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 Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media (, abbreviated to HMTMH) is a university of performing arts and media in Hanover, the capital of Lower Saxony, Germany. Dating to , it has reorganised and changed names as it developed over the years, ...

and the

Mozarteum Mozarteum University Salzburg ( German: ''Universität Mozarteum Salzburg'') is one of three affiliated but separate (it is actually a state university) entities under the "Mozarteum" name in Salzburg municipality; the International Mozarteu ...

Career

Febel was born in

Metzingen Metzingen () is a Swabian city with about 22,000 inhabitants, in Reutlingen county, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, south of Stuttgart. The city of Metzingen is known internationally for its outlets of all kinds of famous companies, centered arou ...

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

, and first studied music and piano with Jürgen Uhde at the

Musikhochschule Stuttgart The State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart is a professional school for musicians and performing artists in Stuttgart, Germany. Founded in 1857, it is one of the oldest schools of its kind in Germany. It is one of the oldest and ...

. On a recommendation from

Helmut Lachenmann Helmut Friedrich Lachenmann (; born 27 November 1935) is a German composer of contemporary classical music and pianist. Associated with the "instrumental musique concrète" style, Lachenmann is alongside Wolfgang Rihm as among the leading Germa ...

he studied composition from 1979, with

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 ...

at the

Hochschule für Musik Freiburg The Hochschule für Musik Freiburg ("University of Music Freiburg or Freiburg Conservatory of Music") is a public music academy subsidized by the State of Baden-Württemberg for academic research and artistic and pedagogical training in music. ...

and at the

IRCAM IRCAM (French: ''Ircam, '', English: Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music) is a French institute dedicated to the research of music and sound, especially in the fields of Avant-garde music, avant garde and Electroacoustic ...

in Paris where he attended courses in electronic music in 1982. On a commission of the

Bayerische Staatsoper The Bavarian State Opera () is a German opera company based in Munich. Its main venue is the Nationaltheater München, and its orchestra the Bavarian State Orchestra. History The parent ensemble of the company was founded in 1653, under Ele ...

he composed the chamber opera Euridice, premiered in 1983. He described his work "The musical world of Euridice is a hybrid of instrumentation, pastiche, collage, composition, sound-noise, and song-language-speech particles." He worked from 1983 to 1988 as a freelance composer in London, in 1984 in Rome on a scholarship of the Villa Massimo. In 1985 his ''Symphony'', composed for the Youth Orchestra of the European Community, was premiered at the Donaueschinger Musiktage. In 1989 he took over the Chair of Composition and Music Theory at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover. In 1992 his opera in three acts ''Sekunden und Jahre des Caspar Hauser'' (Seconds and years of Caspar Hauser) on a libretto by Lukas Hemleb was premiered at the

Opernhaus Dortmund Opernhaus Dortmund is the opera house of Dortmund, Germany, operated by the Theater Dortmund organisation. A new opera house opened in 1966, replacing an earlier facility which opened in 1904 and was destroyed during World War II. It was built o ...

. In 1996 WERGO recorded his ''Variations for Orchestra'', ''Das Unendliche'' (The Infinite) for mezzo-soprano, baritone and orchestra, and his first string quartet, played by the

Arditti Quartet The Arditti Quartet is a string quartet founded in 1974 and led by the British violinist Irvine Arditti. The quartet is a globally recognized promoter of contemporary classical music and has a reputation for having a very wide repertoire. They ...

. Joseph Stevenson described ''Variations for Orchestra'' as "a highly individual, strikingly mysterious one-movement orchestral piece in a post-modern style that mixes tonality and atonality in a freely chromatic technique." ''Das Unendliche'' on a poem by

Giacomo Leopardi Count Giacomo Taldegardo Francesco di Sales Saverio Pietro Leopardi (29 June 1798 – 14 June 1837) was an Italian philosopher, poet, essayist, and philologist. Considered the greatest Italian poet of the 19th century and one of the greatest a ...

begins with an instrumental reference to the opera ''Euridice''. The string quartet shows elements of American

Minimal music Minimal music (also called minimalism)"Minimalism in music has been defined as an aesthetic, a style, and a technique, each of which has been a suitable description of the term at certain points in the development of minimal music. However, two ...

and is written in a notation of eight lines, two for each player. In 2003 ''Wolkenstein, Lieder und Chöre nach Texten und Melodien des Oswald von Wolkenstein'' (Wolkenstein, songs and choruses after texts and tunes of

Oswald von Wolkenstein Oswald von Wolkenstein (1376 or 1377 in Pfalzen – August 2, 1445, in Meran) was a poetry, poet, composer and diplomacy, diplomat. In his diplomatic capacity, he traveled through much of Europe to as far as Georgia (country), Georgia (as recoun ...

) was first performed at the

Berliner Philharmonie The () is a concert hall in Berlin, Germany, and home to the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. The Philharmonie lies on the south edge of the city's Tiergarten and just west of the former Berlin Wall. The Philharmonie is on Herbert-von-Karajan- ...

. ''Triptychon'' is a "Kammermusiktheater für zwei Sänger, zwei Schauspieler und Kammerorchester nach drei Gemälden von Frida Kahlo, Edward Hopper und Diego Velázquez" (chamber music theater for two singers, two actors and chamber orchestra on three paintings by

Frida Kahlo Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón (; 6 July 1907 – 13 July 1954) was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Inspired by Culture of Mexico, the country' ...

Edward Hopper Edward Hopper (July 22, 1882 – May 15, 1967) was an American realism painter and printmaker. He is one of America's most renowned artists and known for his skill in depicting modern American life and landscapes. Born in Nyack, New York, to a ...

and

Diego Velázquez Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (baptised 6 June 15996 August 1660) was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the Noble court, court of King Philip IV of Spain, Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, and of the Spanish Golden Age. He i ...

) on a text by the composer. The three parts are entitled "Frida", "Gespensterhaus" (Ghost house) and "Raum 17" (Room 17). The opera was premiered in 2009 at the

Opernhaus Kiel Opernhaus Kiel (Kiel Opera House) is the major venue for opera, ballet, and orchestral performances in Kiel, and home to Theater Kiel. It is a Grade II listed building. History After an architectural competition, the Kiel City Council commis ...

. Over the years he spent periods of study, teaching and composing abroad, including in South America (Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Argentina), New Zealand, South Africa (

University of Natal The University of Natal was a university in the former South African province Natal which later became KwaZulu-Natal. The University of Natal no longer exists as a distinct legal entity, as it was incorporated into the University of KwaZulu- ...

) and Cameroon, and in cities such as

Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...

, Edinburgh and

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

. Since 1997 he has been professor of composition at the

Mozarteum University of Salzburg Mozarteum University Salzburg (German language, German: ''Universität Mozarteum Salzburg'') is one of three affiliated but separate (it is actually a state university) entities under the "Mozarteum" name in Salzburg, Salzburg municipality; th ...

Stage works

''Frida'', ''Gespensterhaus'' and ''Raum 17'' were presented as ''Triptychon'', an operatic triptych based on paintings. Febel's works have been published by

Ricordi Ricordi may refer to: People * Giovanni Ricordi (1785–1853), Italian violinist and publishing company founder *Giulio Ricordi (1840–1912), Italian publisher and musician Music *Casa Ricordi, an Italian music publishing company established i ...

Awards

* 1980 Beethoven Prize of

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

* 1984 Villa Massimo * 1988

Publications

* Reinhard Febel: ''Musik für zwei Klaviere seit 1950 als Spiegel der Kompositionstechnik''. Pfau Verlag, Saarbrücken 1998. * Rainer Nonnemann (ed.) and Reinhard Febel: ''Alles ständig in Bewegung: Texte zur Musik 1976–2003.'' Pfau Verlag, Saarbrücken 2004.

Literature

Günter Katzenberger Günter Katzenberger (25 May 1937 – 28 December 2020) was a German musician, musicologist, conductor, and university faculty, professor for Music history, Historical musicology at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover

(editor): ''Reinhard Febel. Beiträge zu seinem musikalischen Schaffen.'' Hannoversche Gesellschaft für Neue Musik. Ricordi, Feldkirchen 1994, .

References

External links

O.Univ.Prof. Reinhard Febel / Univ.Prof. für Komposition / 1. Stellvertreter Neue Musik / Abteilungsleiterstellvertreter Dirigieren/Komposition und Musiktheorie

Reinhard Febel
(German) Deutscher Musikrat
Reinhard Febel
mica *

bach-cantatas.com

(German) SWR 2 {{DEFAULTSORT:Febel, Reinhard 1952 births Living people People from Metzingen German composers German music theorists German music educators Academic staff of the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover Academic staff of Mozarteum University Salzburg Hochschule für Musik Freiburg alumni State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart alumni