Erhard Karkoschka is a German composer, scholar and conductor. Karkoschka (frequently misspelled in English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 as Karkoshka) was born in the German linguistic enclave of Moravská Ostrava

Ostrava

Ostrava is the third largest city in the Czech Republic and the second largest urban agglomeration after Prague. Located close to the Polish border, it is also the administrative center of the Moravian-Silesian Region and of the Municipality with Extended Competence. Ostrava was candidate for the...

, Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

, and subsequent to World War II became a violinist for the Bayreuth Symphony Orchestra, whereupon he studied composition, musicology and conducting at the Musikhochschule in Stuttgart

Stuttgart

Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....

 and the University of Tübingen, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

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

Anton Webern

Anton Webern was an Austrian composer and conductor. He was a member of the Second Viennese School. As a student and significant follower of Arnold Schoenberg, he became one of the best-known exponents of the twelve-tone technique; in addition, his innovations regarding schematic organization of...

.

Commencing in 1948 (until 1968), he directed the Choir and Orchestra at the University of Hohenheim

University of Hohenheim

The University of Hohenheim is a university in Stuttgart, Germany. Founded in 1818 it is Stuttgart's oldest university and one of Germany's leading universities both in agricultural sciences and economics.-History:...

, the former Agricultural College, also the "Hohenheimer Schloßkonzerte". In 1958, he taught at the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart (Staatlichen 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

Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...

 in the Stuttgart Hochschule

Hochschule

Hochschule is a German term with two meanings.The literal meaning of the word Hochschule is “high school” which is not appropriate as a translation.- Generic term :...

 until his retirement in 1987.

Erhard Karkoschka authored a landmark book on musical notation

Musical notation

Music notation or musical notation is any system that represents aurally perceived music, through the use of written symbols.-History:...

, published in German, English and Japanese; "Das Schriftbild der neuen Musik", 1965. {English trans.: "Notation in New Music", London/New York 1972; Japanese: ZEN-ON Music Company Ltd., Tokyo 1978; Chinese translation 1999}. The extent of his compositions includes works for orchestra, chamber music

Chamber music

Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...

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

Cantata

A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....

s, motet

Motet

In classical music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions.-Etymology:The name comes either from the Latin movere, or a Latinized version of Old French mot, "word" or "verbal utterance." The Medieval Latin for "motet" is motectum, and the Italian...

s, psalms and songs, as well as "instructions" for group improvisation, and "music for musicians and audience". His passing in Stuttgart in 2009 was retrospect to a formidable body of creative music and music literature, that can be gleaned from his website at http://www.erhardkarkoschka.de

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 [organ] (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
  Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
  
   (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
  Paul Celan
  Paul Celan was a poet and translator...
  
   (1996–98)
• Sound woodcut time in three scenes on poems by Günter Sopper (2004)

Fonts

• The form of the new music, Moeckverlag Celle 1965
• Analysisof new music, Döring Publisher Herenberg 1976
• New Music - Listening - Understanding, Döring Publisher Herenberg 1978
• Essay on Webern's use of the guitar in his Opera 10, 18 and 19 giulianiad nova, Volume 3/Nr. 11-12/88

External links

• The Erhard Karkoschka Home Page
• Erhard Karkoschka in German Wikipedia
• Aspects to Group Improvisation
• Notation in New Music