Rudi Spring
Encyclopedia
Rudi Spring is a German composer of classical music
, pianist and academic. He is known for vocal compositions on texts by poets and his own, and for chamber music such as his three Chamber Symphonies.
with Heinrich Schiff
, with whom he also played in concert. He studied at the Musikhochschule München
from 1981 to 1986 composition with Wilhelm Killmayer
and Heinz Winbeck
, and piano with Karl-Hermann Mrongovius.
Since 1987 he taught several subjects at the Musikhochschule, first vocal coaching
then ear training
, musical analysis
and pitch space
. Since 1999 he has been teaching Lied interpretation
.
Spring received commissions of the state of Baden-Württemberg
, the Deutscher Musikrat (German Music Council, a member of the International Music Council
), the Münchener Kammerorchester, the Munich Puppet Players, the International Bodensee Festival and the Hugo-Wolf-Akademie Stuttgart, among others.
Together with composer Michael Neunteufel (born 1958), he was interviewed by Alfred Solder (born 1949) of the ORF, broadcast on 16 October 1987, entitled Musik hören, Musik verstehen (Listen to music, understand music). The premiere of Canto sopra un’ idea frattale in 2005 in Vienna was documented in a film Die Kochsche Schneeflocke, directed by Norbert Wartig (born 1973), produced by LNW Film.
In 2005 Spring was awarded the fellowship of the Villa Massimo
in Rome.
In 2008 two of his songs appeared on a CD of Salome Kammer
, together with music of Cole Porter
, Luciano Berio
, and Alban Berg
, among others. In 2009 he accompanied Salome Kammer at the Rheingau Musik Festival
in songs and Chansons of the 1920s to 1940s. He played the piano in a trio concert at the Gasteig
, with Jens Josef
(flute) and Graham Waterhouse
(cello), performing Martinů
's trio and the premiere of the flute version of Gestural Variations
; every composer contributed a Christmas carol
, with Spring setting Maria durch ein Dornwald ging.
for voice and ensemble/orchestra
for voices a cappella
or five to eight players
for ensemble/orchestra
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
, pianist and academic. He is known for vocal compositions on texts by poets and his own, and for chamber music such as his three Chamber Symphonies.
Professional career
Rudi Spring received piano instructions from Alfred Kuppelmayer (1918–1977), starting in 1971. He studied chamber music in 1978 in BregenzBregenz
-Culture:The annual summer music festival Bregenzer Festspiele is a world-famous festival which takes place on and around a stage on Lake Constance, where a different opera is performed every second year.-Sport:* A1 Bregenz HB is a handball team....
with Heinrich Schiff
Heinrich Schiff
Heinrich Schiff is an Austrian cellist and conductor. He studied cello with Tobias Kühne and André Navarra and made his solo debut in Vienna and London in 1971...
, with whom he also played in concert. He studied at the Musikhochschule München
Hochschule für Musik und Theater München
The Hochschule für Musik und Theater München is one of the most respected traditional vocational universities in Germany specialising in music and the performing arts. The seat of the Hochschule is the former Führerbau of the NSDAP, located at Arcisstraße 12, on the eastern side of the Königsplatz...
from 1981 to 1986 composition with Wilhelm Killmayer
Wilhelm Killmayer
Wilhelm Killmayer is a German composer of classical music and an academic.-Professional career:Wilhelm Killmayer studied conducting and composition from 1945 to 1951 in Munich at Hermann Wolfgang von Waltershausen’s Musikseminar...
and Heinz Winbeck
Heinz Winbeck
Heinz Winbeck is a German composer and an academic teacher. He is known for five large scale symphonies.-Professional career:...
, and piano with Karl-Hermann Mrongovius.
Since 1987 he taught several subjects at the Musikhochschule, first vocal coaching
Répétiteur
Répétiteur , repetitore , or Korrepetitor / Repetitor , originally from the French verb répéter meaning "to repeat, to go over, to learn, to rehearse"....
then ear training
Ear training
Ear training or aural skills is a skill by which musicians learn to identify, solely by hearing, pitches, intervals, melody, chords, rhythms, and other basic elements of music. The application of this skill is analogous to taking dictation in written/spoken language. Ear training may be...
, musical analysis
Musical analysis
Musical analysis is the attempt to answer the question how does this music work?. The method employed to answer this question, and indeed exactly what is meant by the question, differs from analyst to analyst, and according to the purpose of the analysis. According to Ian Bent , analysis is "an...
and pitch space
Pitch space
In music theory, pitch spaces model relationships between pitches. These models typically use distance to model the degree of relatedness, with closely related pitches placed near one another, and less closely related pitches placed farther apart. Depending on the complexity of the relationships...
. Since 1999 he has been teaching Lied interpretation
Lied
is a German word literally meaning "song", usually used to describe romantic songs setting German poems of reasonably high literary aspirations, especially during the nineteenth century, beginning with Carl Loewe, Heinrich Marschner, and Franz Schubert and culminating with Hugo Wolf...
.
Spring received commissions of the state of Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...
, the Deutscher Musikrat (German Music Council, a member of the International Music Council
International Music Council
The International Music Council was created in 1949 as UNESCO's advisory body on matters of music. It is based at UNESCO's headquarters in Paris, France, where it functions as an independent international non-governmental organization...
), the Münchener Kammerorchester, the Munich Puppet Players, the International Bodensee Festival and the Hugo-Wolf-Akademie Stuttgart, among others.
Together with composer Michael Neunteufel (born 1958), he was interviewed by Alfred Solder (born 1949) of the ORF, broadcast on 16 October 1987, entitled Musik hören, Musik verstehen (Listen to music, understand music). The premiere of Canto sopra un’ idea frattale in 2005 in Vienna was documented in a film Die Kochsche Schneeflocke, directed by Norbert Wartig (born 1973), produced by LNW Film.
In 2005 Spring was awarded the fellowship of the Villa Massimo
Villa Massimo
Villa Massimo, short for Deutsche Akademie Rom Villa Massimo , is a German art institute in Rome, established in 1910 and located in the Villa Massimo....
in Rome.
In 2008 two of his songs appeared on a CD of Salome Kammer
Salome Kammer
Salome Kammer is a German actor, singer and cellist.- Professional career :Kammer was the fourth of six children. Her father was a Protestant pastor...
, together with music of Cole Porter
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...
, Luciano Berio
Luciano Berio
Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian composer. He is noted for his experimental work and also for his pioneering work in electronic music.-Biography:Berio was born at Oneglia Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (October 24, 1925 – May 27, 2003) was an Italian...
, and Alban Berg
Alban Berg
Alban Maria Johannes Berg was an Austrian composer. He was a member of the Second Viennese School with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and produced compositions that combined Mahlerian Romanticism with a personal adaptation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique.-Early life:Berg was born in...
, among others. In 2009 he accompanied Salome Kammer at the Rheingau Musik Festival
Rheingau Musik Festival
The Rheingau Musik Festival is an international summer music festival in Germany, founded in 1987. It is mostly for classical music, but includes other genres...
in songs and Chansons of the 1920s to 1940s. He played the piano in a trio concert at the Gasteig
Gasteig
Gasteig is a cultural center in Munich, opened in 1985, which hosts the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra. The Richard Strauss Conservatory, the Volkshochschule, and the municipal library are all located in the Gasteig...
, with Jens Josef
Jens Josef
Jens Josef is a German composer of classical music, a flutist and academic.- Career :Jens Josef received flute instructions from Rita Eggenweiler and Klaus Grünow, principal flute of the Staatstheater Kassel, and took composition classes with Jörn Tegtmeyer, the director of church music of Hann...
(flute) and Graham Waterhouse
Graham Waterhouse
Graham Waterhouse is an English composer and a cellist. He is known for chamber music and for unusual scoring, such as Piccolo Quintet, Bright Angel for three bassoons and contrabassoon, Chieftain's Salute for Great Highland Bagpipe and string orchestra, and works for speaking voice and cello,...
(cello), performing Martinů
Bohuslav Martinu
Bohuslav Martinů was a prolific Czech composer of modern classical music. He was of Czech and Rumanian ancestry. Martinů wrote six symphonies, 15 operas, 14 ballet scores and a large body of orchestral, chamber, vocal and instrumental works. Martinů became a violinist in the Czech Philharmonic...
's trio and the premiere of the flute version of Gestural Variations
Gestural Variations
Gestural Variations op. 43 is a trio composition of Graham Waterhouse in 1997 originally for oboe, bassoon and piano. Later versions are scored for clarinet, cello and piano and flute, cello and piano .-Movements:...
; every composer contributed a Christmas carol
Christmas carol
A Christmas carol is a carol whose lyrics are on the theme of Christmas or the winter season in general and which are traditionally sung in the period before Christmas.-History:...
, with Spring setting Maria durch ein Dornwald ging.
Awards
- 1987 Feldkircher Kulturpreis
- 1988 Bayerischer Staatlicher Förderpreis für junge Künstler
- 2002 Internationaler Bodenseekulturpreis
- 2005 Villa MassimoVilla MassimoVilla Massimo, short for Deutsche Akademie Rom Villa Massimo , is a German art institute in Rome, established in 1910 and located in the Villa Massimo....
Stage
- Er trieb einen kleinen Finsternishandel op. 71 (1999), for speaker, Klangfiguren (half puppet, half instrument), accordionAccordionThe accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
and violoncello, libretto on aphorismAphorismAn aphorism is an original thought, spoken or written in a laconic and memorable form.The term was first used in the Aphorisms of Hippocrates...
s of Georg Christoph LichtenbergGeorg Christoph LichtenbergGeorg Christoph Lichtenberg was a German scientist, satirist and Anglophile. As a scientist, he was the first to hold a professorship explicitly dedicated to experimental physics in Germany...
, premiere 10 June 1999 in Schloss Seefeld, Munich Puppet Players, Maria Reiter, Heinrich Klug - Zwischen Blick hinter Grund op. 74e,1 (2000), text: Rudi Spring, premiere 1 April 2001 in Saulgau, Salome KammerSalome KammerSalome Kammer is a German actor, singer and cellist.- Professional career :Kammer was the fourth of six children. Her father was a Protestant pastor...
, Rudi Spring, recorded in 2002 by SFBSender Freies BerlinSender Freies Berlin was the ARD public radio and television service for West Berlin from 1 June 1954 until 1990 and for Berlin as a whole from German reunification until 30 April 2003...
Berlin - An der steilen, roten Felswand op. 74e,2 (2002), text: Rudi Spring, premiere 2 May 2002 in BenediktbeuernBenediktbeuernBenediktbeuern is a municipality in the district of Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen in Bavaria, Germany. The distance between Bichl and Benediktbeuern is only 2 kilometers, or 1.25 miles. The village has about 3,500 residents as of 2004....
, Salome KammerSalome KammerSalome Kammer is a German actor, singer and cellist.- Professional career :Kammer was the fourth of six children. Her father was a Protestant pastor...
, Rudi Spring (piano and speaking voice) - Die Donau und ihr Geist op. 78 (2002), fairy tale melodram for speaker, pantomimes and sextet (clarinet, Tenorhackbrett, accordion, celesta/piano, violin and double bass), libretto: Andrea Haupt and Elisabeth Verhoeven (after the book of Dorothea Rein), premiere 10 November 2002 in Stuttgart, Elisabeth Verhoeven, theatre group of the Musikschule Stuttgart, direction: Andrea Haupt
Vocal
for voice and one to six instruments- Galgenliederbuch op. 19, (1983–2000) for voice and piano, after Galgenlieder (1895–1905) of Christian MorgensternChristian MorgensternChristian Otto Josef Wolfgang Morgenstern was a German author and poet from Munich. Morgenstern married Margareta Gosebruch von Liechtenstern on March 7, 1910...
- Abend der Kindheit op. 20a (1983) for soprano and quintet (clarinet, horn, harp, violin and violoncello), text: Hermann LenzHermann LenzHermann Karl Lenz[p] was a German writer of poetry, fiction stories, and novels. A major part of his work includes 10 volumes in a semi-autobiographical novel cycle about the alter-ego figure "Eugen Rapp"[p]. In the 1970s he published the 7-volume Schwäbische Chronik .Lenz had been a German POW in...
, premiere 1983 at the Musikhochschule MünchenHochschule für Musik und Theater MünchenThe Hochschule für Musik und Theater München is one of the most respected traditional vocational universities in Germany specialising in music and the performing arts. The seat of the Hochschule is the former Führerbau of the NSDAP, located at Arcisstraße 12, on the eastern side of the Königsplatz... - So nah in der Ferne op. 52 (1984–91), song cycle for soprano (or mezzo-soprano) and trio: flute, viola and violoncello, texts: Wolfgang Bächler. premiere 13. November 1992 in Augsburg, Adelheid Maria Thanner, Bettina Fuchs, Gunter Pretzel, Anja Lechner, recorded in 1992 by BRBayerischer RundfunkBayerischer Rundfunk [Bavarian Broadcasting] is the public broadcasting authority for the German Freistaat of Bavaria, with its main offices located in Munich. BR is a member of ARD.- Legal foundation :...
- Liederfolge op. 54 (1992/97) for voice and piano, premiere nos 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 in WeilburgWeilburgWeilburg is, with just under 14,000 inhabitants, the third biggest town in Limburg-Weilburg district in Hesse, Germany, after Limburg an der Lahn and Bad Camberg.- Location :...
, 27 July 1995, Dietrich Henschel, Fritz Schwinghammer, recorded in 1998 in BrusselsBrusselsBrussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, premiere nos 4 and 6 in Prien am ChiemseePrien am ChiemseePrien am Chiemsee is a municipality in the district of Rosenheim, in Bavaria, Germany.-Geography:It is situated on the western shore of the Chiemsee lake, 16 km east of Rosenheim.-Famous resident:...
, 25 October 1998, Martina Koppelstetter, Rudi Spring, recorded in 1999 by BRBayerischer RundfunkBayerischer Rundfunk [Bavarian Broadcasting] is the public broadcasting authority for the German Freistaat of Bavaria, with its main offices located in Munich. BR is a member of ARD.- Legal foundation :... - Ach sender schenke op. 55 (1992/93), prelude, song cycle and dance, for baritone and quintet (clarinet/Bassett horn, percussion, TenorhackbrettHammered dulcimerThe hammered dulcimer is a stringed musical instrument with the strings stretched over a trapezoidal sounding board. Typically, the hammered dulcimer is set on a stand, at an angle, before the musician, who holds small mallet hammers in each hand to strike the strings...
, viola and violoncello, texts: Ulrich von Winterstetten, premiere 11 June 1993 in Schloss Achberg, Anselm Richter, Wolfgang MeyerWolfgang MeyerWolfgang Meyer is a German clarinetist.Meyer studied clarinet at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Stuttgart, and the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover along with his sister Sabine Meyer. He has led masterclasses in Brazil, Italy, Japan, Canada and Finland. He is a member of Trio di...
, Stefan Hüge, Marianne Kirch, Hariolf Schlichtig, Manuel Fischer-Dieskau - Incontro op. 79 (2003), canzone in dialogue for baritone and piano (or HammerflügelFortepianoFortepiano designates the early version of the piano, from its invention by the Italian instrument maker Bartolomeo Cristofori around 1700 up to the early 19th century. It was the instrument for which Haydn, Mozart, and the early Beethoven wrote their piano music...
). text: Francesco Petrarca, premiere 30 May 2004 in BiedenkopfBiedenkopfBiedenkopf is a spa town in western Hessen, Germany with a population of 13,271.- Location :The town of Biedenkopf lies in the west of Marburg-Biedenkopf district. Ringed by mountains reaching up to 674 m above sea level – the Sackpfeife in the Rothaargebirge reaches this height – the town...
, Eckelshausener Musiktage, Martin Bruns, Jan Philip Schulze
for voice and ensemble/orchestra
- Entzündet op. 70e (2001) for Chanson baritone, accordion and string orchestra, text: Konstantin WeckerKonstantin WeckerKonstantin Alexander Wecker is one of the best-known German singer-songwriters ; he also works as a composer, author, and actor.- Life and work :...
, premiere 24 June 2001 in München, GasteigGasteigGasteig is a cultural center in Munich, opened in 1985, which hosts the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra. The Richard Strauss Conservatory, the Volkshochschule, and the municipal library are all located in the Gasteig...
, Konstantin Wecker, Maria Reiter, Abonnentenorchester of the Münchner Philharmoniker, conductor Heinrich Klug - Heimkunft (Chamber Symphony No. 3) op. 74 (2000/01) for mezzo-soprano (or contralto), flute, clarinet, trumpet, accordion, harp and string orchestra, text: Friedrich HölderlinFriedrich HölderlinJohann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin was a major German lyric poet, commonly associated with the artistic movement known as Romanticism. Hölderlin was also an important thinker in the development of German Idealism, particularly his early association with and philosophical influence on his...
, Heimkunft. An die Verwandten (1801–04), premiere 19 May 2001 in TettnangTettnangTettnang is a town in the Bodensee district in southern Baden-Württemberg in a region of Germany known as Swabia.It lies 7 kilometers from Lake Constance. The region produces significant quantities of hops, an ingredient of beer, and ships them to breweries throughout the world.-History:Tettinang...
, Neues Schloss, Christa MayerChrista MayerChrista Mayer is a German operatic mezzo-soprano. She is particularly known for her portrayal of Erda in Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle; a role which she has performed several times at the Bayreuth Festival and recorded on the BBC Legends Record Label....
for voices a cappella
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
- Von guten Mächten wunderbar geborgen op. 45 (1983–1988) for five-part mixed choir, text: Dietrich BonhoefferDietrich BonhoefferDietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian and martyr. He was a participant in the German resistance movement against Nazism and a founding member of the Confessing Church. He was involved in plans by members of the Abwehr to assassinate Adolf Hitler...
(19 December 1944), premiere 8 June 1991 in Minich, Studienchor of the Musikhochschule MünchenHochschule für Musik und Theater MünchenThe Hochschule für Musik und Theater München is one of the most respected traditional vocational universities in Germany specialising in music and the performing arts. The seat of the Hochschule is the former Führerbau of the NSDAP, located at Arcisstraße 12, on the eastern side of the Königsplatz...
, conductor Max Frey - Narcissus und Echo op. 59 (1994), vocal scene for six-part mixed choir, texts from Ovid's Metamorphoses, premiere 6 August 1994 in Irsee AbbeyIrsee AbbeyIrsee Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey located at Irsee near Kaufbeuren in Bavaria. It is now a conference and training centre for Bavarian Swabia.-Abbey:...
, conductor Kurt Suttner
Instrumental
for one to four players- Sonatine (op. 1; 1979) for violoncello and piano, recorded 1980 by the (ORF in Linz, Heinrich SchiffHeinrich SchiffHeinrich Schiff is an Austrian cellist and conductor. He studied cello with Tobias Kühne and André Navarra and made his solo debut in Vienna and London in 1971...
, Rudi Spring - Quartett (op. 47; 1989) for two flutes, NaturtonHarmonic series (music)Pitched musical instruments are often based on an approximate harmonic oscillator such as a string or a column of air, which oscillates at numerous frequencies simultaneously. At these resonant frequencies, waves travel in both directions along the string or air column, reinforcing and canceling...
-Hackbrett and piano - Canto sopra un’ idea frattale (op. 81e; 2005) for bassoon and organ, premiere 28 April 2005 in Vienna, Radio-Kulturhaus of the ORF
- Risonanze (op. 82b; 2005) for flute, premiere 6 July 2005 in Rome, Villino of the Villa MassimoVilla MassimoVilla Massimo, short for Deutsche Akademie Rom Villa Massimo , is a German art institute in Rome, established in 1910 and located in the Villa Massimo....
, Roberto Fabbriciani [born 1949])
or five to eight players
- Praeludien (op. 37; 1986/87) for string sextet and Klavier, premiere 12 May 1992 in SchwazSchwazSchwaz is a city in Tyrol, Austria. It is the administrative center of the Schwaz district . Schwaz is located in the lower Inn valley, and has a population of about 13,000....
, Wiener Streichsextett, Rudi Spring [Klavier]), recorded in 1992 by ORF in Innsbruck
for ensemble/orchestra
- Szene 1 (op. 10; 1981, revised 1987) for violoncello and orchestra, premiere 28 November 1981 in PraguePraguePrague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, Heinrich SchiffHeinrich SchiffHeinrich Schiff is an Austrian cellist and conductor. He studied cello with Tobias Kühne and André Navarra and made his solo debut in Vienna and London in 1971...
, Prager Symphoniker, conductor Jiří BělohlávekJirí BelohlávekJiří Bělohlávek is a Czech conductor. His father was a barrister and judge. In his youth Bělohlávek studied cello with Miloš Sádlo and was later a graduate of the Prague Conservatory and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague...
[born 1946] - Chamber Symphony No. 1 (op. 63; 1995) for 12 brass players, premiere 6 June 1995 in Berlin
- Chamber Symphony No. 2 (op. 68; 1997) for clarinet/tenor saxophon, horn, percussion, accordion and string orchestra, premiere 12 February 1998 in the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residenz, Münchener Kammerorchester, conductor: Jobst Liebrecht
External links
- Rudi Spring at Hochschule für Musik und Theater MünchenHochschule für Musik und Theater MünchenThe Hochschule für Musik und Theater München is one of the most respected traditional vocational universities in Germany specialising in music and the performing arts. The seat of the Hochschule is the former Führerbau of the NSDAP, located at Arcisstraße 12, on the eastern side of the Königsplatz...
(in German) - Rudi Spring at the Leopold-Mozart-Zentrum of the Augsburg University (in German)
- Rudi Spring at SchottSchott MusicSchott Music is one of the oldest German music publishers. It is also one of the largest music publishing houses in Europe and is currently the second oldest music publishing house. The company headquarters of Schott Music was founded by Bernhard Schott in Mainz, Germany in 1770.Established in...
- Auf eine existentielle Musik hin Interview by Christoph Schlüren, musikmph.de, 1998 (in German)
- Federleichte Pointen, verschollene Lieder – der Komponist und Pianist Rudi Spring Michael Herrschel in neue musik zeitung, 2009 (in German)
- Works list (1979–2008) (PDF, 496 kB)
- Entries for Rudi Spring on WorldCatWorldCatWorldCat is a union catalog which itemizes the collections of 72,000 libraries in 170 countries and territories which participate in the Online Computer Library Center global cooperative...