Walter Steffens (composer)

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Walter Steffens (born October 31, 1934 in Aachen ) is a German composer . In addition to several operas, one focus of his compositional work is music based on images.

Walter Steffens 2005

Life

Growing up in Dortmund - Huckarde , the son of an engineer conquered the rocky road to music. For his father, who worked in bridge building, a “jobless” artistic career seemed anything but desirable. Consequence of the increasing bombing of the Ruhr area in the Second World War was for the eight-year-old Kinderlandverschickung into Baden Wollenberg and thus the separation from parents and sister. The ten-year-old experienced the end of the war with his grandparents in Bad Pyrmont . When the family was reunited and the piano, which was safely stored in the Sauerland during the war, was returned to the parents' house, the boy was allowed to accompany his father while he was singing. A neighbor gave him his first music lesson. Steffens received his basic training from music director Max Spindler in Dortmund; it was supplemented by conducting lessons at the Dortmund Conservatory with Rolf Agop .

“However, I only convinced my father when I graduated from high school as an external student in Münster and passed the entrance examination at the Hamburg University of Music in 1959 ,” recalls Steffens. In Hamburg, Steffens studied composition with Ernst Gernot Klussmann and the Busoni student Philipp Jarnach , and music theory with Wilhelm Maler . Milestones in the composer's career were the performances of his first two operas. Eli, based on the mystery play by Nelly Sachs , premiered by Wilhelm Schüchter in 1967 , was commissioned by the city of Dortmund for the opening of the new opera house . This was followed by Unter dem Milchwald, based on Dylan Thomas , the last commissioned work under the direction of Rolf Liebermann, premiered in 1973 at the Hamburg State Opera. In the composition Guernica , Elegy for viola and orchestra based on the painting by Pablo Picasso , Steffens processed impressions of childhood in the war years and the mourning over death and destruction .

In addition to his compositional work, Walter Steffens taught for many years, from 1962 at the Hamburg Conservatory , then from 1969 initially as a lecturer for composition and composition at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold , where he held a professorship for composition and music theory from 1971 to 2000. He lives in Marienmünster , Höxter district .

Musical creation

"It is always an extra-musical stimulus that has a very strong effect on me, stronger than the music-related type of feeling," says Steffens, describing an essential impulse in his work. Time and again, Steffens finds inspiration for his compositional work in poetry, for example with Ingeborg Bachmann , Clemens Brentano , Federico García Lorca , Friedrich Hölderlin , Juan Ramón Jiménez , Ezra Pound or Arthur Rimbaud . “Serving the text and interpreting it musically, I set it in tones,” Steffens describes his way of dealing with the poetic word. As an opera composer he feels pictorially and scenically, he tells stories. With Nelly Sachs it was initially the high level of language that fascinated him. When he then heard Eli as a radio play, the message of this mystery play about the suffering of the Jews caused him a deep shock. In contact with the poet, whom he visited in Stockholm, Steffens arranged the libretto himself. The austere musical language of this scenic oratorio, which denies itself anything culinary, is appropriate to the seriousness of the subject and gives the text its due status. In the book in honor of Nelly Sachs , Steffens reports on the work on the opera.

One of the concerns of the composer Walter Steffens is to write instruments and parts that are appropriate to the instrument. He is looking, he says, "the unaligned sounds of instruments and the human voice in their long-term cultivated top form". With his own notation system, which mediates between tonality and atonality, he has opened up a design center for himself, “which enables sounds, lines, colors and shapes that serve to enhance the sensual expression”. His style has developed from the atonal phase, when he wrote the opera Eli and “couldn't stand a smile”, to a tonal language that made it possible to convey feelings, to “make them singable”. While dealing with the work of Nelly Sachs expanded the possibilities of compositional expression mainly to include the dramatic component, Steffens saw the second opera Unter dem Milchwald as an “opportunity to concentrate on creating comic parts within a lyrical basic style”.

In addition to poetry, the visual arts are an important source of inspiration for Walter Steffens. The volume Vom Klang der Bilder , published for the exhibition of the same title at the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart from July 6th to September 22nd 1985, contains an appendix of a list of the paintings set to music. Among the works of art mentioned here that Steffens set to music are pictures by Hieronymus Bosch , Paul Klee , Franz Marc , Pablo Picasso , and Jesús Rafael Soto .

The orchestral work Guernica based on the painting by Picasso is an example of the implementation of the timelessly valid accusation against the horrors of war and violence in music. At the beginning of the piece, a crescendo billowing out of the silence makes the threatening approach of the fighter-bomber unit, pictorially incorporated into the score, audible before the viola intones an elegiac theme. Because of their graphic qualities, pages from the Guernica score were included in the exhibition Lines, Letters, Notations at the Städtische Galerie Lüdenscheid in 1986 . The images of JU 52 bombers incorporated into the score, combined with the demand for a sound of “extreme brutality”, translate traumatic experiences into the visual. “As a child I experienced bombing raids on Dortmund, I know the buzz of heavy bomber formations and the sudden horror of a low-flying attack. I know the horror symbol La muerte de Guernica by Pablo Picasso and the poem La Victoire de Guernica by Paul Éluard . I try to recreate the moving events in the elegy for viola and orchestra, to trigger fear, horror and sadness and to shape them musically. Suffering is universal and spans the ages, and so I behave pluralistically: I use everything that is available to me in terms of style and history with the one goal of telling the drama of horror, fear, chaos, hopelessness, grief and hope “, Writes Steffens in the afterword to the score.

She doesn't know any other composer who has dealt with the field of image scoring as intensively as Walter Steffens, says the musicologist Monika Fink, who has been dealing with music based on images , the subject of her dissertation, for more than two decades . Under the direction of Monika Fink, a project by the Institute for Musicology at the University of Innsbruck is dedicated to capturing music from images. Numerous works by Steffens from more recent times are listed in this database, including a. to pictures by Peter Paul Rubens , Rembrandt van Rijn , Emil Schumacher (see web links).

Prices

Works

Stage works

  • Eli , opera in three acts (12 images) based on the poem by Nelly Sachs, commissioned by the city of Dortmund, origin (E) 1964/66, world premiere (premiere) 1967 (Dortmund).
  • Under Milk Wood / Unter dem Milchwald (English and German version), opera in three acts based on the game of the same name for voices by Dylan Thomas in the German translation by Erich Fried , commissioned by the Hamburg State Opera ( Rolf Liebermann ), E 1968/72, premiere 1973, Hamburg State Opera , second performance for the opening of the documenta , Kassel 1977.
  • Grabbe's life , chamber opera in three acts, libretto by Peter Schütze , commissioned by the Detmold Landestheater on the 150th anniversary of Christian Dietrich Grabbe's death , E 1983/85, partial concert performance at the Hamburg State Opera May 15, 1986, premiered September 12, 1986, Detmold Landestheater .
  • The philosopher , comic opera in one act, libretto by Peter Schütze, commissioned by the Landestheater Detmold, E 1987/88, premiere 1990, Landestheater Detmold.
  • Die Judenbuche , a musical folk drama in four acts (10 images) based on the novel of the same name by Annette von Droste-Hülshoff , libretto by Peter Schütze, commissioned composition, premiered in 1993, Dortmund Opera House , further performance as part of the Days of the New Music Theater in Gelsenkirchen 1993.
  • Der Winkelhannes , crime opera for mobile music theater, libretto Peter Schütze with the collaboration of Volker Schrewe and Walter Steffens, E 2007/08.
  • Two Cells in Sevilla, or: Don Quixote is hungry , libretto Marec Béla Steffens (son of the composer), premier November 2016 in Houston and Round Top / Texas, 2018 on CD (Navona Records).

Orchestral music

  • Messages to Prince Jussuf for orchestra (also ballet), variations on a theme by Franz Marc to Else Lasker-Schüler , premiered 1970, Radio Suisse Romande .
  • Pintura del Mundo / Garden of Earthly Delights , orchestral concert (also ballet) based on a painting by Hieronymus Bosch , commissioned on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the University of Hamburg , E 1968, premiered 1969 (NDR Hamburg).
  • Triad , Concerto for Flute and Chamber Orchestra, E 1970, UA 1971 Aachen.
  • Tarec - An attempt to say goodbye for a large orchestra, commissioned by Südwestfunk Baden-Baden, E 1972, premiered 1973 (Südwestfunkorchester).
  • Guernica , elegy for viola and orchestra in a reflective approach to the picture by Pablo Picasso, E 1974/78, UA 1979 Herford (NWD Philharmonie).
  • Semiramis , concert for sopranino recorder and orchestra (also ballet).
  • Spotlights , commissioned work on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the Engelbert-Kaempfer-Gymnasium Lemgo , E 1983, UA 1983 Lemgo (school orchestra).
  • Moses for large orchestra after Marc Chagall's Moise devant le Buisson Ardent , commissioned by the city of Lüdenscheid, E 1988, premiered December 2nd, 1988 Lüdenscheid (Westphalian Symphony Orchestra Recklinghausen).
  • To Orpheus (Work in progress), twelve Concertini for solos and orchestra in different scoring:
1. Kalliope and Oiagros for double bass and string orchestra, E 1990, WP Burgsteinfurt ( Detmold Chamber Orchestra ) 2. The Birth of Orpheus , E 1995, WP 1995 Stralsund (Philharmonic Orchestra Vorpommern) 3. The Death of the Actäon after Peter Paul Rubens , commissioned by South Westphalian Philharmonic on the occasion of the Rubens Prize awarded by the city of Siegen to Rupprecht Geiger , E 1992, premier 1992 Siegen 4th bacchanal based on motifs by PP Rubens (Gran Partita cast), commissioned on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Detmold University of Music, E 1996 , UA Detmold.
  • Hiroshima , two meditations for piano and orchestra based on the extended concept of playing strategies (see chamber music), commissioned for the 40th anniversary of the Detmold Youth Orchestra, E 1993, premiered 1994 Detmold.
  • Exi for large orchestra, soundtrack based on PP Rubens Wunder des Ignatius von Loyola , commissioned by the Südwestfälische Philharmonie, E 1994, premiere 1994 Siegen.
  • Kerori , soundtrack to the Kerori kite Between Heaven and Earth by Emil Schumacher on the occasion of his 85th birthday, commissioned by the Philharmonic Orchestra Hagen , E 1996, premier 1997.

Chamber music

  • String Quartet I (Ecstasy) , E 1961/69, UA 1969 (Hamburger Streichquartett 66).
  • Hommage à Béla Bartók for clarinet and piano, E 1964, premiered 1964 Hamburg (Hans Deinzer, Peter Roggenkamp).
  • String Quartet II (Quartetto lirico) , E 1962, UA 1963 ( Hamann Quartet ).
  • La femme-fleur for flute and piano after a picture by Pablo Picasso, E 1966, premiered 1966 Hamburg (Klaus Holle, Peter Roggenkamp).
  • Hommage II , three cheerful movements for clarinet and piano, E 1968, premiered 1969 Hamburg (Hans Deinzer, Peter Roggenkamp).
  • Controversial , multimedia simultaneous composition:
For Soto for guitar, E 1970, WP 1972 Detmold (Bernard Hebb). Rose Ouest for clarinet, E 1970, premiered 1973 Cologne (Hans-Dietrich Klaus). Structure de la Rose for flute, E 1970, WP 1976 Detmold (Benedikta Bonitz). Grande Rose for oboe, E 1970, WP 1972 Detmold (Fumiaki Miyamoto). Plui de Feu / Feuerregen for piano solo after a fire graphic by Bernard Aubertin , E 1970, premier 1970 Hamburg (Peter Roggenkamp). Ritual Actions I for percussion, E 1971, WP 1984 Dortmund (Alfrid-Maria Sicking). Ritual Actions II for tape with structured construction site noises based on a picture idea by Hartmut Böhm, realized in the Tonmeisterinstitut of the NWD Music Academy Detmold (Friedhelm Schulz and Steffen Seithel), can only be performed as a simultaneous composition, E 1072, UA 1972 Detmold. Magic square (structured light), can only be performed simultaneously, E 1973.
  • Qua-cumque , violin solo based on the magic square.
  • Lumière rouge en cage / Rotes Licht gefangen , Trio for flute, bassoon and harpsichord based on pictures by Bernard Aubertin and Hartmut Böhm , commissioned by the Trio concertare (Paul Meisen, Klaus Thunemann, Hedwig Bilgram), E 1973, premiered 1973 Detmold.
Lumière for flute solo, WP 1974 Detmold (Paul Meisen). Lumière for bassoon solo, UA 1974 Detmold (Klaus Thunemann). Lumière for harpsichord solo.
  • Lignes constructives for harpsichord solo based on the Chinese I Ching, E 1974, premier Bremen (Franzpeter Goebels).
  • Sfumato , construction for two ensembles based on an artistic suggestion by Harosch (Hans Robert Schmidt, Detmold) and Leonardo da Vinci , E 1973/74.
  • Luna for a variable ensemble, vocal or instrumental (also as a soloist), according to the Mondgezeiten, E 1973, premier 1982 Bremen (M. and U. Wessel-Therhorn).
  • Ming I / Wounding of the Light , piano quartet based on poems by Elfriede Szpetecki and Nelly Sachs, E 1975, premiered 1975 Herford (Gabriel Rosenberg, Peter Rosenberg, Reiner Schmidt, Marian Wasiolka).
  • Psalm , meditation for four (up to 16) double basses, E 1976/78, UA 1980 Münster (M. Bonitz, H. Iwaki, E. Hemkemeyer, F. Krisse).
  • Semiramis for sopranino recorder and piano based on the reports by Ktesiasis and Herodotus , E 1976/77, premier 1977 (Benedikta Bonitz, Gabriel Rosenberg).
  • Playing strategies for piano solo (possibly organ, harpsichord), two meditations based on photographs by Karl Martin Holzhäuser and Gottfried Jäger, E 1977, premier 1979 Detmold (Michael Wessel-Therhorn).
  • Genesis I , Duo for violin and piano based on the concept of playing strategies , E 1979/80, UA 1980 Baden-Baden (Peter Rosenberg, Gabriel Rosenberg).
  • Karamasow for violoncello solo, E 1977/81, UA 1982 Detmold ( Irene Güdel ).
  • Ad Fugam , a conclusion to Bach's Art of Fugue for strings and solo clarinet, E 1980, premier 1980 Braunschweig (Festive days for new chamber music).
  • Genesis II for piano, violin, clarinet, violoncello and percussion, on motifs of the Bernward door , Mariendom Hildesheim (Old Testament: Creation of Adam to Fratricide), based on the concept of playing strategies, E 1982, WP 1982 Detmold (Ensemble Kontraste).
  • String quartet III based on motifs from the Bernward door, Mariendom Hildesheim (New Testament: Noli me tangere to Annunciation), based on the concept of game strategies, E 1983.
  • Peace fanfare , prayer for peace, justice and freedom at the suggestion of the Association Internationale de Defense des Artistes (AIDA), theme quotation from the opera Die Judenbuche (see stage works).
  • Pater noster for guitar, E 1984.
  • Ave Maria tender for soprano recorder solo on the image of the Annunciation and the image of the visitation of the Liesborn master in the parish church of Beckum Vellern, E 1984, WP 1984 Vellern (Benedikta Bonitz).
  • Sonata - Hommage à Scarlatti , E 1984, WP 1985 (Franzpeter Goebels, harpsichord).
  • Sarahs Traumstündchen , six pieces for Irish harp, E 1988/89:
Sarahs Traumstündchen , WP 1989 Coesfeld . Just don't fall asleep . Colorful Sounds , WP 1989 Hanover. Die kleine Ballerina , UA 2006 Detmold. Homage . Ballade , UA 2006 Detmold.
  • Kalliope and Oiagros for clarinet and harp, E 1990, UA 1990 Detmold (M. Grimminger, L. Weyer).
  • The new wild ones :
1. Negro banana strawberry based on the picture of the same name by Dieter Truttenbach for horn and percussion, E 1990, WP 1991 Nuremberg ( Wilfried Krüger , Günter Brodmann). 2. Revue der Neuen Wilden for Hr., Schl, Piano, VA., Vc., Kb., E 1991, UA 1991 Berlin ( Pegnitzschäfer-Klangkonzepte ).
  • Four watercolors after Paul Klee for recorder soli, E 1991, premier 1991 Detmold (Benedikta Bonitz) on the occasion of the exhibition " Paul Klee and Music":
1. Musician , for tenor recorder. 2nd ballet scene , for treble recorder. 3. Small landscape in a rainy mood , for tenor recorder. 4. A musician preludes for sopranino recorder.
  • Watercolors after Paul Klee for treble recorder and bassoon, E 1991:
1. Arabic melody , UA youth makes music. 2nd moon song .
  • The Song of Songs based on pictures by Marc Chagall for violin and double bass, commissioned, E 1993, premier 1993 Archbishop's Diocesan Museum Paderborn (Wanda Wilkormiska, Christoph Schmidt).
1. Put me like a seal on your heart 2. I slept, but my heart was awake 3. On his wedding day 4. Pull me over to you, let's hurry 5. How beautiful you are and how lovely, you are full of love Delights .
  • De bello paceque for guitar solo, soundtrack based on the painting War and Peace by Peter Paul Rubens, commissioned work to commemorate 350 years of the Peace of Westphalia , E 1998, WP Westfälisches Musikfest, Westfälisches Landesmuseum Münster (Richard Pilkington).
  • Narrative silence for flute solo, on the tomb of the Theban Night and his wife Taui, E 2001, WP 2001 Lübeck (Ele Grau):
1. Water offering 2. Musicians 3. Taui 4. Grape harvest , wine press, hunt 5. Night and his wife Taui at the offering table .
  • Ikonen for clarinet solo, E 2004, WP 2004 Schloss Corvey (Michel Lethiec):
1. The worshipers 2. John (The angel in the flesh, Palestine 18th century) 3. Mary 4. Christ / Adoration
  • Flowers for clarinet solo:
1. On the Ligurian field flower Campanella 2. On the roses in front of my window , WP 2004 (Michel Lethiec) 3. Sunflower 4. Hibiscus 5. The rose "Queen of Denmark" 6. Hypericum (St. John's wort) .
  • Le rêve de la paix / The dream of peace for clarinet solo after the lithographs by Pablo Picasso, commissioned by the Kulturkreis Höxter-Corvey and the graphic museum Pablo Picasso Münster , E 2005, premier 2005 Höxter, Münster (Michel Lethiec):
1. La Colombe en vol (The pigeon in flight) 2. Les Mains liées (Clasped hands) 3. Les Colombes au Miroir (The pigeons in the mirror) .

Vocal works

  • Songs of the Tang period for voice, flute, clarinet, piano, E 1959/60, premiered 1961 Hamburg (Meyer, Holle, Körner, Roggenkamp).
  • An Indian fairy tale for orchestra (also ballet) and song based on Somaveda's fairy tale of Kathsaritsagar and the picture The Gate to the Abandoned Garden by Paul Klee with two songs based on a poem by Manfred Peter Hein .
  • Symphonic fragment for large orchestra, male choir and alto solo based on the poetry of the Nelly Sachs ( look, see - sleep weaves the breathing network - that's how it is said ), E 1962.
  • Epitaph auf Rimbaud for chamber orchestra and alto based on poetry by Arthur Rimbaud and Gerhard Alt , commissioned by the city of Dortmund, E 1962, premiered 1963 Dortmund (Magda Bien, alto).
  • Three Songs from Ezra Pound for Fl., Klar., Vl., Va., Vc. and Sopran, E 1960/61, UA 1961 Hamburg (H. Krützfeld, Soprano).
  • New similes for soprano, fl., Clar., Va. Based on poems by Tadeuz Rózewicz, Manfred Peter Hein and Nelly Sachs, E 1967, UA 1967 Zamburg (H. Krützfeldt).
  • Songs for the night for strings and soprano.
  • Oboe songs for oboe and alto (bass-baritone) based on poems by Clemens Brentano and Juan Ramón Jiménez , E 1966, premiered 1967 Hamburg (E. Gutsch, D. Reinhard).
  • Magog - Psam - Threnos , three chants based on poems by Manfred Peter Hein, Ingeborg Bachmann and Ezra Pound for voice and piano, E 1967, premiered 1968 Hamburg (GE Meyer, P. Roggenkamp).
  • Siguiriya for gem. Choir based on the poem by F. Garcia Lorca in the German translation by Enrique Beck , based on the picture Der Schrei by Edvard Munch , E 1968, UA 1969 (NDR Hamburg).
  • Three scenes for alto (bass-baritone) and piano on texts by Johannes Bobrowski, E 1969, UA 1969 Hamburg (D. Reinhard, P. Roggenkamp).
  • Johannes prologue for acc. Choir, speaking groups, high and low solo voices, fl., Ob. (also EH), Sure. (also B-clar.) and double bass, commissioned work for the North Elbian Days of New Church Music, E 1970/71, premiered 1971 St. Nikolai Hamburg.
  • Fenêtre de Rêves , song based on a poem by Paul Éluard , E 1972.
  • Johannes Passion for solos, choir and orchestra, E 1970/71, premiered in Hamburg (Kantorei Poppenbüttel).
  • Motets (on behalf of ZDF):
Ave Maria for acc. Choir and organ based on a selection of pictures by Meinolf Fritzen, E 1981, premier 1982 (Mainz vocal ensemble). God lives in a light for acc. Choir and guitar, plus children's choir, E 1981, premier 1982 (Mainz vocal ensemble). Praise be to you, Jesus Christ for a cappella choirs. In peace yours, my Lord , premiere 1982 (ZDF). Now we ask the Holy Spirit , UA 1993 for the opening of the Archbishop. Diözesanmuseums (Ensemble Canta filia Rheda, Vocalensemble Detmold). Sing to the Lord a new song , E 1984. Thank you, Father , E 1984. You are the Holy Lord (Prayer of St. Francis), E 1984.
  • Veni, Creator Spiritus for piano and mixed Chorus, E 1981.
  • Pater Noster for acc. Choir, soprano solo, sopranino recorder and orchestra (chamber line-up), E 1984, WP 1984 (ZDF, partial broadcast).
  • Peoples of the earth for dram. Mezzo-soprano (alto) and piano, five songs for peace, E 1959/60/69/85.
Bertolt Brecht: Mornings and Evenings, Premiere 1997 Brakel (Silvia Hablowetz, Dirk Kaftan ). Johannes Bobrowski: Bird's Nest . Liun Dsung-Yüan: Homesickness . Nelly Sachs: Völker der Erde , UA 1997 Brakel (Silvia Hablowetz, Dirk Kaftan). The 120th Psalm , premiered in 1985 at the Dortmund Opera House on the occasion of the Nelly Sachs award ceremony for Nadine Gordimer (Ingeborg Ruß, Gabriel Rosenberg).
  • The song of songs based on the pictures by Marc Chagall and their biblical text templates for 9-part. according to Choir, choir prologue Listen, Israel on behalf of the Archbishop. Diözesanmuseums Paderborn on the occasion of the Monteverdi -Festival in Detmold, E 1993, WP 1993 Paderborn.
  • Klagegestein after poems by Else Lasker-Schüler for harp and 9-part. Women's choir, E 1993, premiere 1997 Brakel (Canta filia, Tabita Nicolas / harp):
My song . An old Tibetan carpet . My people . Zebaoth .
  • Stabat mater for 9-part. Women's choir, commissioned by the ensemble Canta filia Rheda on the occasion of the international choir competition in Riva del Garda , E 1993, WP 1994 Paderborn (partial preview in Rheda and Riva del Garda):
Graduals and tracts on a Westphalian crucifixion group in the cemetery of St. Vit, Rheda-Wiedenbrück . Sequentia to a Ligurian Madonna.
  • Orpheus, Eurydike, Hermes for mezzo-soprano and piano on poetry by Rainer Maria Rilke from Neue Gedichte , commissioned by WDR, E 1996, premier 1997 Siegen (Katharina Kammerloher / mezzo-soprano, Cecilia Nagy / piano).
  • Moon rise for piano and voice (also for violoncello and guitar) based on the poem of the same name by Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, E 2004, premier 2004 Corvey (Volker Schrewe / bass baritone, Michael Seewann, piano).
  • Three Droste songs for voice and piano as a gift to the poet to commemorate her 200th birthday, E 1997, premiere 1997 Brakel in honor of Annette von Droste-Hülshoff as part of the festival concert (Silvia Hablowetz, Dirk Kaftan):
The pond . Flower death (how are my fingers so green) . The reeds .
  • The sun is shining for gem. Choir and children's choir based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Prologue in Heaven / Faust I, commissioned by the Lippe Philharmonic Choir, E 1997, premiere 1997 on the occasion of the Lippe International Choir Festival.
  • Te Deum for Soprano, Alto, Tenore I, Tenore II, Basso. Commissioned composition for the 350th anniversary of the Peace of Westphalia, E 1997, premier 1998 (ColVoc Detmold / Leipzig).
  • Asperges me (sprinkle me) for 9-part. Women's choir a cappella, E 1998, WP 1999 Abtei Marienmünster (Canta filia).
  • Rose cycle for soprano and flute.
  • Cantico della Creatura - Sun song by Francesco d'Assisi for singing and glockenspiel (also for soprano and alto flute), commissioned by the Society of Friends of Music of the Marienmünster Abbey, E 2002, WP 2002 Paderborn Museum Night (Hans Hermann Jansen).
  • Iustus ut palma florebit , commissioned by the Society of Friends of Music of the Marienmünster Abbey for the ensemble Col / Voc, E 2003.
  • From the songs of drunken Schuhus based on a poem by Peter Hille for deep voice and piano, E 2004, premier 2004 Frankfurt Book Fair (Volker Schrewe, Michael Seewann).
1. What the scholars talk about is only cabbage 2. The giants of the jungle splinter .
  • And yet this heart glowed , two chants based on poetry by Annette von Droste-Hülshoff on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Droste Society , premiere 2004 Bökerhof (Katharina Michaelli / soprano, Ulrich Zippelius / piano).
1. The Taxus Wall 2. On the last day of the year .
  • Waldstimme based on the poem of the same name by Peter Hille for low voice and piano, E 2004, premier 2004 Frankfurt Book Fair (Volker Schrewe, Michael Seewann).
  • The poor tailor based on a poem by Georg Weerth, E. 2005, premier 2005 Potsdam (Volker Schrewe, Michael Seewann).
  • Hungerlied based on a poem by Georg Weerth , E 2005, premier 2005 Potsdam (Volker Schrewe, Michael Seewann).
  • Invocation - Civitatem istam (Protect this city) according to the inscription on the Carolingian westwork of the Corvey Abbey Church for choir, orchestra and baritone solo, commissioned by the Höxter-Corvey culture group, E 2005, World premiere 2005 Corvey Castle (soloist Volker Schrewe).
  • Gesänge auf Hölderlin for voice and piano, E 2008, 2018 on CD (Navona Records; with his chamber opera "Two Cells in Sevilla"; Sonja Bruzauskas, Tali Morgulis).

Works for organ

  • It is done , Passacaglia from the St. John Passion (see Vocal Works), UA Zsigmont Szathmáry.
  • Organ symphony Le Cantique des Cantiques , musical reflections on the Song of Songs based on the picture cycle by Marc Chagall , complete premiere 2004 Mariendom Hamburg (Friedhelm Flamme).
Prologue: Hear, Israel (Moses 5.6, 4-9) 1. North wind awake! South wind approaching! (Hoheslied 4.16) 2. I sleep, but my heart is awake (HL 5.2) 3. On the day of his wedding (HL 3.11) 4. Pull me with you, we shout and cheer (HL 1.4) 5. As strong as death is she Love (HL 8.6).

Recordings

  • Guernica and Other Paintings ( Siguiriya , Pintura del Mundo and the organ symphony Le Cantique des Cantiques , http://www.laborrecords.com/lab7084.html ).
  • Structure de la Rose on CD (Benedikta Bonitz: Il flauto dolce , Arcadia).
  • Rose cycle on CD (Trio Cantraiano: Like the smoke of Fujiyama ... , http://www.traurigetropen.de )
  • Hommage à Scarlatti in the Music of Tribute series (Viktoria Lakissowa: Scarlatti , http://www.laborrecords.com )
  • Sonnengesang on CD (Trio Cantraiano: Sonnengesänge , audiomax).
  • For Soto on CD (Bernard Hebb: dedications , vision4media).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Westfalenspiegel , Münster, edition 5/2008, p. 46.
  2. ↑ Color sounds and timbres in: Neue Westfälische , Bielefeld, edition October 5, 2007.
  3. ^ Poetry translated into sounds in: Neue Westfälische , Bielefeld, October 25, 2004 edition.
  4. ^ Walter Steffens: Eli - The mystery play of the suffering of Israel as an opera , in: Nelly Sachs to honor. On his 75th birthday on December 10, 1966 , Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 1966.
  5. ↑ Yearbook 2006 of the Höxter district , Bonifatius Verlag Paderborn, p. 78.
  6. ↑ On the art of setting images in: Neue Westfälische , Bielefeld, edition 23 May 2006.
  7. ^ Program booklet of the Hamburg State Opera for the world premiere of Unter dem Milchwald , Hamburg 1972.
  8. ↑ On the Sound of Images - Music in 20th Century Art , edited by Karin von Maur , Prestel-Verlag, Munich 1985.
  9. ^ Lines, letters, notations , catalog of the Städtische Galerie Lüdenscheid, 1986.
  10. ↑ Quoted from War and Peace in Music , edited by Susanne Rode-Breymann, Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim 2007, p. 44.
  11. ^ Monika Fink: Music based on images , Edition Helbling, Innsbruck 1988.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Steffens, Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German composer
DATE OF BIRTH October 31, 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH Aachen