Erhard Karkoschka (March 6, 1923 – June 26, 2009), was a German

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

scholar A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a termina ...

and conductor. Karkoschka was born in the German linguistic enclave of Moravská Ostrava,

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

, and subsequent to World War II became a violinist for the Bayreuth Symphony Orchestra, leading to studies in composition, musicology and conducting at the Musikhochschule in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

and the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (; ), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The University of Tübingen is one of eleven German Excellenc ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. His doctoral thesis was an analysis of the compositional techniques in the early works of

Anton Webern Anton Webern (; 3 December 1883 – 15 September 1945) was an Austrian composer, conductor, and musicologist. His music was among the most radical of its milieu in its lyric poetry, lyrical, poetic concision and use of then novel atonality, aton ...

. From 1948 until 1968, he directed the choir and orchestra at the

University of Hohenheim A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

, the former Agricultural College, and the "Hohenheimer Schloßkonzerte". In 1958, he taught at the State University of Music and Performing Arts in Stuttgart (Staatlichen Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart). :de:Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart Then in 1962, he founded his Ensemble for New Musik, which eventually broke away from the school in 1976 and was renamed the Contac-Ensemble. In 1973, he became the director of the ''Studio for

Electronic Music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

'' in the Stuttgart Hochschule until his retirement in 1987. Erhard Karkoschka wrote a book on

musical notation Musical notation is any system used to visually represent music. Systems of notation generally represent the elements of a piece of music that are considered important for its performance in the context of a given musical tradition. The proce ...

, published in German, English and Japanese; "Das Schriftbild der neuen Musik", 1965. . The extent of his compositions includes works for orchestra,

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

and scenic music for various instruments, organ works, works for electronic instruments,

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian language, Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal music, vocal Musical composition, composition with an musical instrument, instrumental accompaniment, ty ...

motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the preeminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to the Eng ...

psalm The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament. The book is an anthology of H ...

s and

songs A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usuall ...

, as well as "instructions" for group improvisation, and "music for musicians and audience". He died in Stuttgart in 2009.

Works

*''Symphonic Evolution of two personal themes'' (1953) *''God is a King! for mixed voices for words from the 47th, 4 and 74 Psalm'' (1954) *''Symphonia Choralis on "Veni Sancte Spiritus" ''(1957) *''Small Concerto for Violin and Chamber Orchestra'' (1965) *''Four stages'' (1965) *''Triptychon about B-A-C-H rgan' (1966) *''Variations for anything original theme and out of'' (1974) *''Musical fountain'', multimedia project (1975) *''Teleologies'' (1978) *''Allklang'' (1978) *''Unfolding'' (1982/83) *''Chamber Music for Orchestra'' (1983) *''From death. From the rebirth'', based on texts by

Martin Luther Martin Luther ( ; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, Theology, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and former Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. Luther was the seminal figure of the Reformation, Pr ...

(1983) *''Wind Poem'' (1987) *''Sound time spectacle after one of Skriptogramm from Kurt Leonhard'' (1988) *''Orpheus choirs for the metamorphoses of Publius Ovidius Naso'' (1989) *''Orpheus? Or Hades'' height, chamber opera (1990–92) *''Heading''-between two Schubert Ländler (1994) *''N quarto: Papafrebe'' (1995) *''Celan Variations I-V, poems by Paul Celan'' (1996–98) *''Sound woodcut time in three scenes'' on poems by Günter Sopper (2004)

Writings

* ''Das Schriftbild der neuen Musik''. Celle: Moeck 1966. English edition (translation by Ruth Koenig): ''Notation in new music : a critical guide to interpretation and realisation''. London . o. Universal Edition 1972. Japanese edition, (translation by Yoshirō Irino): ''Gendai ongaku no kifu''. Tokyo: Zen'ongakufushuppansha 1978. ISBN 4-11800-181-0, ISBN 9784118001814 * ''Neue Musik: Analyse''. Herrenberg: Döring 1976 * (with Hubert Haas) ''Neue Musik hören. Eine Hörerziehung mit neuer Musik in Theorie und Praxis''. Textbook and cassette. Rohrdorf: Rohrdorfer Musikverlag Schmid 1981 *''Essay on Webern's use of the guitar in his Opera 10, 18 and 19'' Nova Giulianiad, Volume 3/Nr. 11-12/88

Notes

External links

The Erhard Karkoschka Home Page
* Erhard Karkoschka in German Wikipedia
Aspects to Group Improvisation

Notation in New Music
{{DEFAULTSORT:Karkoschka, Erhard 1923 births 2009 deaths German composers German male conductors (music) University of Tübingen alumni Naturalized citizens of Germany Musicians from Ostrava 20th-century German musicologists 20th-century German conductors (music) 20th-century German male musicians Moravian-German people