Hans Günther Franz Otte (3 December 1926,

Plauen Plauen (; Czech: ''Plavno'') is, with around 65,000 inhabitants, the fifth-largest city of Saxony, Germany after Leipzig, Dresden, Chemnitz and Zwickau, the second-largest city of the Vogtland after Gera, as well as the largest city in the S ...

– 25 December 2007, Bremen) was a German composer,

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

, radio promoter, and author of many pieces of musical theatre,

sound installations Sound art is an artistic activity in which sound is utilized as a primary medium or material. Like many genres of contemporary art, sound art may be interdisciplinary in nature, or be used in hybrid forms. According to Brandon LaBelle, sound a ...

poems Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...

, drawings, and art videos. From 1959 to 1984 he served as music director for

Radio Bremen Radio Bremen (RB), Germany's smallest public radio and television broadcaster, is the legally mandated broadcaster for the city-state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (which includes Bremerhaven). With its headquarters sited in Bremen, Radio Brem ...

. From the early 1960s onwards, Otte frequently presented contemporary experimental American composers in his Bremen radio festival '' Pro Musica Nova'', among them in those days completely unknown people like John Cage,

David Tudor David Eugene Tudor (January 20, 1926 – August 13, 1996) was an American pianist and composer of experimental music. Life and career Tudor was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He studied piano with Irma Wolpe and composition with Stefan W ...

Terry Riley Terrence Mitchell "Terry" Riley (born June 24, 1935) is an American composer and performing musician best known as a pioneer of the minimalist school of composition. Influenced by jazz and Indian classical music, his music became notable for ...

, and La Monte Young. From 1959 on, Otte lived and worked in Bremen, Germany. His catalogue of compositions contains more than 100 works. Otte had studied in Germany, Italy, and at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. His teachers included the composer

Paul 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 ' ...

and the pianist

Walter Gieseking Walter Wilhelm Gieseking (5 November 1895 – 26 October 1956) was a French-born German pianist and composer. Gieseking was renowned for his subtle touch, pedaling, and dynamic control—particularly in the music of Debussy and Ravel; he made int ...

. Some of Otte's works, especially his extended suites for solo piano, are characterized by very minimal means but are nevertheless quite subtle and sophisticated in their architecture and expression. ''Das Buch der Klänge'' (The Book of Sounds, 1979–82) and ''Stundenbuch'' (Book of Hours, 1991–98) are his best known pieces in this genre, and Otte often performed them himself. His last public recital was given in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

in 1999. Recordings of these works, with Otte as performer, are available on CD. In his works, Otte drew significantly on European and Asian spirituality, integrating various prayers into the fabric of the music. In 1991 his work "KlangHaus" became a permanent interactive sound installation in the Neues Museum Weserburg Bremen in Bremen, Germany. A book, ''Hans Otte : Klang der Klänge = Sound of sounds'', by Ingo Ahmels ( de), was published in 2006. A accompanying DVD contained excerpts from a conversation with Otte by Ahmels in 1999, and further excerpts from conversations with Herbert Henck from 2001, and with

Hans-Joachim Hespos Hans-Joachim Hespos (13 March 1938 – 18 July 2022) was a German composer of avant-garde music. 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 genre ...

from 2004. It also contained the ''Otte-Werkeverzeichnis'' (OWV); a complete catalogue of Otte's works compiled by Ahmels, and authorized by Otte.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Otte, Hans 1926 births 2007 deaths Postmodern composers Minimalist composers People from Plauen 20th-century classical composers German classical composers Pupils of Paul Hindemith German male classical composers 20th-century German composers 20th-century German male musicians