Robert Maximilian Helmschrott

Robert Maximilian Helmschrott (born August 23, 1938 in Weilheim in Upper Bavaria ) is a German composer. He was a professor of music theory and church music composition at the University of Music and Theater in Munich .

Life

Robert M. Helmschrott received his first piano lessons at the age of 11 from his father, who was a teacher. At the age of 13 he became organist at the St. Pölten Church in Weilheim. He completed his musical studies at the University of Music in Munich (with Harald Genzmer and Wolfgang Jacobi, among others ).

As early as 1954 he began private studies with Pierre Froidebise in Liège ( Belgium ), who was a student of Charles Tournemire , from 1961 also with Fritz Büchtger in Munich and later with Goffredo Petrassi and Luigi Dallapiccola in Siena ( Italy ).

From 1959 to 1961 Helmschrott worked as organist and choirmaster at the Church of St. Thaddäus in Augsburg , and from 1961 to 1967 in the same function at the Church of St. Johann in Erding . After a two-year stay in Rome, Peter Jona Korn hired him to the Richard Strauss Conservatory in Munich. In 1972 he moved to the Hochschule für Musik in Munich (under Fritz Schieri’s responsibility ), where he initially worked as a lecturer , then as an honorary professor and professor , later, from 1992 to 1995, as vice-president and from 1995 to 2003 as president .

From 1969 to 1979 Helmschrott worked at the Studio for New Music, Munich (together with Fritz Büchtger , Edith Urbanczyk , Wilhelm Killmayer and Günter Bialas ), in 1979 he founded the forum MUSICA SACRA VIVA, new sacred music in Munich churches, which he founded until 1994 artistically and organisationally. At times, he was the first deputy chairman of the Association of Musicians Munich (until 1979) and was from 1991 to 2015 as a representative of composers organizations the Broadcasting Board of Bayerischer Rundfunk on.

As an organist (on his own account) he made trips to Italy, Spain, France, England, the Czech Republic, Russia, Ukraine, India, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, USA, South Africa and the GDR.

Helmschrott wrote liturgical music, secular and sacred choral music, chamber music, and orchestral works. Much of his work is dedicated to organ music.

Awards

• Scholarship from the German Academy Villa Massimo in Rome (1967–1969)
• Scholarship from the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris (1975)
• Prize for Music from the City of Munich (1972)
• Prize for Music from the City of Stuttgart (1973)
• First prize in the International Composition Competition of the city of Avila (Spain) and Vercelli (Italy), 1974
• Siemens Award (for Musica Sacra Viva) (1983)
• Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon (23 August 1990)
• "Artist-in-Residence" at MacDowell Colony, Peterborough , New Hampshire (USA) (1993)
• Honorary Professor at the Pedagogical University of Tbilisi, Georgia (2000)
• Doctor honoris causa from the State University of Music, Bucharest (2003)
• Culture Prize of the City of Weilheim in Upper Bavaria (December 2014)

Works

Organ solo

• Michaelisms
• Prière pour la paix (all Leuckart, Munich)
• Reductio, homage to Albertus Magnus
• Recital
• Meditation on Psalm 138 "Confitebor tibi Domine"
• Three pieces: in memoriam IS (Igor Strawinsky) (all Kistner & Siegel, Cologne)
• Epitaph, funeral music for FB (Fritz Büchtger)
• Organ psalter
• Meditation I on Psalm 130 "De profundis" (pour Jean-Pierre Leguay)
• Mediation II on Ps. 121 "Ad te levavi"
• Meditation IV on Ps. 85 "Da pacem"
• Meditation V on Ps. 150 "Laudate Dominum" (all Möseler, Wolfenbüttel)
• Dans la lumière (Edition Leduc, Paris)
• Furioso Infernal (for Harald Feller)
• Simbolo di Pace
• Litany "Benedicere" (all Edition Schott, Mainz)
• "Mariengruß", three chorale preludes
• Nomina, three pieces for organ
• nocturne
• Finis (all Böhm & Sohn, Augsburg)
• Tonadas y danzas del Campo Leonés (Edicion semana internacional de organo. Leon, Spain)
• Mozart in Ingolstadt (for Franz Hauk)
• Passage nel tempo (for Klemens Schnorr)
• Nachklang (for Ulrich Knörr)

Organ with instruments

• Gregorian hymns for brass quartet and organ
• Salut for trumpet and organ (Edition Schott, Mainz)
• Karthago for organ and 7 trumpets
• Omnia for organ, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, violin and voice
• Les quatre moments du jour pour 4 orgues positifs
• Bucolica for 10 bucolic instruments and organ
• Paraboles for saxophone quartet and organ
• Lamento, concert for organ, string orchestra and percussion

• Sonata da chiesa No. 1 for trombone and organ
• Sonata da chiesa No. 2 for oboe and organ
• Sonata da chiesa No. 3 for 2 trumpets and organ
• Sonata da chiesa No. 4 for trumpet and organ
• Sonata da chiesa No. 5 for flute and organ
• Sonata da chiesa No. 6 for trumpet, trombone and organ
• Sonata da chiesa No. 7 for violoncello and organ
• Sonata da chiesa No. 8 for violin and organ
• Sonata da chiesa No. 9 for violin, violoncello and organ
• Sonata da chiesa No. 10 for clarinet and organ
• Sonata da chiesa No. 11 for horn and organ
• Sonata da chiesa No. 12 for 3 trumpets, 3 trombones and organ (all Bote & Bock, Berlin / Boosey & Hawkes, London)

Piano music

• Heptagon, 7 pieces for piano
• Tanrilar, 4 sketches from a Greek province
• Les Dudies, trois pièces (for Dudana Mazmanishvili)
• Swan song for RG (Romano Guardini)
• Musica piccolina (Barock-Musikverlag, Fulda)
• Les petits chemins for 2 pianos (Böhm & Sohn, Augsburg)

Chamber music

• Piano quartet (Möseler, Wolfenbüttel)
• Atmosfera ovattata (based on a letter by Francesca Modica) for flute and soprano
• Atmosfera ovattata II for guitar and soprano
• Atmosfera ovattata III for soprano, flute, trumpet, vibraphone and double bass
• Movimenti for violoncello and piano
• Primum mobile for piano trio (all Orlando-Musikverlag, Munich)
• Invention for clarinet, trombone and bassoon (Bosse-Verlag, Regensburg)
• Ballata for xylophone and boobames (Bote & Bock, Berlin / Boosey & Hawkes, London)
• Tre pagine per flauto solo (per Severino Gazzelloni), (Bote & Bock, Berlin / Boosey & Hawkes, London)
• Al mattino per flauto solo
• Impresiones for trombone quartet

Songs

• “Amour couleur de Paris”, 5 songs based on texts by Jules Romain
• “Les trois hymnes primitifs”, 3 songs based on texts by Victor Segalen
• "Wolkenlieder", 3 songs based on texts by Karl-Alfred Wolken (all Orlando Musikverlag, Munich)
• “Perfection”, 3 songs based on texts by Richard Exner
• “Songs of a rag”, nine songs based on verses by Wilhelm Busch for baritone, clarinet, piano, double bass and percussion
• New chansons based on texts by Marcel Valmy

Secular choral music

• "Encounter", 7 choir songs for gem. Choir based on texts by Richard Exner
• "Human Time" 5 choir songs based on texts by Richard Exner
• "Hesse songs" for gem. Choir
• “Brother Night” for male choir
• "Life of a Man" for male choir (all Edition Schott, Mainz)
• "New Year's Eve"
• "Of grief and consolation" (Concertino-Musikverlag, Olfen)
• "The girl on the bench", Romantical
• "Ave Maria" (music publisher Hajo, Großrosseln)

Sacred solo and choral music

• “Cantica Eucaristica” for voice and organ
• "Psalmi" for voice and organ (commissioned by the German Evangelical Church Congress, Berlin 1977)
• "Heilig-Geist-Intentionen" for lead singers, 4stg. according to Choir and organ (all Möseler Verlag, Wolfenbüttel)
• “The short praise” for high soprano and organ
• "Christmas music" for lead singer, 4stg. according to Choir and organ (all published by Böhm & Sohn, Augsburg)
• “The prayer for peace” (text by Pope Paul VI.) For cantor, 4stg. according to Choir and organ
• “The 150th Psalm” (Hommage a Stravinsky) for 5stg. according to Choir and 10 instruments
• “Preghiera” (based on a text by Michel Quoist ) for 4-7stg. according to Choir and brass quartet

Cantatas / oratorio works

• "What transforms you" for voices and instruments
• “Time and Memory” (based on texts by Horst Bienek) for speakers and 4-8stg. Choir
• "Cupid mi spira. Cantata allegorica “based on texts by Dante Alighieri for speaker, soprano and tenor solo, 4-8stg. Choir and Bodun (commissioned by Bayer. Rundfunk, Studio Nürnberg)
• "Kyrie and Choral" for 4-8stg. Choir (commissioned by the Munich Bach Choir 2000)
• The 34th Psalm "In God's faithful hat" for choir, soprano saxophone and organ (commissioned by the European Church Music Weeks Schwäbisch Gmünd)
• "Pax" for trombone and 4-12 parts. Choir (Verlag Strube, Munich; commissioned by the German Evangelical Church Congress, Munich 1993)
• "Cross and Freedom" (Bonhoeffer cantata) for soprano, tenor, bass solo, 4-8 parts. Choir, violin, 4 trombones and organ (commissioned by Union Theological Seminary, New York)
• "Deutung des Daseins" (Guardini cantata) for speaker, solos, choir, 2 trumpets, string orchestra and organ (commissioned by the Catholic Academy in Bavaria, 1998)
• SPQR (Senatus populusque romanus), choir scene for speakers, 2 choirs, brass and percussion
• "Lumens. An interreligious dialogue "for solos, choir and orchestra (2017)

Orchestral works

• "Cherubim" for string orchestra (Verlag Böhm & Sohn, Augsburg)
• Sonata da camera for oboe and string orchestra
• “The end is the beginning” for string orchestra
• “Carrefour” for orchestra
• "Influentiae", Riflessioni su Dante per orchestra (Orlando-Musikverlag, Munich)
• "Entelechiae", Riflessioni su Dante per orchestra (Orlando-Musikverlag, Munich)
• “Empyreum”, Riflessioni su Dante per orchestra

Liturgical music

• Liturgical chants (proprien) and antiphons for 35 Sundays of the year
• 9 trade fairs, including the UNISONO trade fair in German (Böhm & Sohn, Augsburg), Dutch (Annie Bank, Amsterdam), Italian (LDC, Torino)
• 46 hymns for hymns
• "Pater noster" for lead singer, acc. Choir and brass sextet
• “Let us trust life”, opening music for the 88th German Catholic Day , 1984
• KV “Everything that breathes, praise the Lord”, printed in the “Gotteslob”, hymn book of the German Bishops' Conference, in the Swiss church hymn book, in the Austrian church hymn book, in the prayer and hymn book for the Lourdes pilgrims and others. a.

Others

• The book "Calls", 99 verses and ways of singing from unison to multiple polyphony for all 52 weeks of the year (Pfeifer-Verlag, Munich, out of print)

Discography

• The short worship / Cantica Eucaristica (Elfriede Demetz, Hans Mayrhofer, Robert Helmschrott), Teldec TST 76663, out of print
• Meditation III “Confitebor tibi Domine” for organ, Teldec TST 76664, out of print
• Meditation-Frieden - Orgelpsalter / Meditation IV da pacem / Heilig-Geist-Intentionen (Franz Lehrndorfer, organ, chamber choir of the University of Music Munich, conducted by Fritz Schieri), LP Christophorus SFG, out of print
• Sonata da chiesa No. 1 (Abbie Conant, Klemens Schnorr), CD Audite 368410
• Sonata da chiesa No. 4 (Gerd Zapf, Franz-Leo Mazerath), CD Ars FCD 368360
• Sonata da chiesa No. 5, arranged for saxophone and organ (M. Wordtmann, HM Limberg), CD Piper records 97796
• Pax for trombone and choir (Kammerchor St. Lorenz, Nuremberg), CD motet 50661
• Lamento, Concerto for Organ, String Orchestra and Percussion, CD GMCD 7240
• Interpretation of Dasein (Guardini cantata) - (ViaNova Choir, Munich, Georgian Chamber Orchestra Ingolstadt), CD GMCD 7319
• Cross and Freedom (Bonhoeffer Cantata) - (Dresdner Kammerchor), CD Vienna Modern Masters VMM 3027
• Metarmorphose - Symphonic dialogue, psalm meditations for organ and percussion (recorded in 1984 in Munich's Liebfrauendom) (Hermann Gschwendtner, Robert M. Helmschrott), CD col legno WWE 20012
• The 12 Church Sonatas, double CD col legno WWE 20013
• Pax tecum (Litanei Benedicere, Simbolo di pace), CD ORGANpromotion
• Symphonic organ music - Dans la lumière, Furioso Infernal, CD GMCD 7309
• “Nomina” (Nomina, three pieces in memoriam Igor Stravinsky, two chorale preludes, epitaph, small organ music “Battesimo”, Finis), Robert M. Helmschrott at the former Steinmeyer organ of the Munich University of Music and Theater, ArtVoice 04875
• "Nachklang", music for organ (Battesimo, Nomina, Finis, Nocturne, Epitaph, In memoriam IS, Michaelisms, Dans la lumière, Reductio, Recital, Organ Psalter, Tonadas y Danzas, Infernal, Mariengruß, Nachklang), double CD Art Voice No. 04929
• Entelechiae per orchestra (The Ruse Philharmonic orchestra), CD Vienna Modern Masters VMM 3035

Movies

• Bavarian television
• Art and belief
• Composer portrait Robert M. Helmschrott
• Two films by Michael Winter, 1987

Publications

• Robert M. Helmschrott: artist speech . In: The incredible brothers. Artist speeches and sermons for Ash Wednesday. Publishing house St. Michaelsbund 2005
• Robert M. Helmschrott: Remaining consistent. In: Herbert Paulmichl - church musician, composer. Folio-Verlag, Vienna / Bozen 2006, DNB 974898236
• Robert M. Helmschrott: Church music issues. Series for the Vatican Radio, 1968–1974
• Robert M. Helmschrott: Music and Transcendence. Lecture Catholic Academy 2008

literature

• Gertrud Hofer: Church music compositions by Robert M. Helmschrott. Master's thesis to obtain the academic degree Magister Artium at the University of Salzburg
• Michael Saum: On the work of Robert M. Helmschrott

Web links

• http://www.robert-helmschrott.de/

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ralf Weigand: Activities of the Bavarian Regional Association . In: German Composers Association - Information . Volume 45, No. 90 (2/2015) , 2015, p. 18–19 ( komponistenverband.de [PDF; 1.7 MB ; accessed on January 26, 2020]).
2. ↑ Office of the Federal President