Wolfgang-Andreas Schultz

Wolfgang-Andreas Schultz (born September 7, 1948 in Hamburg ) is a German composer , university professor and writer .

biography

He received his first piano lessons at the age of eight from his father, the church musician Kurt-Otto Schultz. In 1960 he began to learn to play the cello with Alfred Günther at the Hamburg Conservatory . His first attempts at composition, made around the same time, were accompanied by sporadic instruction in music theory from the composer Felicitas Kukuck . From 1962 he took theory lessons with Peter Hartmann at the Hamburg Conservatory, which was later supplemented by composition lessons with Walter Steffens and Dieter Gostomsky at the same institute.

After graduating from high school in 1968, Schultz began to study musicology , philosophy and German at the University of Hamburg . In 1970 he received his first composition prize for his four songs based on poems by Georg Trakl, and the following year he received a teaching position in music theory at the Hamburg Conservatory. 1972–1975 he studied composition and music theory with Ernst Gernot Klussmann at the Hamburg University of Music . He completed his musicology studies in 1974 with a dissertation on Free Forms in the Music of Expressionism and Impressionism . In 1975 he passed the diploma examination in music theory and composition. He then continued his composition studies with György Ligeti . In 1977 he became a lecturer at the Hamburg Conservatory and Ligeti's assistant, teaching its students the traditional disciplines of harmony , counterpoint and instrumentation . In 1988 Schultz became professor for music theory and composition.

Schultz has published three books as well as numerous essays on questions of musical aesthetics and philosophy. He has received multiple awards for his compositional work; Among other things, he received the Bach Prize Scholarship from the City of Hamburg (1976), the Stuttgart Sponsorship Prize (1977), the Walter Scheel Prize Solingen (1984) and the Culture Prize of the Pinneberg District (1994). Guest lectures took him to Youngstown (Ohio / USA), Zurich, Vienna, Prague, Aarhus and numerous German cities.

Music and music philosophy

As a composer and theorist, Schultz is committed to an evolutionary aesthetic and a holistic view of mankind. He uses and transforms design elements of the occidental tradition in his music as well as those of the modern and non-European cultures. For the development of music in the 21st century, he still sees opportunities for real progress in striving for an integral musical language that synthesizes the musical styles of different times and cultures. For him, milestones in the realization of this ideal were, for example, the combination of atonality and tonality in his opera Sturmnacht (premiere 1987, Nuremberg), the processing of Persian art music in the chamber symphony Die Sonne von Tabriz (premiere 1998, Halle) or the intercultural stylistic pluralism of his 1997 The opera Achill among the girls, premiered in Kassel (each person is characterized by a different musical culture).

As a music philosopher, Schultz is in opposition to the abstract avant-garde that has elevated "material progress" (in the sense of Adorno ) to a dogma. He regards music as a language that should also be understandable for a wider audience and that is allowed to touch emotionally. A non-musical theme or image often serves as a bridge to the listener. At the same time, the music of the Ligeti student Schultz is quite complex and because of its own "spirituality" it is also mentally demanding (Schultz describes almost all of his compositions as "spiritual music"). His main works include his operas - in particular the two full-length stage works Sturmnacht and Achill among the girls - as well as the large orchestral symphonies and concerts. He published his music philosophy in 1997 under the title So that the music does not stop ... in book form; He gives information about his compositional technique in the book Das In eineretzt der Zeiten , published in 2001 . Composition-technical basics of an evolutionary musical thought .

Catalog raisonné

Compositions

Publishers: Boosey & Hawkes / Benjamin, Schott / Astoria

Stage works

• Das Federgewand (1978), Chamber Opera
• Talpa (1979), chamber opera
• Sturmnacht (1980–1982), opera in 2 acts
• Achilles among the girls (1993–1995), opera in one act

Orchestral works

• Mythical Landscape (1975), fantasy piece for large orchestra
• In Paradisum deducant Angeli (1983–1984 / rev. 1996), Symphonic legend for large orchestra
• Two night pieces (1972 / rev. 1992) for solo flute, female choir (or solos), harp, piano / celesta and strings (1st flute concerto)
• Concerto for viola da gamba and orchestra (1976–1977)
• Apocalyptic Vision (1987–1988) Adagio and Fugue after Dante for large orchestra
• Abendländisches Lied (1987–1989) Fantasy and fugue for cor anglais and orchestra based on a poem by Georg Trakl
• Shiva (1990–1991) dance poem for flute and orchestra (2nd flute concerto)
• Die Sonne von Tabriz (1991–1992) Chamber symphony for soprano and 15 instruments based on texts by Jalal-eddin Rumi
• Lilith (1996–1997) dance poem for clarinet and orchestra (clarinet concerto)
• Symphony No. 1 "The Voices of Chartres" (1998–1999)
• Die Nachtfahrt der Sonne (2000–2001) Symphony for piano and orchestra (2nd symphony)
• Symphony No. 3 "The Passion of Light" for violin and orchestra with male choir (2001–2002)
• Archaic Landscape with Healing Mourning (2002–2003) for string ensemble
• What the Aeolian harp tells me ..., a fantasy for string ensemble (2004)
• Symphony No. 4 “The Voices of Andalusia” (2005/06) for soprano and orchestra based on texts by Ibn'Arabi
• Transfiguration (2006), picture description (after Raffael ) for orchestra
• Divino Orfeo - musical plot based on an idea by Chalderón for flute, viola, harp and orchestra (2007/08)
• The Magical Theater - a double concerto for cello, piano and string orchestra (2008/09)

Vocal music

• 4 songs based on poems by Georg Trakl (1969 / rev. 1986) for tenor and piano
• 6 poems by Reiner Kunze (1975) for soprano and piano
• 2 motets (1979 / rev. 1983) for mixed choir
• Variations on an evening song (1985) song cycle based on poems by Eichendorff, Lenau, Trakl and Bibeltext (Matthäus) for soprano and piano
• Variations on theme by Handel (1987) song cycle based on Lenau, Trakl, George and Reiner Kunze for mezzo-soprano and piano
• Lieder des Mittelalters (1989) 4 poems by Walther von der Vogelweide for soprano, flute, viola and harp
• Creation has gone to rest (1991) Motet for soprano solo based on a poem by Friedrich Rückert
• Sharakan (2002) Sacred song for Easter for soprano or mezzo-soprano with accompaniment of a sonata for solo violin
• 3 poems by Ossip Mandelstam (in a adaptation by Paul Celan ) for mezzo-soprano / alto and piano (2003)

Chamber music

• String Quartet (No. 1) in one movement (1973)
• Maria Aegyptiaca (1983) for baryton / gamba, viola and violoncello after a picture by Tintoretto
• Capriccio Notturno (1984) for wind quintet
• Elegien and Capricci (1985), Symphonic Variations for Piano Trio
• Eurydice (1988–1989) Two landscapes for string quartet (2nd string quartet)
• Sonata for violin and piano (1989–1990), fantasy and fugue with a Gothic landscape
• Fantasy for viola da gamba solo (1991), Ricercar with a Spanish landscape
• Sonata for violoncello and piano (1997–1998), Landscape with Psyche in front of Cupid's Palace. After a picture by Claude Lorrain
• Changes of a fallen angel (2000) for clarinet solo
• Japanese Fog Landscape (2003) for flute solo
• Landscape of the Listeners - Four People , 3rd String Quartet (2004–2005)
• "Inside closed ..." (2005/06), Fantasy for Harp
• Pictures on the bottom of the lake - Quartet for flute, violin, viola and violoncello (2009/10)

Works for keyboard instruments

• Two piano pieces (1972 / rev. 1983) Lamentation of Narcissus - Allegorical Landscape
• The Temptations of Saint Anthony (1984–1985) Fantasy for two pianos based on a novel by Flaubert
• Carceri d'Inventione (1986–1987) 5 polymetric studies for piano (after Piranesi )
• “My young life has an end” - a ritual for the dead (1995–96), fantasy for piano
• Metaphysical Landscape (1975–1976 / rev. 1997) for organ
• Totentanz (1986) 7 woodcuts for harpsichord

Fonts (selection)

Books

• The free forms in the music of expressionism and impressionism , dissertation Hamburg 1975 (Hamburg contributions to musicology, vol. 14) Verlag Karl Dieter Wagner, Eisenach
• So that the music doesn't stop ... An essay on the philosophy of music , Eisenach 1997, Verlag Karl Dieter Wagner, ISBN 3-88979-069-0
• The intertwining of times. Composition-technical basics of an evolutionary musical thought , Berlin 2001, Weidler-Verlag, ISBN 3-89693-186-5

Essays

• Two studies on Ligeti's cello concerto , in: Zeitschrift für Musiktheorie, 6th year 1974 / issue 2, p. 97 ff.
• Ban on images and exodus - avant-garde as myth. A music-philosophical essay , in: Culture, Education, Politics: Festschrift for Hermann Rauhe, ed. by Hanns-Werner Heister and Wolfgang Hochstein , Hamburg 2000, from Bockel Verlag
• The path of melody into the 20th century , in: Music as a life program, Festschrift for Constantin Floros on his 70th birthday, ed. by Gottfried Krieger and Matthias Spindler, Frankfurt / M. 2000, Peter Lang Verlag
• Avant-garde and trauma - The music of the 20th century and the experiences of the world wars , in: Lettre International, German edition No. 71, Winter 2005, Berlin, pp. 92–97
• Magic and modernity - a music- aesthetic sketch , in: Neue Zeitschrift für Musik , 165th year, Nov./Dec. 2004
• Microtonal-modal melody, in: Microtones and more , ed. by Manfred Stahnke , Hamburg 2005, from Bockel Verlag
• "Because where love awakens ..." Longing for death in the music of the 19th century , in: Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, 167. Jg./Heft 6, Nov./Dec. 2006
• Was that progress? - A look back at the music of the 20th century , in: Die Tonkunst, 1. Jg./Heft 1, Jan. 2007, pp. 44–51
• "Pure material" and "New hearing" as cold armor - ciphers of pain in music , in: Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, 168. Jg./Heft 6, Nov./Dec. 2007, pp. 17-19
• Building blocks of a new tonality - On Krzysztof Penderecki and Lera Auerbach , in: Die Tonkunst, 2nd year / issue 1, Jan. 2008
• Tonality today - why not? , in: Das Orchester, 56th vol. 9, Sept. 2008
• Avant-garde, trauma, spirituality. Preliminary studies for a new musical aesthetic / edited by Tim Steinke. - Mainz: Schott, 2014. ISBN 978-3-7957-0853-5 (also as e-book); review

literature

• Barbara Busch (Ed.): Wolfgang-Andreas Schultz. Texts and annotated catalog raisonné , by Bockel Verlag, Hamburg 1998, ISBN 3-932696-22-0
• Tim Steinke : Lexicon article Wolfgang-Andreas Schultz , in: MGG 2 , Supplement-Band, Kassel / Stuttgart 2008, column 814 f.
• Annette Kreutziger-Herr : Wolfgang-Andreas Schultz , in: Composers of the Present , ed. by Hanns-Werner Heister and Walter-Wolfgang Sparrer, Munich: Edition text + kritik 1992, 6th subsequent delivery Nov. 1994
• Monika Rothmaier-Szudy : Sturmnacht (about the opera of the same name by W.-A. Schultz), in: Piper's Enzyklopädie des Musiktheater , ed. by Carl Dahlhaus and the Research Institute for Music Theater at the University of Bayreuth, Munich and Zurich: Piper, 1994, volume. 5, p. 670 f.
• Hanns-Josef Ortheil : Mathematics of Words. A libretto for Wolfgang-Andreas Schultz , in: du (special issue : Unerhört. Time for new music ), May 1996 / issue 5, pp. 76–78

Discography

• Wolfgang-Andreas Schultz. Profile - composer portrait (works: Variations on an evening song , Maria Aegyptiaca , sonata for violin and piano , "Creation has gone to rest" ), interpreters: Julia Barthe, Thomas Böttger, Bernd Musil, Fridtjof Keil, Angela Klotz, Isabella Petrosjan, Peter-Jürgen Hofer; Label: Charade, 1997
• Wolfgang-Andreas Schultz. Night of Temptations, Night of Death (piano works: The Temptations of St. Antonius , My young life has an end ), interpreters: Karl-Heinz and Michael Schlueter, Peter-Jürgen Hofer; Label: MusiKado aulos, 2004

Web links

• Works by and about Wolfgang-Andreas Schultz in the catalog of the German National Library
• official homepage
• A conversation with Wolfgang-Andreas Schultz from February 2018: "About the desire to be a composer these days", Part I: [1] Part II: [2]

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kadja Grönke on info-netz-musik on August 17, 2015; accessed on August 17, 2015