Hans-Joachim Hespos (13 March 1938 – 18 July 2022) was a German composer of

avant-garde music Avant-garde music is music that is considered to be at the forefront of innovation in its field, with the term "avant-garde" implying a critique of existing aesthetic conventions, rejection of the status quo in favor of unique or original elemen ...

. He was trained as a teacher and worked until 1984. Self-taught as a composer, he then worked freelance and created more than 200 works in many genres. His unconventional compositions were commissioned and performed internationally. They are archived at the

Bavarian State Library The Bavarian State Library (german: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, abbreviated BSB, called ''Bibliotheca Regia Monacensis'' before 1919) in Munich is the central " Landesbibliothek", i. e. the state library of the Free State of Bavaria, the bigg ...

Life and career

Hespos was born in

Emden Emden () is an independent city and seaport in Lower Saxony in the northwest of Germany, on the river Ems. It is the main city of the region of East Frisia and, in 2011, had a total population of 51,528. History The exact founding date of E ...

on 13 March 1938. He had violin lessons from 1946 and made his public concert debut in 1948, at the age of ten. He composed since 1950. After completing school with the

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

, Hespos studied pedagogy at the Pädagogische Hochschule Oldenburg. From 1962 to 1984 he worked in the school service, then as a freelance artist and lived in

Ganderkesee Ganderkesee (Northern Low Saxon: ''Gannerseer'') is a municipality in Oldenburg district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Geography Ganderkesee is located on the northern edge of a nature park called "Wildeshauser Geest". The northernmost part of the c ...

. He was self-taught as a composer. Since he wrote ''für Cello solo'' in 1964, he composed in all genres, including many pieces for unaccompanied solo instruments and theatre works. He remained always outside of the mainstream and was never associated with any of the many movements in postwar European music, though he did attend summer courses at the

Darmstädter Ferienkurse Darmstädter Ferienkurse ("Darmstadt Summer Course") is a regular summer event of contemporary classical music in Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany. It was founded in 1946, under the name "Ferienkurse für Internationale Neue Musik Darmstadt" (Vacation Cou ...

in the 1980s. Even by the standards of the European avant-garde, Hespos' music usually is quite extreme and unconventional. In his many pieces for solo instruments, Hespos pushed instruments to their

timbral In music, timbre ( ), also known as tone color or tone quality (from psychoacoustics), is the perceived sound quality of a musical note, sound or tone. Timbre distinguishes different types of sound production, such as choir voices and musical ...

limits, employing

extended techniques In music, extended technique is unconventional, unorthodox, or non-traditional methods of singing or of playing musical instruments employed to obtain unusual sounds or timbres.Burtner, Matthew (2005).Making Noise: Extended Techniques after Expe ...

and other effects to create unusual sounds. He frequently wrote for less-common instruments, such as cimbalon (1976's ''Cang'') or

musical saw A musical saw, also called a singing saw, is a hand saw used as a musical instrument. Capable of continuous glissando (portamento), the sound creates an ethereal tone, very similar to the theremin. The musical saw is classified as a plaque f ...

(used in ''Ganifita-Blues'', 1984). Hespos' scores often employ graphic notation, verbal instructions and traditional

music notation Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

, and combinations. Many of his works involve

improvisation Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

, for example, ''t a n E K'' (2013) with improvisational parts by

Kommissar Hjuler Kommissar Hjuler (born Detlev Hjuler; 1967) works as a sound recordist in the field of Noise and Post-industrial music, visual artist, film maker and police officer at Flensburg, a town on the German border with Denmark. He often works together wit ...

and

Mama Baer Mama Baer (born Andrea Katharina Ingeborg Göthling; 29 October 1981) is a German sound recordist of noise music and post-industrial music. She is a filmmaker and visual artist at Flensburg. She has had solo and group art exhibitions around the worl ...

). He called for extreme stage techniques in his theatre works; ''Seiltanz'' (''"Tightrope Dance"'', 1982) requires an actor to break his way out of a metal cage by means of a

welding torch Principle of burn cutting Oxy-fuel welding (commonly called oxyacetylene welding, oxy welding, or gas welding in the United States) and oxy-fuel cutting are processes that use fuel gases (or liquid fuels such as gasoline or petrol, diesel, ...

. Hespos was the recipient of many awards and honors in his career, including the 1967

Gaudeamus International Composers Award The Gaudeamus International Composers Award is made by the Gaudeamus Foundation. The prize is awarded yearly, to a young composer at Dutch music concert, ''Gaudeamus Muziekweek''. The Gaudeamus Foundation had held an annual music week of Dutch co ...

and the Rompreis of the

Villa Massimo Villa Massimo, short for Deutsche Akademie Rom Villa Massimo ( it, Accademia Tedesca Roma Villa Massimo), is a German cultural institution in Rome, established in 1910 and located in the Villa Massimo. The fellowship of the German Academy in Rom ...

in 1972. In 2005, 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 ...

, created an archive of Hespos' music. That same year, ''

Opernwelt ''Opernwelt'' (''Opera World'') is a monthly German magazine for opera, operetta and ballet. It includes news about current performances, portraits of composers and performers, articles about opera houses, performance spaces, and contemporary and ...

'' magazine selected Hespos' ''iOPAL'' as the new opera of the year. The

holds his complete works.

Family

Hespos and his wife Erdmute had two children. He died on 18 July 2022 at age 84.

References

External links

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Hans-Joachim Hespos
Simon Verlag
Hans-Joachim Hespos – Analysen und Kontexte
EVS Musikstiftung {{DEFAULTSORT:Hespos, Hans-Joachim 1938 births 2022 deaths 20th-century classical composers 20th-century German composers 20th-century German male musicians 21st-century classical composers 21st-century German composers 21st-century German male musicians Gaudeamus Composition Competition prize-winners German classical composers German male classical composers People from Emden