Friedrich Cerha

Friedrich Cerha ( born February 17, 1926 in Vienna) is an Austrian composer and conductor.

Life

Cerha received his education at the Vienna Academy of Music (violin, composition, music education) and at the University of Vienna ( musicology, German literature, philosophy ). In 1958 he founded together with Kurt Schwertsik the ensemble the series, which he created an important tool for the dissemination of contemporary music in Austria. In addition to his compositions Cerha solidified his reputation as an interpreter of Alban Berg, Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern; the affinity for the works of the Second Viennese School culminated in the completion of Alban Berg's opera Lulu, for Cerha completed the orchestration of the third act and the gaps added (premiered by Pierre Boulez, Paris 1979).

From 1959 Cerha teacher at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna and from 1976 to 1988 was Professor of "composition, notation and interpretation of music." Among his students, among others, Georg Friedrich Haas, Dirk D' Ase and Karlheinz Essl.

The even in old age still compositionally active Cerha occurs mainly as a composer of orchestral works and stage works (including Baal, The Pied Piper ) in appearance, with the premiere of The Giant from Steinfeld, - a work commissioned by the Vienna State Opera after a text by Peter Turrini - in June 2002 is one of his recent success. Other premieres of his works took place (pulses for large orchestra, commissioned by the Vienna Philharmonic for the 150th anniversary of its existence ) and March 2006 ( the Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Orchestra in 2004 ) in January 2006. Cerha is meanwhile also from an international perspective as the most important contemporary composer in Austria, resulting in the awarding of the "Golden Lion" was expressed in 2006 at the Venice Music Biennale.

Style

After the war, Cerha initially dealt with the prevailing in concert life and teaching operation neoclassicism ( the 1947/1948 written in 1954 revised Divertimento is a tribute to Stravinsky ). Later, the works of Anton Webern and from 1956 the serial techniques of vanguard starting points for further independent compositional developments ( Relazioni fragili, Espressioni fondamentali, Intersecazioni ) were.

With Movements, fasce and its mirror - cycle (1960/1961), he has created a traditional formulations completely free musical language. It is distinct from apparently similar in simultaneously and independently caused it works by Ligeti or Penderecki primarily by the fact that tangible development processes play a crucial role and, in conjunction with non- linear processes cause large formal contexts, the one the entire work into a coherent system to can be kind of cosmos. Im not previously realized " world theater " concept to the mirrors correspond to quasi viewed from spatio- temporal distance behavior of the mass ' "man" the musical processes in mass structures.

In the stage play network, on the basis of deliberately heterogeneous material einbegreifenden Exercises (1962-1967) emerged, the perspectives change between ground reactions and how grown under the microscope Individual areas. Stylistically and structurally regressive elements break into a purist world of sound and create complex conditions of disorder and order in an organism that corresponds to the image of a " world as a networked system ."

After a series of instrumental works, which take in the interest of expanding the available material it direct reference to historical idioms (Curriculum, Symphony ), all previously achieved structural forms are seamlessly interwoven in the opera Baal ( 1974-1980 ). The individual shall now provocatively into the center of interest, but the range from mirror-like sound fields that are available for Urgrundhaftes, to clearly articulate melodic and harmonic forms in which this manifests itself differentiated Beteiligtsein of the individual. In the opera, The Pied Piper (1984-1986) in addition especially polyrhythmic formations with leitmotivischer importance for riots and unrest are integrated. A resumption of clashes with various forms of folklore, already detectable in early work, refers in smaller works like the Keintaten (1982-1984, according to Ernst None) and chansons (eg based on texts of the Vienna group) on a stylization and distortion of the Viennese idiom. In the sometimes microtonal string quartets, however step up influences from non-European music trends to polyrhythmic and metric formations. The last works ( Langegger Nachtmusik III, Third String Quartet ) reaffirm that it Cerha - onset in 1962 - interest remains to cope with a variety of today perceivable in complex musical organisms.

Awards

Works

Writings

The Turandotstoff in German literature, Vienna 1950. Dissertation
Fonts - A network text collection and introductions, Vienna 2001

Compositions

Operas Baal, 1974/81 - text: Bertolt Brecht
The Pied Piper, 1987 - Text: Carl Zuckmayer
Completion of the opera Lulu by Alban Berg, 1962-78
The giant from Steinfeld, 2002 - Text: Peter Turrini, 2002
Uncle President, 2013 - Text: Peter Wolf and Friedrich Cerha

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