven sketches for an exhibition for piano op.105
BACH VARIATIONS for piano op.114

Fonts

Silence and conversion - reflections on the phenomenon of time. In: MusikTexte Heft 24 (1988), pp. 27-38
Rituel by Pierre Boulez - Notes on the concept of space and time. In: Festschrift for the 60th birthday of Prof. Dr. Emil Platen . Bonn (1985), pp. 208-219
Max Reger . A composer rightly underestimated for the music of the 20th century ?! A music survey. In: REGER-STUDIEN 4 Breitkopf & Härtel (1989), pp. 105–124, 233–253
From image-sound to sound-image - the relationship between image and music in my pieces. In: NZfM 1993/6, pp. 14-19
Absent - present. Time, memory and remembrance in music. - Lecture at the 6th small university conference in Ahaus 2006. In: Aftermath - Volume 7: “On the meaning and the difficulty of remembering”. Lit-Verlag Berlin 2008, pp. 124-141
"Sculpture becomes sound becomes sculpture becomes sound becomes ..." - experiences of a non-verbal art talk. Lecture at the Symposium Music According to Pictures , Innsbruck 2010. In: Lukas Christensen, Monika Fink (Ed.): How pictures sound. , Lit-Verlag Vienna 2011, pp. 249-259
Goya's influence on my musical language. In: Goya in the dialogue of the media, cultures and disciplines (Ed. Ursula Hennigfeld), Rombach-Verlag Freiburg 2013, pp. 273–288
In the midst of the sounds. In: "... when Paul McCartney called me" - My first musical experience, (Ed. Cornel Wachter ), EA Seemann-Verlag 2014, pp. 29–30
Magical Radiance - My encounters with the music of Pierre Boulez . In: MusikTexte, issue 149, May 2016, p. 88

literature

Thomas Schäfer: Michael Denhoff's “Night Image”: Proximity as an obstacle. In: Model case Mahler - compositional reception in contemporary music. Wilhelm Fink Verlag Munich 1999
Emil Platen: Michael Denhoff. In: MGG - music in history and in the present, new edition - personal part. Bärenreiter-Verlag
Lukas Christensen: Michael Denhoff. In: Contemporary Composers (KDG). Edition Text & Criticism, München 1996ff
Sieglind Bruhn: Michael Denhoff, Sculptures I - V for piano , in: Europe's sounding pictures, Edition Gorz 2013
Martin Tchiba (Ed.): MD60 - Words-Sounds-Pictures - Festschrift for the 60th birthday of the composer Michael Denhoff. Edition Gravis 2015

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Denhoff, Michael
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German composer and cellist
DATE OF BIRTH	April 25, 1955
PLACE OF BIRTH	Ahaus