Michael Denhoff
Encyclopedia
Michael Denhoff is a German
composer
and cellist
.
since 1982. He studied at the Musikhochschule in Cologne
, where his teachers included Günter Bialas
and Hans Werner Henze
(composition), Siegfried Palm
and Erling Blöndal Bengtsson
(cello) and the Amadeus Quartet
(chamber music). As a composer and chamber musician, he occupied various teaching posts, including a lectureship in composition at the University of Mainz (1984-85) and a guest professorship at the National Conservatory of Hanoi
(1997-99). From 1985 to 1992 he also conducted the Akademische Orchester Bonn, which he founded. As a cellist, he formed the Denhoff Piano Trio with his brother Johannes (violin) and the pianist Richard Braun. Since 1992, he has been a member of the Ludwig Quartet of Bonn, and he also works closely with the pianist Birgitta Wollenweber. As a composer, he has won several prizes and distinctions, including the Bernd Alois Zimmermann Prize (1986) and the Annette von Droste-Hülshoff Prize (1989).
Denhoff's music shows the influence of poetry and the visual arts. Several of his orchestral and chamber works have been inspired by lyrics and paintings. Thus, there are instrumental works and cycles based on pictures by Chagall, Klee
, Kandinsky, Dürer and especially Goya (El sueño de la razon produce monstruos, 1982; Desastres de la guerra, 1983; Los disparates
, 1988). The literary figures who have most left their mark on his music are Rilke, Celan
, Beckett
and Mallarmé
. Other works characteristic of his compositional thought include cycles in the form of 'musical diaries' (Klangtagebuch, 1984; Hebdomadaire, 1990). The most significant of these works is the piano quintet Hauptweg und Nebenwege (1998), which lasts nearly three hours. This piece gathers together the essential aspects of his music, their relationship to musical tradition, and also the influences of literature and the visual arts.
Denhoff's compositional vocabulary shows evidence of a sensitive feeling for harmony and form, whose roots are to be found in composers such as Bernd Alois Zimmermann
, Olivier Messiaen
, Morton Feldman
and György Kurtág
.
CDs featuring Denhoff's works are available on the WERGO
, Col Legno and Cybele labels.
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...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and cellist
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
.
Life
Denhoff has lived and worked in BonnBonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
since 1982. He studied at the Musikhochschule in Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, where his teachers included Günter Bialas
Günter Bialas
-Life:Bialas was born in Bielschowitz in Prussian Silesia. The adolescent Bialas received lessons in piano and music theory from Fritz Lubrich, a former student of Max Reger, in Kattowitz between 1922 and 1925...
and Hans Werner Henze
Hans Werner Henze
Hans Werner Henze is a German composer of prodigious output best known for "his consistent cultivation of music for the theatre throughout his life"...
(composition), Siegfried Palm
Siegfried Palm
Siegfried Palm was a German cellist who is known worldwide for his interpretations of contemporary music. Many 20th-century composers like Kagel, Ligeti, Xenakis, Penderecki and Zimmermann wrote music for him....
and Erling Blöndal Bengtsson
Erling Blöndal Bengtsson
Erling Blöndal Bengtsson is a Danish cellist.Born in Copenhagen, Bengtsson gave his first public performance there in 1936, when he was four years old. He was admitted at the age of sixteen to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where he studied with Gregor Piatigorsky, who engaged him...
(cello) and the Amadeus Quartet
Amadeus Quartet
The Amadeus Quartet was a world famous string quartet founded in 1947.Because of their Jewish origin, violinists Norbert Brainin, Siegmund Nissel and Peter Schidlof were driven out of Vienna after Hitler's Anschluss of 1938...
(chamber music). As a composer and chamber musician, he occupied various teaching posts, including a lectureship in composition at the University of Mainz (1984-85) and a guest professorship at the National Conservatory of Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
(1997-99). From 1985 to 1992 he also conducted the Akademische Orchester Bonn, which he founded. As a cellist, he formed the Denhoff Piano Trio with his brother Johannes (violin) and the pianist Richard Braun. Since 1992, he has been a member of the Ludwig Quartet of Bonn, and he also works closely with the pianist Birgitta Wollenweber. As a composer, he has won several prizes and distinctions, including the Bernd Alois Zimmermann Prize (1986) and the Annette von Droste-Hülshoff Prize (1989).
Denhoff's music shows the influence of poetry and the visual arts. Several of his orchestral and chamber works have been inspired by lyrics and paintings. Thus, there are instrumental works and cycles based on pictures by Chagall, Klee
Paul Klee
Paul Klee was born in Münchenbuchsee, Switzerland, and is considered both a German and a Swiss painter. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. He was, as well, a student of orientalism...
, Kandinsky, Dürer and especially Goya (El sueño de la razon produce monstruos, 1982; Desastres de la guerra, 1983; Los disparates
Los disparates
Los disparates or Los proverbios is a probably-incomplete series of engravings in aquatint and etching, with retouching in drypoint and burin. It was produced by Francisco de Goya between 1815 and 1823....
, 1988). The literary figures who have most left their mark on his music are Rilke, Celan
Paul Celan
Paul Celan was a poet and translator...
, Beckett
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
and Mallarmé
Mallarmé
Mallarmé can refer to:* Stéphane Mallarmé , French poet and critic.* François-René-Auguste Mallarmé , politician during the French Revolution....
. Other works characteristic of his compositional thought include cycles in the form of 'musical diaries' (Klangtagebuch, 1984; Hebdomadaire, 1990). The most significant of these works is the piano quintet Hauptweg und Nebenwege (1998), which lasts nearly three hours. This piece gathers together the essential aspects of his music, their relationship to musical tradition, and also the influences of literature and the visual arts.
Denhoff's compositional vocabulary shows evidence of a sensitive feeling for harmony and form, whose roots are to be found in composers such as Bernd Alois Zimmermann
Bernd Alois Zimmermann
Bernd Alois Zimmermann was a post-WWII West German composer. He is perhaps best known for his opera Die Soldaten which is regarded as one of the most important operas of the 20th century...
, Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen was a French composer, organist and ornithologist, one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex ; harmonically and melodically it is based on modes of limited transposition, which he abstracted from his early compositions and improvisations...
, Morton Feldman
Morton Feldman
Morton Feldman was an American composer, born in New York City.A major figure in 20th century music, Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminate music, a development associated with the experimental New York School of composers also including John Cage, Christian Wolff, and Earle Brown...
and György Kurtág
György Kurtág
György Kurtág is a Hungarian composer of contemporary music.- Biography :György Kurtág was born in Lugoj in the Banat region, Romania.In 1946, he began his studies at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, where he met his wife, Márta, and also György Ligeti, who became a close friend...
.
CDs featuring Denhoff's works are available on the WERGO
WERGO
WERGO is a German record label focusing on contemporary classical music. It was founded in 1962 by the art historian Werner Goldschmidt and the musicologist Helmut Kirchmayer and is currently based in Mainz, Germany....
, Col Legno and Cybele labels.
Oratorios
- TRAUMBUCH EINES GEFANGENEN für Bariton, Sprecher, Chor und Orchester op. 51
- IN UNUM DEUM – Credo für Sopran, Bariton, Chor, Orgel und kleines Orchester op. 93
- MAGNIFICAT für Chor mit zwei Soloquartetten, Saxophonquartett und vier Schlagzeuger op. 98
Choral music
- VOZ MIA, CANTA, CANTA op. 37 Liederzyklus nach Gedichten von Juan Ramón Jiménez
- THE DIMENSION OF STILLNESS op. 58
- CREDO op. 93a
Vocal music
- WIE EINE LINIE DUNKELBLAUEN SCHWEIGENS op. 80 - Sieben Gesänge nach Gedichten von Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger für Mezzosopran und Akkordeon
- SILENCE, ET PUIS op. 101 - Fragmente nach letzten Notaten von Marguerite Duras für Altstimme und Viola
Orchestral music
- MELANCOLIA - Annäherungen an einen Kupferstich von Dürer op. 26
- EINSAMKEIT - in memoriam W. Buchebner op. 33
- DESASTRES DE LA GUERRA – Orchesterbilder nach Goya op. 36
- NACHTBILD (Mahler-Momente) op. 57
- INNENRÄUME…ERINNERND op. 71
- MATCH für Saxophonorchester und gr. Trommel op. 90
Concertos
- UMBRAE - in memoriam B. A. Zimmermann - für Violine, Violoncello und Orchester op. 13
- OMAGGIO für Violine, Oboe und Orchester op. 40
- REMARKS AND REVIEWS für Saxophonquartett und Orchester op. 68
Chamber music
- 9 String Quartets (Opp. 1, 19, 30, 55, 66a, 70, 73, 79, 83a)
- 5 Piano Trios (Opp. 7, 27, 74-1, 74-2, 83b)
- 4 Saxophone Quartets ("gegen-sätze" Op.39, "svolgimenti" Op.46, "pnoxoud" Op.59, Fünf geistliche Gesänge Op.98a)
- Moment Musical for Viola and Piano (1973)
- Champs de Mars, Inventions after Marc Chagall for Viola and Piano, Op.9 (1975)
- Los Disparates, Sketches after Goya for Viola, Cello and Double Bass, Op.54 (1988)
- Two Once So One for String Quartet, Viola and Cello, Op.66 (1992)
- Mallarmé-Zyklus, 12 Quartets for 12 Musicians, Op.75 (1995–1996)
- Tenebrae for Viola and Piano, Op.82 (1997)
- Hauptweg und Nebenwege, Aufzeichnungen für Streichquartett und Klavier, Op.83 (1998)
- To and Fro in Shadow, "Nebenweg IV" for Viola and Piano, Op.83d (1998–1999)
- Igitur, Lesart für Kammerensemble, Op.85 (1998)
- Sounds and Shadows for Piano, String Quartet and Viola (or Clarinet), Op.86 (1999)
- ...Ins Ungewisse... (Luigi Nono In Memoriam) for Violin and Double Bass, Op.97 (2004)
- ...Ouvert..., Meditation für variable Besetzung, Op.99 (2005)
- Maramba (zur Erinnerung an Paula Köhlmeier) for Flute (also Bass Flute) and Celesta, Op.100 (2005)
- Silence, et puis for Alto Voice and Viola, Op.101 (2006)
- Rue Sedaine, 11 P.M. for Ensemble, Op.104 (2007)
- Zwei Stücke (Two Pieces) for Viola and Cello (2007)
Solo works
- NACHTFANTASIEN (zu Rilke-Gedichten) für Gitarre op. 31
- AUS TIEFER NOT - Anrufung für Orgel op. 41
- ATEMWENDE – Klavierzyklus nach Paul Celan op. 49, 1-7
- MONOLOGE I – V für fünf Solisten op. 50, 1-5
- HEBDOMADAIRE – 52 Stücke vom Jahr für einen Pianisten op. 62
- SKULPTUREN I – V für Klavier op. 76, 1-5
- INVENTIONEN I – XII für Player-Piano op. 88, 1-12
- ...AL NIENTE... für Klavier op. 95
- NACHTSCHATTENGEWÄCHSE - neun Stücke für Klavier op. 96
Writings
- Stille und Umkehr - Betrachtungen zum Phänomen Zeit, in: MusikTexte, Heft 24 (1988), S. 27 - 38
- Rituel von Pierre Boulez - Anmerkungen zur Raum- und Zeitkonzeption, in: Festschrift zum 60. Geburtstag von Prof. Dr. Emil Platen, Bonn (1985), S. 208 - 219
- Max Reger. Ein für die Musik des 20. Jahrhunderts zu Recht unterschätzter Komponist?! Eine Musikbefragung, in: REGER-STUDIEN 4, Breitkopf & Härtel (1989), S. 105 – 124, 233 – 253
- Vom Bild-Klang zum Klang-Bild - zum Verhältnis von Bild und Musik in meinen Stücken, in: NZfM 1993 / 6, S. 14 - 19
Literature
- THOMAS SCHÄFER: Michael Denhoffs „Nachtbild”: Nähe als Hindernis; in: Modellfall Mahler - kompositorische Rezeption in zeitgenössischer Musik. Wilhelm Fink Verlag München 1999
External links
- Michael Denhoff - Homepage
- Michael Denhoff on MySpace
- Website Classical Composers Database
- Klassika Website
- http://www.komponistenlexikon.de/content/komponisten.php?id=214
- http://www.edition-gravis.business.t-online.de/Portraits/Denhoff-P/denhoff-p.html
- http://www.haiku-heute.de/Impressum/Mitarbeiterseiten_Haiku_heute/Michael_Denhoff/michael_denhoff.html