Darmstädter Ferienkurse ("Darmstadt Summer Course") is a regular summer event of contemporary classical music in Darmstadt,

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Dar ...

, Germany. It was founded in 1946, under the name "Ferienkurse für Internationale Neue Musik Darmstadt" (Vacation Courses of International New Music in Darmstadt), as a gathering with lectures and concerts over several summer weeks. Composers, performers, theorists and philosophers of contemporary music met first annually until 1970, and then biannually. The event was organised by the Kranichsteiner Musikinstitut, which was renamed Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt (IMD). It is regarded as a leading international forum of contemporary and experimental music with a focus on composition. The festival awards the for performers and young composers.

History

Overview

Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F004561-0004, Darmstadt, Internationaler Kurs für neue Musik (cropped-Steinecke)

The Ferienkurse were initiated in 1946 by Wolfgang Steinecke, then responsible for culture in the municipal government of Darmstadt. He directed them until his death in 1961, succeeded by (1962–81), Friedrich Ferdinand Hommel (1981–94), Solf Schaefer (1995–2009), and Thomas Schäfer, who has been artistic director and president of the IMD from 2009. The courses were first held annually, lasting for about twelve days. From 1970, they have been held biannually for two to three weeks. The first venue was Jagdschloss Kranichstein, a rural hunting lodge in Darmstadt. Beginning in 1949, public buildings in Darmstadt have been used not only for some concerts as in the beginning, but also for courses.

Background

The Ferienkurse were founded to reconnect Germany to the international scene in classical music, as

modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

forms of classical music (such as

expressionist music The term expressionism "was probably first applied to music in 1918, especially to Schoenberg", because like the painter Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944) he avoided "traditional forms of beauty" to convey powerful feelings in his music. Theodor Ad ...

, the Second Viennese School and serialism) had been systematically suppressed by the Nazis from 1933 as "

degenerate music Degenerate music (german: Entartete Musik, link=no, ) was a label applied in the 1930s by the government of Nazi Germany to certain forms of music that it considered harmful or decadent. The Nazi government's concerns about degenerate music were a ...

". During that time, creative minds had been expelled, silenced, or murdered.

Beginning

The first event in 1946 offered courses in conducting by Carl Mathieu Lange, musical composition by

Wolfgang Fortner Wolfgang Fortner (12 October 1907 – 5 September 1987) was a German composer, composition teacher and conductor. Life Fortner was born in Leipzig. From his parents, who were both singers, Fortner very early on had intense contact with music. ...

, piano by Georg Kuhlmann, voice by Elisabeth Delseit, violin by Günter Kehr, opera direction by Bruno Hey and Walter Jockisch, and music criticism by Fred Hamel. A first series were courses, lectures and concerts from 25 August to 21 September. They were followed by public concerts and lectures, titled "Internationale zeitgenössische Musiktage" (International contemporary music days) from 22 to 29 September, held in collaboration with the city of Darmstadt, its Landestheater, and the broadcasters Süddeutscher Rundfunk and Radio Frankfurt. Events included an exhibition of the Neue Darmstädter Sezession, "Zeitgenössische deutsche Kunst", and also Carl Orff's opera '' Die Kluge'', and the award ceremony of the

Georg Büchner Prize The Georg Büchner Prize (german: link=no, Georg-Büchner-Preis) is the most important literary prize for German language literature, along with the Goethe Prize. The award is named after dramatist and writer Georg Büchner, author of '' Woyzeck ...

to Fritz Usinger. Concerts presented several world premieres, such as 's string sextet, Fortner's ''für Klavier'',

Günter Raphael Günter Raphael (30 April 1903 – 19 October 1960) was a German composer. Born in Berlin, Raphael was the grandson of composer Albert Becker. His first symphony was premiered by Wilhelm Furtwängler in 1926 in Leipzig. From 1926 to 1934 he taug ...

's sonata for solo flute, a trio for flute, viola and cello by Günter Bialas (1923), Henze's ''Kranichsteiner Kammerkonzert'' for flute, piano and strings, and ''Hölderlin-Lieder'' by Hermann Reutter. Willy Burkhard's ''Symphonie in einem Satz'' (1944) and

Hindemith Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ' ...

's String Quartet No. 6 (1943) received their first performance in Germany. During the first years of the event, a focus was on German premieres of works, sometimes decades after their composition, by composers such as

Arnold Schönberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...

Anton Webern Anton Friedrich Wilhelm von Webern (3 December 188315 September 1945), better known as Anton Webern (), was an Austrian composer and conductor whose music was among the most radical of its milieu in its sheer concision, even aphorism, and stead ...

, Igor Stravinsky and Béla Bartók. Schoenberg's Piano Concerto was played in 1948, and his String Quartet No. 4 in 1949. That year, a symphony concert was dedicated exclusively to Schoenberg's works, including the German premiere of his

Violin Concerto A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin (occasionally, two or more violins) and instrumental ensemble (customarily orchestra). Such works have been written since the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up thro ...

, honouring his 75th birthday. The 70th birthday of Webern was honoured with a concert of his chamber music in 1953. It was the first forum of contemporary music in Germany after World War II, including music theory and philosophy. Lectures were held by instructors such as

Theodor W. Adorno Theodor W. Adorno ( , ; born Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund; 11 September 1903 – 6 August 1969) was a German philosopher, sociologist, psychologist, musicologist, and composer. He was a leading member of the Frankfurt School of criti ...

René Leibowitz René Leibowitz (; 17 February 1913 – 29 August 1972) was a Polish, later naturalised French, composer, conductor, music theorist and teacher. He was historically significant in promoting the music of the Second Viennese School in Paris after ...

Heinz-Klaus Metzger Heinz-Klaus Metzger (6 February 1932 – 25 October 2009) was a German music critic and theorist. Born in Konstanz, Metzger studied piano under Carl Seemann in Freiburg im Breisgau and composition under Max Deutsch in Paris. Later, he met Theod ...

, and later

Carl Dahlhaus Carl Dahlhaus (10 June 1928 – 13 March 1989) was a German musicologist who was among the leading postwar musicologists of the mid to late 20th-century. A prolific scholar, he had broad interests though his research focused on 19th- and 20th ...

and

Rudolf Stephan Rudolf Stephan (3 April 1925 – 29 September 2019) was a German musicologist. Life Stephan was born in Bochum. After studying violin at the conservatory, he entered the Institute of Heidelberg, where he studied musicology at the University unde ...

, offering critical reflection of advanced composition. Composers such as Edgard Varèse, Olivier Messiaen,

Ernst Krenek Ernst Heinrich Krenek (, 23 August 1900 – 22 December 1991) was an Austrian, later American, composer of Czech origin. He explored atonality and other modern styles and wrote a number of books, including ''Music Here and Now'' (1939), a study ...

Earle Brown Earle Brown (December 26, 1926 – July 2, 2002) was an American composer who established his own formal and notational systems. Brown was the creator of "open form," a style of musical construction that has influenced many composers since� ...

and John Cage visited, presenting their work and aesthetic in composition classes, and contributing to worldwide recognition of the institution.

Darmstadt School

Composers such as, initially,

Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th-century classical music, 20th and early 21st-century ...

, Pierre Boulez,

Luigi Nono Luigi Nono (; 29 January 1924 – 8 May 1990) was an Italian avant-garde composer of classical music. Biography Early years Nono, born in Venice, was a member of a wealthy artistic family; his grandfather was a notable painter. Nono beg ...

Bruno Maderna Bruno Maderna (21 April 1920 – 13 November 1973) was an Italian conductor and composer. Life Maderna was born Bruno Grossato in Venice but later decided to take the name of his mother, Caterina Carolina Maderna.Interview with Maderna‘s th ...

, and later

Luciano Berio Luciano Berio (24 October 1925 – 27 May 2003) was an Italian composer noted for his experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition ''Sinfonia'' and his series of virtuosic solo pieces titled '' Sequenza''), and for his pioneering work ...

Aldo Clementi Aldo Clementi (25 May 1925 – 3 March 2011) was an Italian classical composer. Life Aldo Clementi was born in Catania, Italy. He studied the piano, graduating in 1946 at the Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in Rome. His studies in composition began i ...

Franco Donatoni Franco Donatoni (9 June 1927 – 17 August 2000) was an Italian composer. Biography Born in Verona, Donatoni started studying violin at the age of seven, and frequented the local music academy. Later, he studied at the Milan Conservatory ...

Niccolò Castiglioni Niccolò Castiglioni (17 July 1932 – 7 September 1996) was an Italian composer, pianist, and writer on music. Castiglioni was born and raised in Milan, where he began studying piano at the age of 7. He received his performer's diploma from th ...

, Franco Evangelisti,

Karel Goeyvaerts Karel August Goeyvaerts (8 June 1923 – 3 February 1993) was a Belgian composer. Life Goeyvaerts was born in Antwerp, where he studied at the Royal Flemish Music Conservatory; he later studied composition in Paris with Darius Milhaud and analys ...

Mauricio Kagel Mauricio Raúl Kagel (; 24 December 1931 – 18 September 2008) was an Argentine-German composer. Biography Kagel was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, into an Ashkenazi Jewish family that had fled from Russia in the 1920s . He studied music, his ...

, Gottfried Michael Koenig, Giacomo Manzoni,

Henri Pousseur Henri Léon Marie-Thérèse Pousseur (23 June 1929 – 6 March 2009) was a Belgian classical composer, teacher, and music theorist. Biography Pousseur was born in Malmedy and studied at the Academies of Music in Liège and in Brussels from 1947 t ...

Helmut Lachenmann Helmut Friedrich Lachenmann (born 27 November 1935) is a German composer of contemporary classical music. His work has been associated with "instrumental musique concrète". Life and works Lachenmann was born in Stuttgart and after the end of ...

, and Brian Ferneyhough presented their radical approach and theories. They are sometimes referred to as the "Darmstädter Schule" (

Darmstadt School Darmstadt School refers to a group of composers who were associated with the Darmstadt International Summer Courses for New Music (Darmstädter Ferienkurse) from the early 1950s to the early 1960s in Darmstadt, Germany, and who shared some aesthe ...

). Notable performers instructed in new playing techniques, and works by young composers (''Nachwuchskomponisten'') were offered in so-called ''Atelierkonzerte'' (atelier concerts).

Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt

For the organisation of the event, the Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt was founded in 1948. It also keeps an archive of past events and compositions. It holds around 20,000 photographs, 10,000 letters, sound files and other documents, available online since 2016. The event is sponsored by several organisations, especially public broadcasters.

Music prize

A prize, the was installed in 1952, first for performers, then also for composers. Recipients include performers (with their instrument listed) and composers: * 1952

Karlheinz Zöller Karlheinz Zöller (24 August 1928 – 29 July 2005) was a German flutist, and solo fluteplayer in the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra between 1960–1969 and 1976–1993. Early life and education Karlheinz Zöller was born in Höhr-Grenzhausen (near ...

(flute) * 1955 Marion Zarzeczna (piano) * 1957

Jerome Lowenthal Jerome Lowenthal (born February 11, 1932) is an American classical pianist. He has served as chair of the piano department at the Juilliard School in New York. Additionally, Lowenthal is on the faculty at Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbar ...

(piano) * 1958

Otto Zykan Otto Matthäus Zykan (29 April 1935, Vienna – 25 May 2006, Sachsendorf, Burgschleinitz-Kühnring) was an Austrian composer and pianist. He studied at the Vienna Music Academy, where his teachers included Karl Schiske (composition), Bruno Sei ...

(piano), Gábor Gabos (piano), Wolfgang Gayler (piano) * 1959 Erika Haase (piano) * 1960 Bruno Canino (piano) * 1972 Gillian Bibby, Suzanne Stephens (clarinet) * 1974 Detlev Müller-Siemens, Moya Henderson,

Wolfgang Meyer Wolfgang Meyer (13 August 1954 – 17 March 2019) was a German clarinetist and professor of clarinet at the Musikhochschule Karlsruhe. He worked internationally as a soloist, in chamber music ensembles, and in jazz, with a repertoire from early m ...

(clarinet) * 1976 Ulrich Stranz * 1978

Wolfgang Rihm Wolfgang Rihm (born 13 March 1952) is a German composer and academic teacher. He is musical director of the Institute of New Music and Media at the University of Music Karlsruhe and has been composer in residence at the Lucerne Festival and the Sa ...

* 1980 Clarence Barlow * 1982 James Dillon, Steven Schick (percussion), Michael Bach (cello), Robert H.P. Platz * 1984

Bernardo Kuczer Bernardo Mario Kuczer (born 30 April 1955) is an Argentinian composer, music theoretician and architect. Biography Argentina Bernardo Mario Kuczer was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 30 April 1955. Until his early twenties, he was involv ...

* 1986 Richard Barrett,

Kaija Saariaho Kaija Anneli Saariaho (; ; born 14 October 1952) is a Finnish composer based in Paris, France. During the course of her career, Saariaho has received commissions from the Lincoln Center for the Kronos Quartet and from IRCAM for the Ensemble Inte ...

, Bunita Marcus, Steffen Schleiermacher (piano) * 1990

Luca Francesconi Luca Francesconi (born 17 March 1956) is an Italian composer. He studied at the Milan Conservatory, then with Karlheinz Stockhausen and Luciano Berio. Early years Luca Francesconi was born in Milan. His father was a painter who edited ''Il ...

Roger Redgate Roger Redgate is a British composer, conductor and improvisor. He attended the Royal College of Music, studying with Edwin Roxburgh and Lawrence Casserley. Under a DAAD (German Academic Exchange) scholarship he also studied with Brian Ferneyho ...

, Rodney Sharman,

Joël-François Durand Joël-François Durand (born 17 September 1954) is a French composer. Biography Born in Orléans, Durand studied mathematics, music education and piano in Paris, then composition with Brian Ferneyhough in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany (198 ...

* 1992 James Clarke, Chaya Czernowin * 1996 Mark Andre, Gerald Eckert, Isabel Mundry * 2000

Jennifer Walshe Jennifer Walshe (born 1 June 1974) is an Irish composer, vocalist and artist. Biography Jennifer Walshe was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1974. She studied composition with John Maxwell Geddes at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, ...

* 2002 Nam-Kuk Kim, , Seth Wrightington * 2004 Hans Thomalla * 2008

Simon Steen-Andersen Simon Steen-Andersen (born 1976) is a Denmark, Danish composer, performer, director and media artist. Biography He studied composition with Karl Aage Rasmussen, Mathias Spahlinger, Gabriel Valverde, and Bent Sørensen (composer), Bent Sørensen ...

* 2010 Stefan Prins * 2014 Ashley Fure

Criticism

During the late 1950s and early 1960s the courses were charged with a perceived lack of interest on the part of some of its zealot followers in any music not matching the uncompromisingly modern views of Pierre Boulez – the "party subservience" of the "clique orthodoxy" of a "sect", in the words of Kurt Honolka, written in 1962 in an effort to "make the public believe that the most advanced music of the day was no more than a fancy cooked up by a bunch of aberrant conspirators conniving at war against music proper." This led to the use of the phrase "

" (coined originally in 1957 by Luigi Nono to describe the

serial music In music, serialism is a method of composition using series of pitches, rhythms, dynamics, timbres or other musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, though some of his contemporaries were als ...

being written at that time by himself and composers such as Boulez, Maderna, Stockhausen, Berio, and Pousseur) as a pejorative term, implying a "mathematical", rule-based music.

Recordings

The courses presented in 70 years around 5,000 world premieres. The record label ''col legno'' has published recordings, often documenting world premieres and first performances in Germany.

Notes

References

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Sources

* * Includes a photo of Brown and Bruno Maderna in Darmstadt. *

External links

* * Karlheinz Essl
Darmstadt in den 90er Jahren?
(in German) in ''MusikTexte'' No. 35 (1990) {{Portal bar, Classical music 20th century in music Darmstadt Modernism (music) Music festivals in Germany