Michael Denhoff (born 25 April 1955 in
Ahaus
Ahaus (; Westphalian: ''Ausen'') is a town in the district of Borken in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located near the border with the Netherlands, lying some 20 km south-east of Enschede and 15 km south from Gr ...
) is a German
composer and
cellist.
Life
Denhoff has lived and worked in
Bonn
The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...
since 1982. He studied at the
Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln
The Cologne University of Music ( is a music college in Cologne, Germany. Founded in 1850, it is Europe's largest academy of music.
History
The academy was founded by Ferdinand Hiller in 1850 as ''Conservatorium der Musik in Coeln''. In 1895 Ger ...
, where his teachers included
Günter Bialas
Günter Bialas (19 July 1907 – 8 July 1995) was a German composer.
Life
Bialas was born in Bielschowitz (today Bielszowice, a subdivision of Ruda Śląska) in Prussian Silesia. His father was the business manager of a German theatre, and hi ...
and
Hans Werner Henze
Hans Werner Henze (1 July 1926 – 27 October 2012) was a German composer. His large oeuvre of works is extremely varied in style, having been influenced by serialism, atonality, Stravinsky, Italian music, Arabic music and jazz, as well as ...
(composition),
Siegfried Palm
Siegfried Palm (25 April 1927 – 6 June 2005) 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 ...
and
Erling Blöndal Bengtsson
Erling Blöndal Bengtsson (March 8, 1932 – June 6, 2013) was 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 Insti ...
(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
The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (german: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz) is a public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany, named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. With approximately 32,000 stud ...
(1984–85) and a guest professorship at the National Conservatory of
Hanoi
Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...
(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
Marc Chagall,
Paul Klee
Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented ...
,
Wassily Kandinsky
Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (; rus, Василий Васильевич Кандинский, Vasiliy Vasilyevich Kandinskiy, vɐˈsʲilʲɪj vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ kɐnʲˈdʲinskʲɪj; – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter a ...
,
Albrecht Dürer and especially
Francisco Goya
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and e ...
(''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
Ranier Maria Rilke
René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), shortened to Rainer Maria Rilke (), was an Austrian poet and novelist. He has been acclaimed as an idiosyncratic and expressive poet, and is widely recogni ...
,
Paul Celan,
Samuel Beckett and
Stéphane 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
Bernd Alois Zimmermann (20 March 1918 – 10 August 1970) was a German composer. He is perhaps best known for his opera ''Die Soldaten'', which is regarded as one of the most important German operas of the 20th century, after those of Berg. As a ...
,
Olivier Messiaen,
Morton Feldman
Morton Feldman (January 12, 1926 – September 3, 1987) was an American composer. A major figure in 20th-century classical music, Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminate music, a development associated with the experimental New York School ...
and
György Kurtág
György Kurtág (; born 19 February 1926) is a Hungarian classical composer and pianist. He was an academic teacher of piano at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music from 1967, later also of chamber music, and taught until 1993.
Biography
Györ ...
.
CDs featuring Denhoff's works are available on the
WERGO
WERGO is a German record label focusing on contemporary classical music. It was founded in 1962 by German art historian and music publisher (1903–1975) and the musicologist Helmut Kirchmeyer. Their first release, filed under "WER 60001", was ...
, Col Legno and
Cybele
Cybele ( ; Phrygian language, Phrygian: ''Matar Kubileya/Kubeleya'' "Kubileya/Kubeleya Mother", perhaps "Mountain Mother"; Lydian language, Lydian ''Kuvava''; el, Κυβέλη ''Kybele'', ''Kybebe'', ''Kybelis'') is an Anatolian mother godde ...
labels.
Selected works
Music theatre
* DER PELIKAN – Kammeroper nach Strindberg op. 64
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 - HomepageMichael Denhoff on MySpaceWebsite Classical Composers DatabaseDENHOFF, Michael Komponistenlexikon - Deutscher Komponistenverband
*http://www.haiku-heute.de/Impressum/Mitarbeiterseiten_Haiku_heute/Michael_Denhoff/michael_denhoff.html
{{DEFAULTSORT:Denhoff, Michael
1955 births
Living people
People from Ahaus
20th-century classical composers
21st-century classical composers
German classical cellists
German classical composers
Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln alumni
German male classical composers
20th-century German composers
21st-century German composers
20th-century German male musicians
21st-century German male musicians
Academic staff of Robert Schumann Hochschule
20th-century cellists
21st-century cellists