Peter Förtig

Peter Förtig (born March 15, 1934 in Pforzheim ) is a German composer and music theorist.

Career

Förtig received his first piano lessons at the age of eight with Hedwig Fuchs in Pforzheim and from the age of 11 lessons in piano and music theory with Georg Mantel and Heinrich Casimir in Karlsruhe. He made his first public appearances at the age of ten, and at the same time he wrote his first compositions. 1951 was the world premiere of a composition for the Südwestdeutsche Kammerorchester Pforzheim; in the same concert he appeared as a soloist in Beethoven's first piano concerto in C major.

After graduating from Reuchlin-Gymnasium Pforzheim, he studied from 1953 to 1955 at the Karlsruhe University of Music; Josef Schelb was his piano and composition teacher here. He then worked as a freelance pianist for two years. In 1957 he continued his studies at the Musikhochschule Freiburg, where Carl Seemann (piano) and Wolfgang Fortner (composition) were his teachers.

In 1961 he became a lecturer, later a lecturer, and from 1969 until retirement he became professor of music theory at the University of Freiburg. There he largely restructured the theory classes. He completed additional composition studies from 1965 to 1967 with Klaus Huber at the Basel Music Academy. In 1966 Peter Förtig received the Reinhold Schneider Prize (sponsorship prize), the culture prize of the city of Freiburg, im Breisgau.

In addition, Peter Förtig received the composition prize for an organ work in Nuremberg.

His oeuvre, which now comprises 105 works, includes song cycles with piano or ensemble, choral music with and without instrumental accompaniment, to large-scale works for orchestra, choir and soloists, including concerts and organ music.

Awards

• 1966 Reinhold Schneider Prize of the City of Freiburg for Music
• 1969 laureate for the composition "Stationes" at the organ composition competition of the Musica Sacra Nürnberg .

Web links

Peter Förtig's website