Association for contemporary music

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The Association for Contemporary Music (1927–1932) was an institution for the promotion of new music in Munich during the Weimar Republic.

history

The artistic and cultural life of Munich during the Weimar period was markedly conservative and largely ignored so-called new music. Performances by artists of new music in the period after the First World War usually degenerated into scandalous events and were treated with exaggerated reviews that let the musical aspect take a back seat.

Foundation and members

The young composer Fritz Büchtger (1903–1978) had already given private concerts with the pianist Udo Dammert (1904–2003) and the already renowned pianist and university professor Franz Dorfmüller (1887–1974) while he was still a student .

With the “Association for Contemporary Music” the Dreierbund founded a professional forum in March 1927 to loosen up the conservative mood. According to the association's statutes, it had the purpose “to perform the works of living composers without any party or national ties”. Other like-minded people joined them - including Werner Egk (1901–1983), Carl Orff (1895–1982), Karl Marx (1897–1985) and a little later as spiritual leader the conductor Hermann Scherchen (1891–1966). The growing circle of many other renowned interpreters and composers became known as the “Büchtgerbande” or “Münchner Unrestgeister”.

Events

For almost five years, the “Association for Contemporary Music” attracted national attention in the music world of that time with numerous large and small concerts, and especially with the four festival weeks for new music between October 1929 and May 1931. Of the 175 or so works listed (many of them for the first time), the main composers were Béla Bartók , Fritz Büchtger, Paul Hindemith , Igor Stravinsky, Ernst Toch and Alexander Tscherepnin. But pieces by Alban Berg , Bert Brecht / Kurt Weill , Werner Egk, Alois Hába , Arthur Honegger , Zoltán Kodály , Ernst Krenek , Francesco Malipiero , Carl Orff and Arnold Schönberg were also to be heard. However, Fritz Büchtger could not warm up to the music of the Second Viennese School ; therefore composers like Berg and Schönberg were only represented with a few examples. The comparison of medieval organ art with contemporary musical works such as B. Perotin's “Sederunt principes” from around 1200, edited by Rudolf von Ficker .

End and attempts to continue

Even when it was founded, the facility was dependent on subsidies from the city of Munich. General economic hardship and growing political radicalization forced Büchtger to dissolve the institution in 1932. The urgently needed financial contributions were repeatedly made dependent on the program content. Performing works by unpopular or banned composers was doomed to failure from the start. The approach to the only externally independent visitor organization Kampfbund für deutsche Kultur did not produce anything because shortly afterwards it was absorbed into the "NS Kulturgemeinde Ortsverband München". Büchtger even joined the SA in 1932 - but that didn't help either - and resigned his membership as an avowed anthroposophist in 1938. After 1933 an open continuation was no longer possible in view of the cultural-political attitude of the National Socialists.

Under the harmless name of "New Musical Working Group Munich" and supported by an annual grant of 500 marks from Munich's cultural advisor, Büchtger used one of the few opportunities for a reasonably satisfactory further work with regular concerts from the entire field of music literature (that is the fictitious name). They mostly took place in the basement of the Tonhalle, underground , and there were only 20 to 30 people there. But all of the musicians took part. (Fritz Büchtger).

Cooperations

During the almost five-year existence of the "Association for Contemporary Music", the active composer and organizer Büchtger succeeded in attracting the important Munich music institutions, the Bavarian State Theater , the Münchner Kammerspiele , the Konzertverein München ( Munich Philharmonic Orchestra ) and the Concert Society for Choral Singing, the Bürger-Sänger- Guild and the cathedral choir, the Kammertanzbühne of the Günther School and the Munich Bach Association as well as the new media radio ( German hour in Bavaria ) and film (e.g. sound films episode, music by Paul Dessau , or morning spook with the music of Paul Hindemith) should be included in the events.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f see web link Gabriele E. Meyer: New Music Weeks in Munich, 1929-1931 Foundation of the "Association for Contemporary Music" (BLO Historisches Lexikon Bayerns)
  2. ↑ a b c see web link Gabriele E. Meyer: Fritz Büchtger - Munich's most active music mover
  3. ↑ see web link Neue Musik Zeitung: Frugality was his strength