Heinz-Klaus Metzger (6 February 1932 – 25 October 2009) was a German

music critic '' The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of m ...

and

theorist A theory is a systematic and rational form of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the conclusions derived from such thinking. It involves contemplative and logical reasoning, often supported by processes such as observation, experimentation, ...

. Born in

Konstanz Konstanz ( , , , ), traditionally known as Constance in English, is a college town, university city with approximately 83,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the Baden-Württemberg state of south Germany. The city ho ...

, Metzger studied piano under Carl Seemann in

Freiburg im Breisgau Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

and composition under Max Deutsch in Paris. Later, he met

Theodor W. Adorno Theodor W. Adorno ( ; ; born Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund; 11 September 1903 – 6 August 1969) was a German philosopher, musicologist, and social theorist. He was a leading member of the Frankfurt School of critical theory, whose work has com ...

Edgard Varèse Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse (; also spelled Edgar; December 22, 1883 – November 6, 1965) was a French and American composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States. Varèse's music emphasizes timbre and rhythm; h ...

Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...

and

Luigi Nono Luigi Nono (; 29 January 1924 – 8 May 1990) was an Italian avant-garde composer of classical music. Biography Early years Nono, born in Venice, was a member of a wealthy artistic family; his grandfather was a notable painter. Nono bega ...

at the

Darmstadt International Summer Courses for New Music Darmstadt () is a city in the state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the fourth largest city in the state of Hesse aft ...

. Here he found his role as a notable theoretician and proponent of

serialism In music, serialism is a method of composition using series of pitches, rhythms, dynamics, timbres or other musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, though some of his contemporaries were also ...

in musical theory. He participated as a distinguished contributor to a series of important texts in the journal ''

Die Reihe ''Die Reihe'' () was a German-language music academic journal, edited by Herbert Eimert and Karlheinz Stockhausen and published by Universal Edition (Vienna) between 1955 and 1962 (). An English edition was published, under the original German ...

''. Metzger was among the first critics to promote Stockhausen's music, but was soon a substantial critic of Stockhausen's compositional development. In the 1960s, Metzger was one of the first European commentators on

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and Extended technique, non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one ...

, and spokesman of "compositional anarchy", which resulted in the ''Kölner Manifest'' of 1960, and serving as a copy editor of the magazine ''Collage'' in

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

. From 1965 until 1969 he worked as a music critic for the magazine ''

Die Weltwoche ''Die Weltwoche'' (, "The World Week") is a Swiss weekly magazine based in Zürich. Founded in 1933, it has been privately owned by Roger Köppel since 2006. The magazine's regular columnists include the former president of the Social Democrati ...

'' in Zürich. In 1969, he founded, together with his partner, composer and conductor

Rainer Riehn Rainer Riehn (12 November 1941 – 9 June 2015) was a German composer and conductor, and a co-editor of music theory magazines. Riehn was born in Danzig, Germany (modern Gdańsk, Poland) studied music theory in Mainz, Zürich, and Berlin and com ...

, the Ensemble Musica Negativa, where they embraced the performance of radical new music. In 1987, Metzger and Riehn became the chief dramatic advisors of the

Oper Frankfurt The Oper Frankfurt (Frankfurt Opera) is a German opera company based in Frankfurt. Opera in Frankfurt am Main has a long tradition, with many world premieres such as Franz Schreker's ''Der ferne Klang'' in 1912, ''Fennimore and Gerda, Fennimore ...

under

Gary Bertini Gary Bertini (; May 1, 1927 – March 17, 2005) was one of the most important Israeli musicians and conductors. In 1978 he was awarded the Israel Prize for Music. Biography Gary Bertini was born ''Shloyme Golergant'' in Bricheva, Bessarabia, th ...

. During their tenure, Oper Frankfurt commissioned and premiered John Cage's ''

Europeras ''Europeras'' is a series of five operas by the composer John Cage. Cage explained the punning title thus: "For two hundred years the Europeans have been sending us their operas. Now I'm sending them back." Europeras I and II Europeras I and I ...

'' I and II. From 1977 to 2002, Metzger and Riehn founded, edited, researched, and provided texts criticism for the musicology series ''

Musik-Konzepte ''Musik-Konzepte'' is a quarterly series of German language musicology texts founded in 1977 by Heinz-Klaus Metzger and Rainer Riehn and dedicated to the avant-garde in music of all epochs. Since 2004 it has been edited by Ulrich Tadday. H ...

'' (Concepts of music); for this they received the

Deutscher Kritikerpreis Deutscher Kritikerpreis was a cultural prize awarded annually by the Association of German Critics (Verband der Deutschen Kritiker e.V.) from 1951 to 2009. This award was given for outstanding contributions in the fields of architecture, the fi ...

(German critics prize) in 1983. Also, they edited the two first volumes of the compositions of Adorno. Metzger has received honorary doctorates from the

Berlin University of the Arts The Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK; also known in English as the Berlin University of the Arts), situated in Berlin, Germany, is the second largest art school in Europe. It is a public art and design school, and one of the four research uni ...

and from the

University of Palermo The University of Palermo () is a public university, public research university in Palermo, Italy. It was founded in 1806, and is currently organized in 12 Faculties. History The University of Palermo was officially founded in 1806, although it ...

. Metzger died in Berlin in 2009 at the age of 77., Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt, 26 October 2009 (in German)

Works

* ''Musik wozu. Literatur zu Noten'', with

, Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp 1980 * ''Die freigelassene Musik. Schriften zu John Cage'', Rainer Riehn and (editors), Wien: Klever Verlag 2012

References

External links

1972 interview transcript
Metzger,

Morton Feldman Morton Feldman (January 12, 1926 – September 3, 1987) was an American composer. A major figure in 20th-century classical music, Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminacy in music, a development associated with the experimental New York School o ...

Earle Brown Earle Brown (December 26, 1926 – July 2, 2002) was an American composer who established his own formal and notational systems. Brown was the creator of "open form," a style of musical construction that has influenced many composers since, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Metzger, Heinz-Klaus 1932 births 2009 deaths German art critics German music theorists 20th-century German musicians 20th-century German male musicians 20th-century German musicologists Brahms scholars Bruckner scholars Bussotti scholars Cage scholars Nono scholars Schoenberg scholars Stockhausen scholars Webern scholars