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Wolfgang Fortner

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Wolfgang Fortner
Three-quarter view of elderly man's face: clean-shaven, with dark-rimmed spectacles and receding hair.
Wolfgang Fortner in the 1970s
Born(1907-10-12)12 October 1907
Leipzig,Saxony,German Empire
Died5 September 1987(1987-09-05)(aged 79)
Heidelberg,West Germany
EducationLeipzig Conservatory
Occupations
  • Composer
  • Conductor
  • Academic teacher

Wolfgang Fortner(12 October 1907 – 5 September 1987) was a Germancomposer,academic composition teacher andconductor.

Life and career

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Fortner was born inLeipzig.From his parents, who were both singers, Fortner very early on had intense contact with music.

In 1927 he began his studies at theLeipzig Conservatory(organwithKarl Straube,compositionwith Hermann Graubner) and atUniversity of Leipzig,(philosophy withHans Driesch,musicologywithTheodor Kroyer,andGerman studieswith Hermann August Korff) (Weber 2001). While still a student, two of his early compositions were publicly performed:Die vier marianischen Antiphonenat the Lower Rhineland Festival in Düsseldorf in 1928, and his First String Quartet in Königsberg in 1930 (Weber 2001).

In 1931 he completed his studies with the State Exam for a high teaching office, after he accepted a lectureship inmusic theoryat theHochschule für Kirchenmusik Heidelberg.There his music was attacked asCultural Bolshevism.In 1935 and 1936 Fortner created the Heidelberg Chamber Orchestra with which he supportedNew Musicand undertook expanded concert journeys for "armed forces support", from Scandinavia to the Netherlands to Greece. In the same year he also took over the directorship of the orchestra of theHitler Youthof Heidelberg, a string orchestra, formed from juvenile laymen, whose directorship changed in 1939 again. In 1940, he was drafted into the army as a medical soldier.

After the end of the war, Fortner underwentDenazificationand was found not affected by professional disqualification.[citation needed]Fortner moved to the Heidelberg Kohlhof and there a group of very young students formed around him, who showed interest in the modern music of 1933.[citation needed]In 1946 he joined the circle of theDarmstadtInternationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik,and taught within that framework. In 1954 he became a professor for composition at the North-West German Music Academy in Detmold, then from 1957 up to his retirement in 1973 taught inFreiburg.After the death ofKarl Amadeus Hartmann,in 1964 he took up the leadership of themusica vivaconcerts, which he directed until 1978 (Weber 2001).

Together with eleven other composer-friends (Conrad Beck,Luciano Berio,Pierre Boulez,Benjamin Britten,Henri Dutilleux,Alberto Ginastera,Cristóbal Halffter,Hans Werner Henze,Heinz Holliger,Klaus Huber,andWitold Lutosławski), he was asked by Russian cellistMstislav Rostropovich,on the occasion of the 70th birthday of the Swiss composer and art patronPaul Sacher,to write a composition for cello solo using the notes of his name (eS, A, C, H, E, Re). Wolfgang Fortner created the theme and three variationsZum spielen für den 70. Geburtstag, Thema und Variationen für Violoncello Solo.These compositions were partially presented in Zurich on 2 May 1976.

Wolfgang Fortner died inHeidelbergin 1987, aged 79.

Awards

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  • 1948 Schreker-Prize Berlin
  • 1953 Louis Spohr Prize Brunswick
  • 1955 Bearer of the "Great Prize of Art-Music" of North-Rhine/Westphalia
  • 1955 Member of the Academy of the Beautiful Arts of Berlin
  • 1956 Member of theBayerische Akademie der Schönen Künsteof Munich
  • 1957 President of the German section of the ISCM (from 1971)
  • 1960Bach Prize of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg
  • 1975 President of the Dramatists' Union
  • 1977Reinhold Schneider Prizeof Freiburg
  • 1977 Grand Medal of Service of the Federal Republic of Germany
  • 1977 Honorary Doctorate of the Universities of Heidelberg and Freiburg

Students

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See:List of music students by teacher: C to F#Wolfgang Fortner.

Among his students were composersGünther Becker[de],Friedhelm Döhl,Hans Ulrich Engelmann,Diego H. Feinstein[de],Peter Förtig,Volkmar Fritsche[de],Hans Werner Henze,Carl Johnson,Milko Kelemen,Rudolf Kelterborn,Karl Michael Komma,Arghyris Kounadis[de],Uwe Lohrmann[de],Wolfgang Ludewig[de],Roland Moser,Diether de la Motte,Nam June Paik,Graciela Paraskevaidis,Robert HP Platz,Rolf Riehm,Wolfgang Rihm,Griffith Rose[de],Mauricio Rosenmann,Dieter Schönbach[de],Manfred Stahnke,Karen Tarlow,Peter Westergaard,Hans Zender,Bernd Alois Zimmermann,Heinz Werner Zimmermann,conductors andArturo Tamayoand translatorHans Wollschläger.

Works

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Operas

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Ballets

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Other works

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References

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  1. ^Streichquartett.1930.OCLC22912438.
  2. ^Konzert für Orgel und Streichorchester. Partitur.1932.OCLC20761217.
  3. ^Sonatina für Klavier (1935).1934.OCLC8984425.
  4. ^Vinton, John (September 1973). "For Jan LaRue: The Concerto for Orchestra".Notes.Second Series.30(1). The Music Library Association: 17.doi:10.2307/896020.JSTOR896020.
  5. ^Sinfonia concertante für Orchester.1937.OCLC51859047.
  6. ^2. Streichquartett.1938.OCLC7608375.
  7. ^Konzert: für Klavier und Orchester.1943.OCLC68000369.
  8. ^Sonate für Violine und Klavier: (1945).1948.OCLC22912450.
  9. ^Sonate für Flöte und Klavier (1947).1948.OCLC4174846.
  10. ^von Lewinski, Wolf-Eberhard; Mintz, Donald (January 1965). "The Variety of Trends in Modern German Music".Musical Quarterly.51(1). The Oxford University Press: 167.ISSN0027-4631.JSTOR740896.
  11. ^Konzert, für Violoncello und Orchester, 1951.1952.OCLC2272997.
  12. ^Powell, Mel; Fortner, Wolfgang (1960). "Review of the Impromptus for Orchestra".Notes.17(3). the Music Library Association: 482.doi:10.2307/892360.ISSN0027-4380.JSTOR892360.
  13. ^Triplum: für Orchester mit obligaten Klavieren: (1965/66).1966.OCLC66185435.
  14. ^Oppelt, Robert; MacOnchy, Elizabeth; Matthus, Siegfried; Fortner, Wolfgang (1979). "Review of the String Quartet No. 4".Notes.35(4). the Music Library Association: 984.doi:10.2307/939655.ISSN0027-4380.JSTOR939655.
  15. ^2. Trio für Violine, Viola und Violoncello = for violin, viola, and violoncello (1983).1987.OCLC18166320.

Sources

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  • Borio, Gianmario; Danuser, Hermann (1997).Zenit der Moderne: die Internationalen Ferienkurse für Neue Musik Darmstadt 1946–1966: Geschichte und Dokumentation in vier Bänden.Freiburg im Breisgau: Rombach.ISBN3-7930-9138-4.
  • Lindlar, Heinrich (1960).Wolfgang Fortner; eine Monographie. Werkanalysen, Aufsätze, Reden, Offene Briefe, 1950-1959.Rodenkirchen/Rhein: P. J. Tonger. OCLC 1999810.
  • Lohrmann, Uwe (1982). "Wolfgang Fortner".Neue Zeitschrift für Musik143, no. 10:[page needed]
  • Roth, Matthias (2005). "War Wolfgang Fortner ein Nazi?".Jahrbuch Musik in Baden-Württemberg.ISBN3-89912-082-5.
  • Roth, Matthias (2006). "Der Komponist Wolfgang Fortner und sein,Kohlhof Club'".Die Insel im Wald - 300 Jahre Heidelberger Kohlhof.ISBN3-935992-23-8.
  • Roth, Matthias (2008) (2008).Ein Rangierbahnhof der Moderne. Der Komponist Wolfgang Fortner und sein Schülerkreis (1931–1986); Erinnerungen, Dokumente, Hintergründe, Porträts.Freiburg im Breisgau: Edition Rombach.ISBN978-3-7930-9521-7.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  • Schipperges, Thomas (1995). "Musik unterm Hakenkreuz – Heidelberg 1933-45".Verführt und verraten: Jugend im Nationalsozialismus: Bruchstücke aus der Region: Kurpfäsisches Museum der Stadt Heidelberg, 8. Mai bis 16. Juli 1995.Heidelberg: Kurpfälzisches Museum Stadt Heidelberg. OCLC 36220656.
  • Stephan, Rudolf; Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt. (1996).Von Kranichstein zur Gegenwart – 50 Jahre Darmstädter Ferienkurse.Stuttgart: Daco Verlag.ISBN3-87135-028-1.
  • Weber, Brigitta (1995).Wolfgang Fortner und seine Opernkompositionen.Mainz: Schott.ISBN3-7957-0308-5.
  • Weber, Brigitta (2001). "Fortner, Wolfgang".The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians,second edition, edited byStanley SadieandJohn Tyrrell.London: Macmillan Publishers.
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