Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik
Encyclopedia
The Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik (Witten Days for New Chamber Music) is a music festival for contemporary chamber music
, jointly organised by the town Witten
in the Ruhr Area
and the broadcasting station Westdeutscher Rundfunk
(WDR). The concerts take place over a weekend at the end of April or in early May, and concentrate on world premieres of small-scale works, more than 600 as of 2010. They are broadcast worldwide via the European Broadcasting Union
.
the festival was held at irregular intervals (1947, 1948, 1950, 1953 and 1957), until 1960 when it became an annual event.
In 1969 the WDR took over the running of the festival, and it received its present name. From 1969 to 1989 Wilfried Brennecke of the WDR was responsible for the programming, focussing on composers portrait concert since 1978 and introducing composers from countries behind the Iron Curtain
, such as György Kurtág
.
Since 1990 Harry Vogt, also of the WDR, has directed the program and widened the festival to all varieties of chamber music, including sound installation
s, improvisations and aspects of music theatre. Among others, the ensemble recherche from Freiburg, Klangforum Wien
, the Arditti String Quartet and the Ensemble Modern
have been regular performers. More recently, the Ascolta
and musikFabrik
ensembles have also taken part. Starting in 1999, ensemble recherche began commissioning an ongoing series of short In Nomine
compositions for the festival, dedicated to Harry Vogt, collectively titled the Witten In Nomine Broken Consort Book. Composers who have contributed pieces to this series have included Brian Ferneyhough
, Georg Friedrich Haas
, Toshio Hosokawa
, György Kurtág, Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf
, Gérard Pesson, Robert H.P. Platz, Rolf Riehm, Wolfgang Rihm
, Salvatore Sciarrino
, Matthias Pintscher
, Hans Zender
, and Walter Zimmermann
.
The festival of 2010 was an event of the European Capital of Culture
in the Ruhrgebiet, called RUHR2010. Featured composers were Matthias Pintscher
and Jörg Widmann
, both students of Hans Werner Henze
. Other composers included Beat Furrer
who founded the ensemble Klangforum Wien 25 years before, Enno Poppe
(1969), Salvatore Sciarrino
, Bernhard Lang
and Friedrich Cerha
.
The festival has been compared to the Donaueschinger Musiktage
, being described as "Donaueschingen on the Ruhr". The Goethe-Institut
states its importance, quote:
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
, jointly organised by the town Witten
Witten
Witten is a university city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the home of the Witten/Herdecke University, the first private university in Germany.-Bordering municipalities:* Bochum* Dortmund* Herdecke* Wetter * Sprockhoevel* Hattingen...
in the Ruhr Area
Ruhr
The Ruhr is a medium-size river in western Germany , a right tributary of the Rhine.-Description:The source of the Ruhr is near the town of Winterberg in the mountainous Sauerland region, at an elevation of approximately 2,200 feet...
and the broadcasting station Westdeutscher Rundfunk
Westdeutscher Rundfunk
Westdeutscher Rundfunk is a German public-broadcasting institution based in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a constituent member of the consortium of German public-broadcasting institutions, ARD...
(WDR). The concerts take place over a weekend at the end of April or in early May, and concentrate on world premieres of small-scale works, more than 600 as of 2010. They are broadcast worldwide via the European Broadcasting Union
European Broadcasting Union
The European Broadcasting Union is a confederation of 74 broadcasting organisations from 56 countries, and 49 associate broadcasters from a further 25...
.
History
The composer Robert Ruthenfranz founded the Wittener Musiktage in 1936. After World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
the festival was held at irregular intervals (1947, 1948, 1950, 1953 and 1957), until 1960 when it became an annual event.
In 1969 the WDR took over the running of the festival, and it received its present name. From 1969 to 1989 Wilfried Brennecke of the WDR was responsible for the programming, focussing on composers portrait concert since 1978 and introducing composers from countries behind the Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...
, such as György Kurtág
György Kurtág
György Kurtág is a Hungarian composer of contemporary music.- Biography :György Kurtág was born in Lugoj in the Banat region, Romania.In 1946, he began his studies at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, where he met his wife, Márta, and also György Ligeti, who became a close friend...
.
Since 1990 Harry Vogt, also of the WDR, has directed the program and widened the festival to all varieties of chamber music, including sound installation
Sound installation
Sound installation is an intermedia and time based art form. It is an expansion of an art installation in the sense that it includes the sound element and therefore the time element...
s, improvisations and aspects of music theatre. Among others, the ensemble recherche from Freiburg, Klangforum Wien
Klangforum Wien
The Klangforum Wien is an Austrian chamber orchestra, based in Vienna at the Konzerthaus, which specialises in contemporary classical music.Founded by composer and conductor Beat Furrer in 1985, it is run on collective principles, having no official principal conductor. Sylvain Cambreling is...
, the Arditti String Quartet and the Ensemble Modern
Ensemble Modern
Ensemble Modern is a chamber ensemble dedicated to the music of modern composers. Formed in 1980, the group is based in Frankfurt, Germany and made up variously of about twenty members from numerous countries....
have been regular performers. More recently, the Ascolta
Ascolta
- Early years :The orchestra was formed in 2003 by seven musicians. It is based in Stuttgart. They played their first public performance at the Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik music festival.- Current composition :...
and musikFabrik
Musikfabrik
The musikFabrik is an ensemble for contemporary music located in Cologne. Their official name is: musikFabrik Landesensemble NRW e.V. .-Overview:...
ensembles have also taken part. Starting in 1999, ensemble recherche began commissioning an ongoing series of short In Nomine
In Nomine
In Nomine is a title given to a large number of pieces of English polyphonic, predominantly instrumental music, first composed during the 16th century....
compositions for the festival, dedicated to Harry Vogt, collectively titled the Witten In Nomine Broken Consort Book. Composers who have contributed pieces to this series have included Brian Ferneyhough
Brian Ferneyhough
Brian John Peter Ferneyhough is an English composer. His music is characterized by the extensive use of complex rhythmic tuplet notation which features in all his works...
, Georg Friedrich Haas
Georg Friedrich Haas
Georg Friedrich Haas is an Austrian composer of spectral music.He grew up in Tschagguns and studied composition with Gösta Neuwirth, Iván Erőd, and piano with Doris Wolf at the Musikhochschule in Graz...
, Toshio Hosokawa
Toshio Hosokawa
is a Japanese composer of contemporary classical music.-Biography:Hosokawa studied with Yun Isang at the Berlin University of the Arts. Since 1998, Hosokawa has served as Composer-in-Residence at the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. In 2004, Hosokawa became a guest professor at Tokyo College of Music...
, György Kurtág, Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf
Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf
-Life:Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf was born in Mannheim, Germany, and studied composition with Brian Ferneyhough, Klaus Huber und Emanuel Nunes and music theory at the music academy in Freiburg, where he graduated in 1992. At the same time, he studied musicology, philosophy with Jürgen Habermas and...
, Gérard Pesson, Robert H.P. Platz, Rolf Riehm, Wolfgang Rihm
Wolfgang Rihm
Wolfgang Rihm is a German composer.Rihm is Head of the Institute of Modern Music at the Karlsruhe Conservatory of Music and has been composer in residence at the Lucerne Festival and the Salzburg Festival...
, Salvatore Sciarrino
Salvatore Sciarrino
Salvatore Sciarrino is an Italian composer of contemporary classical music.-Biography:In his youth, Sciarrino was attracted to the visual arts, but began experimenting with music when he was twelve. Though he had some lessons from Antonino Titone and Turi Belfiore, he is primarily self-taught as a...
, Matthias Pintscher
Matthias Pintscher
Matthias Pintscher is a German composer and conductor. As a youth, he studied the violin and conducting....
, Hans Zender
Hans Zender
Johannes Wolfgang Zender is a German conductor and composer.-Life:From 1956 to 1959 Zender studied piano, conducting, and composition at the Hochschule für Musik Frankfurt and at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg.From 1959 to 1963 he was Kapellmeister of the Municipal Theatres in Freiburg im...
, and Walter Zimmermann
Walter Zimmermann
Walter Zimmermann is a German composer.Zimmermann studied composition in Germany with Werner Heider and Mauricio Kagel, the theory of musical intelligence at the Institute of Sonology in Utrecht , and computer music at Colgate University in New York.Zimmerman's works are infused by a personal...
.
The festival of 2010 was an event of the European Capital of Culture
European Capital of Culture
The European Capital of Culture is a city designated by theEuropean Union for a period of one calendar year during which it organises a series of cultural events with a strong European dimension....
in the Ruhrgebiet, called RUHR2010. Featured composers were Matthias Pintscher
Matthias Pintscher
Matthias Pintscher is a German composer and conductor. As a youth, he studied the violin and conducting....
and Jörg Widmann
Jörg Widmann
Jörg Widmann is a German composer and clarinetist. He lives and works in Munich and Freiburg.- Education and career :...
, both students of Hans Werner Henze
Hans Werner Henze
Hans Werner Henze is a German composer of prodigious output best known for "his consistent cultivation of music for the theatre throughout his life"...
. Other composers included Beat Furrer
Beat Furrer
Beat Furrer is an Austrian composer and conductor of Swiss birth.Born in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, Furrer relocated to Vienna in 1975 to pursue studies with Roman Haubenstock-Ramati and Otmar Suitner . In 1985 he co-founded what is now one of Europe's leading contemporary music ensembles,...
who founded the ensemble Klangforum Wien 25 years before, Enno Poppe
Enno Poppe
Enno Poppe is a German composer and conductor of classical music and an academic teacher.-Professional career:...
(1969), Salvatore Sciarrino
Salvatore Sciarrino
Salvatore Sciarrino is an Italian composer of contemporary classical music.-Biography:In his youth, Sciarrino was attracted to the visual arts, but began experimenting with music when he was twelve. Though he had some lessons from Antonino Titone and Turi Belfiore, he is primarily self-taught as a...
, Bernhard Lang
Bernhard Lang
Bernhard Lang is an Austrian composer of the experimental and avant-garde school, particularly advocating a style he has self-termed "repetition-perpetrator"....
and Friedrich Cerha
Friedrich Cerha
Friedrich Cerha is an Austrian composer and conductor.-Biography:Cerha was born in Vienna.He received his education at the Viennese Music Academy and at the University of Vienna...
.
The festival has been compared to the Donaueschinger Musiktage
Donaueschingen Festival
The Donaueschingen Festival is a festival for new music that takes place every October in the small town of Donaueschingen...
, being described as "Donaueschingen on the Ruhr". The Goethe-Institut
Goethe-Institut
The Goethe-Institut is a non-profit German cultural institution operational worldwide, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and relations. The Goethe-Institut also fosters knowledge about Germany by providing information on German...
states its importance, quote:
Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) ... has staunchly supported contemporary music ..., playing a leading role from 1968 on at the Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik, probably the most important contemporary music festival after Donaueschingen. With its focus on small formations, Witten thrives on its high standards of composition and interpretation. This festival has pioneered major developments in the history of musical genres, including the renaissance of the string quartet, that would not have been conceivable without its advocacy.
External links
- Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik website
- Forschungsprojekt zu den Wittener Tagen research of the FU BerlinFree University of BerlinFreie Universität Berlin is one of the leading and most prestigious research universities in Germany and continental Europe. It distinguishes itself through its modern and international character. It is the largest of the four universities in Berlin. Research at the university is focused on the...
, overview (in German) - Publikation des Forschungsergebnisses, publication of the results, 2007