Siegfried Matthus

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Siegfried Matthus, 1990

Siegfried Matthus (born April 13, 1934 in Mallenuppen , East Prussia ; † August 27, 2021 in Stolzenhagen ) was a German composer and dramaturge .

Live and act

origin

Siegfried Matthus's parents were farmers with a homestead. The mother earned a little extra with tailors, the father played in the tavern for dancing, on weekends also across the country. At the age of nine, Siegfried Matthus was sent to take piano lessons . On October 22, 1944, he and his family fled to the west from the advancing Red Army troops . After a difficult transition, the parents became Neubauer in Läsikow in the Ruppin district . His father taught him to play the violin and trumpet to such an extent that he could make music for one night with the usual repertoire and improvise at the same time.

Study and job

After primary school, he attended high school in Rheinsberg up to the Abitur , where he took over the direction of the school choir in the twelfth grade, for which he also composed. From 1952 to 1958, Matthus studied choir and ensemble conducting at the German University of Music in East Berlin, and since 1956 composition with Rudolf Wagner-Régeny . From 1958 to 1960 he was a master student of Hanns Eisler and then until 1964 a freelance composer.

Matthus made propaganda contributions for radio broadcasts on the construction of the Berlin Wall .

Walter Felsenstein brought him to the Berlin Komische Oper in 1964 , where Matthus worked for a long time as a consultant (dramaturge) for contemporary music and composer in collaboration with Götz Friedrich and Harry Kupfer . In 1972 he took over a master class at the Academy of Arts in the GDR . With the Chamber Music in Conversation series , he became a pioneer of modern classical music in the GDR from 1966 to 1988. In 1985 he was appointed professor . His students include Bernd Franke , Thomas Hertel , Walter Thomas Heyn and Reinhard Pfundt .

In 1969 he became a member of the German Academy of the Arts in Berlin (East) , where he led a master class at this academy from 1972 and was secretary of the music section. In 1976 he also became a member of the Academy of the Arts Berlin (West) and in 1978 a member of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts in Munich.

In 1990 he initiated the founding of the Rheinsberg Castle Chamber Opera with an opera workshop and performances, of which he was artistic director from the time it was founded until 2014. On September 1, 2014, his son Frank Matthus took over the management. In 2007 the new event hall in the port village of Rheinsberg was named Siegfried-Matthus-Arena .

family

From 1957 he was married to the singer Helga Matthus and lived in Stolzenhagen and Berlin . His son Frank Matthus (* 1964) is an actor and theater director. Siegfried Matthus died after a long and serious illness in August 2021 at the age of 87.

Awards

Works (selection)

Matthus composed around 600 musical works that made him one of the most famous composers in the GDR. He dealt with dodecaphony , serial music and historical composition processes from Bach to Strauss , but later felt obliged to a free atonality and worked with seven- to eleven-tone series. It enjoyed high performance numbers and was also accepted by the audience.

Operas

  • 1960–1963: Lazarillo von Tormes
  • 1966/1967: The last shot , world premiere: Komische Oper Berlin, director: Götz Friedrich
  • 1971: Another spoonful of poison, darling? (Comic crime opera by Peter Hacks based on the comedy Risky Marriage by Saul O'Hara ), world premiere: Komische Oper Berlin, director: Götz Friedrich
  • 1972–1974: Omphale (by Peter Hacks)
  • 1983/1984: The way of love and death of the cornet Christoph Rilke (based on Rainer Maria Rilke's story The way of love and death of the cornet Christoph Rilke ), world premiere: Semperoper, director: Ruth Berghaus
  • 1982–84: Judith (based on Friedrich Hebbel ), world premiere: Komische Oper Berlin, director: Harry Kupfer
  • 1987/1988: Graf Mirabeau , world premiere: Staatsoper Berlin, director: Erhard Fischer
  • 1990/1991: Desdemona and her sisters (based on Christine Brückner ), world premiere: Komische Oper Berlin, director: Götz Friedrich
  • 1998: Farinelli or the power of song
  • 1998/1999: Crown Prince Friedrich (libretto by Thomas Höft), Rheinsberg Castle Chamber Opera, director: Götz Friedrich
  • 2004: The Neverending Story (based on Michael Ende's novel The Neverending Story on behalf of the Ministry of Culture of Rhineland-Palatinate, libretto by Anton Perrey )
  • 2007: Cosima (reconstruction of an opera fragment by Friedrich Nietzsche )
  • 2016: Luther's dreams. A musical vision
  • 2019: Effi Briest (based on the novel of the same name by Theodor Fontane , commissioned by the Cottbus State Theater , libretto by Frank Matthus)

Other compositions

  • numerous songs, overtures, radio plays and television music
  • 1963: Small orchestra concert
  • 1968: Violin Concerto
  • 1969: Dresden Symphony (1970 new finale)
  • 1970: piano concerto
  • 1975: cello concerto
  • 1976: Second Symphony
  • 1977: Orchestra Concert Responso
  • 1982: Concert for trumpet, timpani and orchestra (for the 100th anniversary of the Berlin Philharmonic )
  • 1984: The forest , drum concert
  • 1985: Divertimento for orchestra (for the Salzburg Festival )
  • 1985: The Bride of the Wind (for the Munich Philharmonic )
  • 1989: The lake harp concert
  • 1993: Symphony Our mouth should speak of wisdom and our heart should be in love ( Gewandhaus Symphony )
  • 1994: Manhattan Concerto (for the Manhattan School in New York)
  • 1996: String Quartet The Girl and Death
  • 2002: Concerto for Two for trumpet and trombone
  • 2005: De vacuo spatio (musical metaphors based on texts by Otto von Guericke , for the 1200th anniversary of the city of Magdeburg )
  • 2005: Fantastic magic dreams - a saxophonic fairy tale (for Kiel Philharmonic)
  • 2005: Te Deum (for the consecration of the rebuilt Dresden Frauenkirche )
  • 2006: Song der Fußballjungen for three female voices and orchestra, premiered on February 8, 2006, Berlin
  • 2007: Lamento (commissioned by the Munich Philharmonic)
  • 2008: Fire music for string orchestra
  • 2009: Concerto for five for wind quintet and orchestra (commissioned by the Berliner Philharmoniker Foundation; premiered on May 28, 2009 in Berlin).
  • 2009: Nine symphonic interludes to Schiller's Ode to Joy (commissioned by the Leipzig Academic Orchestra, premiere on November 9, 2009, Gewandhaus Leipzig)
  • 2010: Grete Minde after Theodor Fontane for soloists, choir and orchestra (premiere on May 22, 2010, Neuruppin)
  • 2011: Concert for trombone quartet and orchestra "Four wild boars destroy paradise" (premier on March 9, 2012, Saalfeld)
  • 2012: Concert for violin and orchestra "Dream of a Summer Night" , dedicated to the violinist Viviane Hagner (commissioned by the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, premiered on August 26, 2012, Ulrichshusen)
  • 2013: Schwerin concert , commissioned by the Mecklenburg State Orchestra on the occasion of its 450th anniversary. World premiere on May 21, 2013, Schwerin
  • 2015: On the power of song for vocal soloists, choir and orchestra. On the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Singakademie Frankfurt (Oder) , premiere on March 1, 2015, Frankfurt (Oder)
  • 2015: Epimetheus or The Birth of Hope from Music , cantata for four vocal soloists, choir and orchestra (commissioned by the Ruhr-Universität Bochum on the occasion of its 50th anniversary, premiered on June 24, 2015, Bochum)

Theater music

Radio play music

Film music

literature

Web links

Commons : Siegfried Matthus  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Franziska Stürz: On the death of the composer Siegfried Matthus: Pedagogue and pioneer of new music. In: BR Klassik . August 30, 2021, accessed August 30, 2021 .
  2. ↑ Frank Schneider: Siegfried Matthus , in: Ders .: Snapshot, notes on musicians in the GDR . Art history series, Verlag Philipp Reclam jun., Leipzig 1969, p. 125.
  3. ↑ Thomas Klug: Building the Wall on GDR Radio - War rhetoric disguised as humor. (mp3 audio; 16.5 MB; 18:05 minutes) In: Deutschlandfunk-Kultur broadcast “Zeitfragen”. August 11, 2021, accessed August 26, 2021 ( html manuscript ).
  4. ↑ Change of leadership at the Rheinsberg Chamber Opera: Matthus succeeds Matthus. In: rbb-online.de . August 14, 2014, archived from the original on September 24, 2015 ; accessed on August 30, 2021 (with picture by Siegfried and Frank Matthus).
  5. ↑ The most famous living composer in Germany lives in Stolzenhagen: Visiting Siegfried Matthus. In: deutschland-im-internet.de. Archived from the original on July 7, 2012 ; accessed on August 30, 2021 .
  6. ^ Louis Spohr Music Prize: Previous winners. In: braunschweig.de. Retrieved August 30, 2021 .
  7. ↑ Great Cross of Merit Siegfried Matthus. In: Deutschlandfunk Kultur . February 13, 2015, accessed August 30, 2021 .
  8. ^ Effi Briest: Opera by Siegfried Matthus. In: Staatstheater-cottbus.de . Archived from the original on July 4, 2020 ; accessed on August 30, 2021 .
personal data
SURNAME Matthus, Siegfried
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German composer
BIRTH DATE April 13, 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH Mallenuppen , East Prussia
DATE OF DEATH August 27, 2021
PLACE OF DEATH Stolzenhagen