The Beethoven Prize of the city of Bonn was an international composition competition. In 1959 Bonn's Lord Mayor Wilhelm Daniels announced the establishment of a Beethoven prize for "the best orchestral work of a young composer". No restrictions were made to genre, style and instrumentation of the composition. The prize was given every 3 years, the prize money was 25,000DM (1961: biennially, 5,000DM). The prize was last awarded in 1992. Other Beethoven Prizes existed in Vienna and Berlin.

Recipients

* 1961

Heimo Erbse Heimo Erbse (27 February 1924 – 22 September 2005) was a German composer from Rudolstadt. Erbse studied in Weimar, and then worked from 1947 to 1950 in the theater before studying under Blacher in 1950. He lived most of his life in Austria ...

for ''Pavimento'', op. 19, for large orchestra * 1963

Milko Kelemen Milko Kelemen (30 March 1924 – 8 March 2018) was a Croatian composer. Life Milko Kelemen was born in Slatina, Croatia (then Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes). He studied under Stjepan Šulek in Zagreb, under Olivier Messiaen in Paris ...

for ''Transfiguration'' for piano and orchestra * 1967

György Ligeti György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde music, avant-garde composers in the latter half of the ...

for ''Requiem'' * 1970

Klaus Huber Klaus Huber (30 November 1924 – 2 October 2017) was a Swiss composer and academic based in Basel and Freiburg. Among his students were Brian Ferneyhough, Michael Jarrell, Younghi Pagh-Paan, Toshio Hosokawa, Wolfgang Rihm, and Kaija Saaria ...

for ''Tenebrae'' * 1974

Bruno Maderna Bruno Maderna (born Bruno Grossato, 21 April 1920 – 13 November 1973) was an Italian composer, conductor and academic teacher. Life Maderna was born Bruno Grossato in Venice but later decided to take the name of his mother, Caterina Carolina M ...

for ''Aura'' for orchestra (posthum),

Peter Michael Hamel Peter Michael Hamel (born 15 July 1947 in Munich) is a German composer. His works have been associated with the Minimal music, minimalist style of composition, and in the late 1970s with the New Simplicity movement. He is the son of the film ...

for ''Dharana'',

Chris Hinze Christiaan Herbert "Chris" Hinze (born June 30, 1938, Hilversum, Netherlands) is a Dutch people, Dutch jazz and New Age music, New age flautist. Life and work Hinze initially performed publicly as a pianist until the mid-1960s, when he began ...

for ''Live Music Now'' * 1977

Iannis Xenakis Giannis Klearchou Xenakis (also spelled for professional purposes as Yannis or Iannis Xenakis; , ; 29 May 1922 – 4 February 2001) was a Romanian-born Greek-French avant-garde composer, music theorist, architect, performance director and enginee ...

for ''Erikhthon'' for orchestra,

Pauline Oliveros Pauline Oliveros (May 30, 1932 – November 24, 2016) was an American composer, accordionist and a central figure in the development of post-war experimental and electronic music. She was a founding member of the San Francisco Tape Music Center ...

for ''Bonn Fire'',

Pierre Mariétan Pierre Mariétan (23 September 1935 – 23 March 2025) was a Swiss composer. Biography Born in Monthey, Mariétan studied first at the Geneva Conservatory in 1955–60 with Marescotti and later with, amongst others, Pierre Boulez, Bernd Alois Z ...

for ''Opus Wassermusik, Luftklang, Straßenmusik'' * 1980

Wolfgang Rihm Wolfgang Rihm (; 13 March 1952 – 27 July 2024) was a German composer of contemporary classical music and an academic teacher based in Karlsruhe. He was an influential post-war European composer, as "one of the most original and independent mus ...

for '' Jacob Lenz'', Aleksander Lasón for ''Symphonie concertante'' for piano and orchestra,

Reinhard Febel Reinhard Febel (born 3 July 1952) is a German composer, notable for his operas. He is also a music theorist and a university professor at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover and the Mozarteum. Career Febel was born in Metzinge ...

for ''Charivari'' for ensemble * 1983 Manuel Hildalgo for ''Hacia'' (string quartet),

Manfred Stahnke Manfred Stahnke (born 30 October 1951) is a German composer and musicologist from Hamburg. He writes chamber music, orchestral music and stage music. His music makes extensive use of microtonality. He plays piano and viola. Life Manfred Stahnke wa ...

for ''Penthesilea'' (3rd string quartet), Joachim Krebs for ''Quartettomanie'' (2nd string quartet) * 1986 Jörg Birkenkötter for ''Sechs Stücke für Kammerensemble'', Michael Jarell for ''Trei II'' for soprano and five instruments, Konstantinos Varotsis for "Schillern" ("Iridescences") * 1989 Bernd Jestl for ''Der König stirbt'' (opera), Hermann Spree for ''Aufregungszustand am Nachmittag'' (chamber opera) * 1992 Paul Roberts for ''Align II'' for Saxophon-Trio and Piano

References

{{Classical music awards German music awards Classical music awards Ludwig van Beethoven Awards established in 1959 1959 establishments in West Germany