Klaus Martin Kopitz (born January 29, 1955,

Stendal The Hanseatic City of Stendal () is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is the capital of the Stendal District and the unofficial capital of the Altmark region. Geography Situated west of the Elbe valley, the Stendal town centre is located s ...

) is a German

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

. He became known in particular with his album ''Mia Brentano's Hidden Sea. 20 songs for 2 pianos''. In the US, it was 2018 on the annual "Want List" of the music magazine ''

Fanfare A fanfare (or fanfarade or flourish) is a short musical flourish which is typically played by trumpets, French horns or other brass instruments, often accompanied by percussion. It is a "brief improvised introduction to an instrumental perfo ...

''.

Life

Kopitz studied at the

Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" ' (, plural: ') is the generic term in German language, German for institutions of higher education, corresponding to ''universities'' and ''colleges'' in English. The term ''Universität'' (plural: ''Universitäten'') is reserved for institutions ...

(1975–1980) and at the

Academy of Arts, Berlin The Academy of Arts (german: Akademie der Künste) is a state arts institution in Berlin, Germany. The task of the Academy is to promote art, as well as to advise and support the states of Germany. The Academy's predecessor organization was fo ...

(1985–1987), where he was a pupil of

Georg Katzer Georg Katzer (; 10 January 1935 – 7 May 2019) was a German composer and teacher. The last master student of Hanns Eisler, he composed music in many genres, including works for the stage. Katzer was one of the pioneers of electronic new music ...

. Later he worked at the theatre in

Neustrelitz Neustrelitz (; East Low German: ''Niegenstrelitz'') is a town in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the shore of the Zierker See in the Mecklenburg Lake District. From 1738 ...

, at the

Berlin University of the Arts The Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK; also known in English as the Berlin University of the Arts), situated in Berlin, Germany, is the largest art school in Europe. It is a public art and design school, and one of the four research universiti ...

(since 2002) and at the

Saxon Academy of Sciences The Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Leipzig (german: Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig) is an institute which was founded in 1846 under the name ''Royal Saxon Society for the Sciences'' (german: Königlich Sächsische G ...

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

(since 2012).

Music

His compositions are inspired from

Classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

, Pop and

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 o ...

, but can not be assigned to any specific style. In particular, his CD ''Mia Brentano's Hidden Sea'' was highly praised by the critics. For Dave Saemann it is "the most titillating CD I've come across in a long time". Huntley Dent calls it "unique among current and past releases". Oliver Buslau stated: "An ever-surprising panorama from classical to free tonal, from jazzy to minimalist".

Awards

* 1991:

Hanns Eisler Prize The Hanns Eisler Prize was an East-German music award, named after the composer Hanns Eisler. It was awarded by Radio DDR – with advisory participation of the music section of the Akademie der Künste der DDR in Berlin (East) and the (VDK) � ...

* 2019: German Record Critics' Award (Crossover Productions)

Selected discography

* 2018: ''Mia Brentano’s Hidden Sea: 20 Songs for 2 Pianos''; with Benyamin Nuss & Max Nyberg (piano) –

Mons Records Mons Records is a German independent record label for jazz and classical music founded in 1991 by Thilo Berg in Trippstadt. The label has released music by among others Clark Terry, Jeff Hamilton, Bobby Shew, Tom Harrell, Ray Brown, Benn ...

** ''When it Rained'', ''Christina's World'', ''Early Birds'', ''Miss Ada'', ''Misty Morning'', ''Along the River'', ''Slapstick'', ''A Silent Place'', ''Children'', ''My Huckleberry Friend'', ''A Storm is Coming'', ''Canajoharie'', ''Wherever You Are'', ''On the Train to

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

'', ''Footprints'', ''Mama Mia’s Moonshine Bar'', ''Remembering Stella'', ''Summernight Tales'', ''Wake up'', ''4 o’clock a.m.'' * 2019: ''Mia Brentano’s River of Memories: A Mystery Trip''; with Benyamin Nuss (piano), Andy Miles (clarinet), Johannes Ernst (saxophone), Hans Dekker (drums), Klaus Martin Kopitz (electronics) et al. – Mons Records ** ''Blue Moon'', ''Under the Surface'', ''Les Champs magnétiques'', ''Floating'', ''Der Besucher'', ''Wide Open Landscape'', ''Silver Rain'', ''Die Stille des verlassenen Raumes'', ''Over the City of Glass'', ''Angry Mia'', ''Septemberland'', ''Lily of the Valley'', ''

Ghosts A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...

(for

Paul Auster Paul Benjamin Auster (born February 3, 1947) is an American writer and film director. His notable works include ''The New York Trilogy'' (1987), ''Moon Palace'' (1989), ''The Music of Chance'' (1990), ''The Book of Illusions'' (2002), ''The Broo ...

)'', ''Dancing in Twilight'', ''

Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped with ...

Is Sleeping'' * 2021: ''Mia Brentano’s Summerhouse: New Music for 2 Pianos''; with Benyamin Nuss &

Billy Test Billy may refer to: * Billy (name), a name (and list of people with the name) Animals * Billy (dog), a dog breed * Billy (pigeon), awarded the Dickin Medal in 1945 * Billy (pygmy hippo), a pet of U.S. President Calvin Coolidge * Billy, a young ...

(piano); produced by WDR Köln – Mons Records ** ''The Letter'', ''Roads into Dusk'', ''Cat in the Window'', ''Before Sunrise'', ''I Was Seventeen'', ''Unsung Song'', ''Desert Island'', ''Birds Leaving the Earth'', ''Strange Little Boy'', ''Dreaming Mathilda'', ''Sleepy Landscape'', ''Funky Fox'', ''Angel in the Rain'', ''Nightlounge'', ''She Needs the Wind'', ''Alone at the Lakeside'', ''It’s Dripping on My Roof'', ''Red Shoes'', ''Drifting'', ''Walking in Starlight''

Selected bibliography

* ''Der

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

er Komponist

Norbert Burgmüller August Joseph Norbert Burgmüller (8 February 1810 – 7 May 1836) was a German composer. Life Burgmüller was born in Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic ...

. Ein Leben zwischen

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

–

Spohr Louis Spohr (, 5 April 178422 October 1859), baptized Ludewig Spohr, later often in the modern German form of the name Ludwig, was a German composer, violinist and conducting, conductor. Highly regarded during his lifetime, Spohr composed ten Sy ...

–

Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositi ...

'', Köln: Dohr 1998, * '' Antonie Brentano in Wien (1809–1812). Neue Quellen zur Problematik „ Unsterbliche Geliebte“'', in: ''Bonner Beethoven-Studien'', vol. 2 (2001),
klaus-martin-kopitz.de
(PDF) * ''Beethoven as a Composer for the Orphica: A New Source for WoO 51'', in: ''The Beethoven Journal'', vol. 22, no. 1 (Summer 2007),
klaus-martin-kopitz.de
(PDF) * ''

aus der Sicht seiner Zeitgenossen'', ed. by Klaus Martin Kopitz and

Rainer Cadenbach Rainer Cadenbach (1 July 1944 – 22 May 2008) was a German musicologist and University professor. Life Born in near Kassel, Cadenbach studierte German (with Benno von Wiese and Rudolf Schützeichel), philosophy (with Hans Wagner and Hariolf ...

, 2 vols., Munich: Henle 2009, Reviewed by Barry Cooper in ''The Beethoven Journal'', Summer 2011, pp. 28–30 * ''Beethoven,

Elisabeth Röckel Elisabeth Röckel (15 March 1793 – 3 March 1883) was a German soprano opera singer and the wife of the composer Johann Nepomuk Hummel. Life Röckel was born in Neunburg vorm Wald, Bavaria, and baptised Maria Eva. She was a sister of the o ...

und das Albumblatt „

Für Elise Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor (WoO59, Bia515) for solo piano, commonly known as "Für Elise" (, ), is one of Ludwig van Beethoven's most popular compositions. It was not published during his lifetime, only being discovered (by Ludwig Nohl) 40 year ...

“'', Cologne: Dohr 2010, * ''Beethovens „Elise“

. Neue Aspekte zur Entstehung und Überlieferung des Klavierstücks WoO 59'', in: ''Die Tonkunst'', vol. 9, No. 1 (January 2015),
klaus-martin-kopitz.de
(PDF) * ''Briefwechsel Robert und

Clara Schumann Clara Josephine Schumann (; née Wieck; 13 September 1819 – 20 May 1896) was a German pianist, composer, and piano teacher. Regarded as one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era, she exerted her influence over the course of a ...

s mit

Joseph Joachim Joseph Joachim (28 June 1831 – 15 August 1907) was a Hungarian violinist, conductor, composer and teacher who made an international career, based in Hanover and Berlin. A close collaborator of Johannes Brahms, he is widely regarded as one of ...

und seiner Familie'', 2 vols. (= ''Schumann-Briefedition'', series II, vol. 2), Köln: Dohr 2019, * ''Beethoven’s ‘ Elise’

: a forgotten love story and a famous piano piece'', in: ''

The Musical Times ''The Musical Times'' is an academic journal of classical music edited and produced in the United Kingdom and currently the oldest such journal still being published in the country. It was originally created by Joseph Mainzer in 1842 as ''Mainze ...

'', vol. 161, no. 1953 (Winter 2020), pp. 9–26
klaus-martin-kopitz.de
(PDF) * Jacqueline Kharouf, ''Beautiful Things Repeat Themselves: An Interview with Klaus Martin Kopitz'', in: ''

'', vol. 46, no. 3 (May/June 2022), p. 94–101
PDF

References

External links

Personal Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kopitz, Klaus Martin Composers for piano German classical composers German male classical composers 21st-century classical composers Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin alumni Musicologists from Berlin 1955 births Living people Beethoven scholars