Rudolf Gaehler (* February 11, 1941, in Hoyerswerda) is a German violinist. He uses the
curved bow
The curved bow for string instruments enables string players to control the tension of the bow hair in order to play one, two, three and four strings simultaneously and to change easily among these possibilities. The high arch of the bow allows f ...
for playing polyphonic music.
Biography
Rudolf Gaehler studied the violin with Rolph Schroeder in Kassel and Vittorio Brero in Berlin. He was first concertmaster of the Bonn Beethoven Orchestra for many years.
Rudolf Gaehler is one of the few violinists to master the modern curved-bow technique. Following a concert given by Rudolf Gaehler during the 48th Bach Festival of the New Bach Society in Nuremberg in 1973, Guenther Haußwald, editor of the New Bach Edition, was surprised by the “polyphonic power” Bach gained through an interpretation with the modern curved bow. For a direct comparison of different interpretations, Rudolf Gaehler played at the Wuerzburg 57th Bach Festival in 1982 together with Dimitri Sitkowetski; with Mark Kaplan in the ARD television broadcast on the occasion of
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...
’s 300th birthday in 1985; and with
Thomas Zehetmair
Thomas Zehetmair (born 23 November 1961) is an Austrian violinist and conductor.
Biography
Zehetmair was born in Salzburg, and studied at the Salzburg Mozarteum, where both of his parents taught. His festival debut was at age 16. He was in mast ...
during the symposium “Sei Solo” of the European String Teachers Association (President: Sir
Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi or Jehudi (Hebrew: יהודי, endonym for Jew) is a common Hebrew name:
* Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999), violinist and conductor
** Yehudi Menuhin School, a music school in Surrey, England
** Who's Yehoodi?, a catchphrase referring to t ...
) and the international Bach Academy Stuttgart in 1990 (artistic director:
Helmut Rilling). Radio and television broadcasts as well as gramophone and CD recordings illustrate the wide range of his repertoire and the rich tonal spectrum produced with the normal, traditional bow as well as with the curved bow Apart from his activities as a soloist, Rudolf Gaehler gives master classes at home and abroad, and appears as a specialist at conferences, symposia and festivals.
Publications
* ''Der Rundbogen für die Violine – ein Phantom?'' (''The Curved Bow for the Violin - a Phantom?'') Con Brio Verlagsgesellschaft, Regensburg 1997,
[https://www.bach-bogen.de/produkt/rudolf-gahler-der-rundbogen-fur-die-violine-ein-phantom/ , Review: Michael Bach, Neue Klangfarben und Nuancen beim Spiel, nmz 1997]
Radio and TV
* WDR 3, Köln, Broadcast concerning the curved bow, "Musikszene" July 21, 1998 (radio editor: Friedegard Hürter)
* Johann Sebastian Bach, ''Sonatas and Partitas'' for Violin solo, BWV 1001–1006, ARTE NOVA Musikproduktion GmbH, München 1998
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaehler, Rudolf
1941 births
Living people
German violinists
21st-century violinists