York Höller
York Höller (also in the spelling York Hoeller ; born January 11, 1944 in Leverkusen ) is a German composer and professor of composition at the Cologne University of Music and Dance .
Life
Between 1963 and 1970 Höller studied composition as well as piano (among others with Else Schmitz-Gohr ) and orchestral conducting at the Cologne University of Music with Bernd Alois Zimmermann and Herbert Eimert . At the same time he studied musicology and philosophy at the University of Cologne . He completed further musical studies in the Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music with Pierre Boulez . In 1967 Höller passed his exam in school music.
From 1969 to 1972 he was a member of Group 8 Cologne . Höller worked briefly as a solo coach at the Staatstheater Bonn . In 1971 he accepted an invitation from Karlheinz Stockhausen to realize his own compositions in the WDR's studio for electronic music . He quickly gained international fame with his works. From the mid-1970s, Höller also composed at the Paris research institute IRCAM , where Pierre Boulez had invited him. At the Grand Opéra, his opera The Master and Margarita, based on the novel of the same name by Mikhail Bulgakov, premiered in 1989 .
Between 1986 and 1990 Höller was a lecturer in analysis and music theory at the Cologne University of Music. From 1990 to 1999 he was artistic director of the WDR studio for electronic music. In 1993 he followed a call from the Hanns Eisler University of Music in Berlin as professor of composition. As successor to Hans Werner Henze , he moved to Cologne University of Music in 1995 in this role. In addition, Höller gives guest lectures and composition courses at many European and American universities.
York Höller has been a member of the Academy of the Arts in Berlin since 1991 and of the Free Academy of the Arts Hamburg since 2006 .
Stylistic features
Höller's compositional style has continuously developed and changed since his “Five Pieces for Piano” from 1964, which was titled “Opus Eins”. The first “Five Pieces for Piano” follow the tradition of and discussion with Schönberg and Webern. All five pieces are based on a single twelve-tone row. His first orchestral work, Topic, from 1967 still shows strong influences from his teacher Bernd Alois Zimmermann, but shows a virtuoso handwriting in the mastery of the large orchestral apparatus.
It was only with his “Sonate for Piano” (Sonate informelle) from 1968 that Höller developed his own personal style. After reading Theodor W. Adorno's essay vers une musique informelle , Höller turned away from serial music and turned to free atonality with this work. With Tangens (1973) Höller wrote a trend-setting work on the use of "live electronics". He combined the natural sound of instruments (piano, violoncello) with the electronic sounds of two analog synthesizers.
During his studies in Paris, Höller found inspiration for his own theory of composition. Fascinated by the Gregorian chant that he heard in Notre Dame Cathedral, he developed the idea of "sound form". As in a “genetic code”, Höller's sound shape already contains the entire disposition of a work. “The 12 semitones of the octave are only to be regarded as starting points for the formation of complex shapes. These in turn should not be understood as rigid, closed and unchangeable, but as flexible, open and transformable structures. This is what my 'sound design' is about.
As a result, numerous works by Höller were created based on the idea of sound design . The work Mythos for 13 instruments, percussion and electronic sounds (4-channel tape) is typical of this long creative period . The title does not refer to any event from the wide field of traditional mythologies, but is to be understood in the original sense as "speech" or "narration". According to the composer, the music itself should be heard as absolute music throughout. The 4-channel tape is a co-composed, integral part of the whole. The sound of the instruments is exaggerated into the legendary mythical by the electronic sounds.
Höller set five criteria for his work: authenticity, distinctiveness, freedom from clichés, conciseness and coherence. In recent years the composer has turned back to purely instrumental composition due to the almost complete loss of his eyesight.
Awards
York Höller received numerous awards, including a.
- 1979: Bernd-Alois-Zimmermann-Scholarship from the City of Cologne,
- 1979: Sponsorship award from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia
- 1984 scholarship from the Deutsche Akademie Villa Massimo
- the Prize of the UNESCO International Composers' Forum and
- the Rolf Liebermann Prize for opera composers.
- the Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition 2010 for the orchestral work Sphären
- 2011: German music author award for composition instrumental music
The French Minister of Culture appointed him Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1986 .
Excerpt
Compositions
| 1964 | Five pieces for piano | - |
| 1965 (rev. 1974) | Diaphony (homage to Béla Bartók) | for two pianos |
| 1966 | Three fragments | for string quartet |
| Autumn day | after Rainer Maria Rilke for soprano and eight instruments | |
| 1967 | Topic | for large orchestra |
| 1968 | 1st sonata for piano | (Sonata informal) |
| 1968/69 | Sonata for violoncello solo | - |
| 1969 | epitaph | for violin and piano |
| 1971/72 | horizon | electronic music (4-channel tape) |
| 1972/74 | Chroma | for large orchestra and live electronics |
| 1973 | tangent | for violoncello, electric guitar, electronic organ / piano and two synthesizers |
| 1975/76 | Sound grid | for violoncello, piano, synthesizer and tape |
| 1977 | Antiphon (1st string quartet) | for string quartet and electronically transformed string quartet (on 4-channel tape) |
| 1978 | Arcus | for instruments and 4-channel tape |
| 1979/80 (rev. 1989/1995/2003) | myth | Sound poem for 13 instruments, drums and electronic sounds (4-channel tape) |
| 1979 | Moments musicaux | for flute and piano |
| 1979/80 (rev. 1983) | umbra | for large orchestra and 4-channel tape |
| 1981 | Résonance | for small orchestra and computer sounds (4-channel tape) |
| 1982 | Pas de trois | for viola, violoncello and double bass |
| 1982 | Black peninsulas | for large orchestra, vocal and electronic sounds |
| 1983 | Dream game | Sound poem for soprano, large orchestra, 8-channel tape and live electronics, based on the play of the same name by August Strindberg |
| 1983/84 | 1. Piano concerto in two movements | for piano and orchestra |
| 1984-89 | The master and Margarita | Opera in two acts based on the novel of the same name by Mikhail Bulgakov |
| 1985 | Magical sound shape | for large orchestra |
| 1985 | Improvisation sur le nom de Pierre Boulez | for 16 instruments |
| 1986 | 2nd sonata for piano (Hommage à Franz Liszt) | in two sentences |
| 1989 (rev. 1997) | Fanal | for trumpet and small orchestra |
| 1990-93 | Pensées | 2. Piano Concerto as Repuiem for piano, large orchestra and live electronics |
| 1991 | Margarita's dream | Scenes from the opera "The Master and Margarita" by Mikhail Bulgakov for large orchestra and 4-channel tape |
| 1991-93 | aura | for large orchestra |
| 1993 | pas de deux | for violoncello and piano |
| 1994/95 | Daydreams | seven sound poems for violin, violoncello and piano |
| 1995-2003 | Monograms | 14 character pieces for piano |
| 1996 | partita | for two pianos |
| 1996 | Double | for large orchestra and two MIDI harps |
| 1996 | Counter-sounds | for 18 instruments |
| 1997 | 2nd string quartet | - |
| 1998/99 | Departure | for large orchestra |
| 1998-2000 | The eternal day | for mixed choir and large orchestra |
| 1999 | Counterplay | for two pianos and orchestra |
| 2000/01 | Ex tempore | for nine instruments |
| 2001 | Triad | for alto saxophone, piano and percussion |
| 2002/03 | Sound signs | for wind quintet and piano |
| 2003 | scan | for flute solo |
| 2005 | Monograms | for piano |
| 2005 | Fireworks | for 16 instruments |
| 2006 | Spheres | six sound images for large orchestra |
| 2006 | Vanishing points | for five instruments |
| 2007/08 | Duality | for piano and string quartet |
| 2009/10 | Mouvements | for violoncello and piano |
| 2010 | 3rd sonata | for piano |
| 2010 | Solo Play / Duo Pla | for piano for two or four hands |
| 2011 | Double play | 5 pieces for piano 4 hands |
| 2011 | Upswing con tenuto | for clarinet, viola and piano |
| 2011/12 | Concerto for violoncello and orchestra | - |
| 2012 | For Tamara | for piano |
| 2012 | Crossing | for ensemble and live electronics |
| 2013 | Voyage | for large orchestra and live electronics |
| 2013 | Micro-studies | 5 piano pieces for young players |
| 2014/15 | End and aftermath | for small orchestra |
| 2015 | Far away and yet so close | Homage to Ludwig van Beethoven for piano |
Fonts
- Gestalt Composition or The Construction of the Organic. In: Neuland II , 1981/82, pp. 140-143.
- Progress or dead end? Critical considerations on early serialism . Saarbrücken 1994.
- Reinhold Dusella (Ed.): Klanggestalt - Zeitgestalt. Texts and commentaries 1964–2003 . Boosey and Hawkes (texts), Bote and Bock (notes), Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-7931-1697-2 and ISMN M-2025-2231-8
literature
- Ralf Gerhard Ehlert: The use of electronic sounds in York Höller's music. Master thesis. Cologne 1989, 2001: Musicological Institute of the University of Cologne.
- Rainer Nonnenmann: York Höller . In: Hans-Werner Heister, Walter-Wolfgang Sperrer (Hrsg.): Contemporary composers . Munich, 2005, yorkhoeller.de (PDF)
Web links
- Works by and about York Höller in the catalog of the German National Library
- A cosmos of sound shapes . In: FAZ , January 11, 2014; on the occasion of his 70th birthday
- Portrait and characteristics. Kulturstadtlev.de (PDF)
- York Höller website including discography
- Ralf Gerhard Ehlert: The use of electronic sounds in York Höller's music .
Individual evidence
- ↑ York Höller in a lecture in 1998, published in: York Höller: Klanggestalt - Zeitgestalt . Boosey & Hawkes, p. 119.
- ↑ Villa Massimo | Scholarships. Retrieved August 22, 2019 .
- ↑ York Höller wins 2010 Grawemeyer Award for Sphären - boosey.com (English)
- ↑ York Höller biography. York Höller, accessed July 31, 2010 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Höller, York |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Hoeller, York |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German composer and music professor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 11, 1944 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Leverkusen |