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Elisabeth Eleonore Büning (née Bauer; born 2 January 1952) is a German music journalist and writer, known for her opera reviews in the ''
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The (; ''FAZ''; "Frankfurt General Newspaper") is a German newspaper founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt and is considered a newspaper of record for Germany. Its Sunday edition is the ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung'' ( ...
''.


Early life and education

Elisabeth Eleonore Bauer was born in
Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
and raised in
Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...
. Memento, retrieved 12 September 2024. She attended the Elly-Heuss-Knapp-Gymnasium, where she graduated in 1970. She took up studies in music, theatre and literature at the
Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in West Berlin in 1948 with American support during the early Cold War period a ...
. She completed several internships for music therapy at the University Hospital of the
Medizinische Hochschule Hannover The Hannover Medical School (, abbreviated to MHH) is a university medical centre founded in 1965 in Hanover, Germany. MHH is part of a regional medical network. History In June 1961, the German Science and Humanities Council recommended that ...
and gave music lessons.


Writing career

Since 1978, Büning has written essays for music journals. In 1989, she put forward a dissertation titled ''A. B. Marx und Beethoven in der Berliner Allgemeinen Musikalischen Zeitung (1824–1830)'', in which she examined the origins of Beethoven. It was published under the title ''Wie Beethoven auf den Sockel kam'', in 1992. From 1997 to 2018, Büning has been writing for the ''
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The (; ''FAZ''; "Frankfurt General Newspaper") is a German newspaper founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt and is considered a newspaper of record for Germany. Its Sunday edition is the ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung'' ( ...
'', as an editor in the features section of the ''
Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung The (; ''FAZ''; "Frankfurt General Newspaper") is a German newspaper founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt and is considered a newspaper of record for Germany. Its Sunday edition is the ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung'' ( ...
'' since 2008. In addition, she presents music programs such as ''Klassikforum'' on WDR 3. From November 2011 to 2022, Büning has chaired Prize of the German Record Critics (PdSK). Today she is a member of the "Jury Oper I (Barock bis Belcanto)".personal page Büning
(Germ.) on the website of the PdSK. Abruf am 12. September 2024.


Opera

Büning is an observer of the international opera scene, especially of works by
Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...
. She wrote in 2013 in her obituary of
Patrice Chéreau Patrice Chéreau (; ; 2 November 1944 – 7 October 2013) was a French opera and theatre director, filmmaker, actor and producer. In France he is best known for his work for the theatre, internationally for his films '' La Reine Margot'' and ''I ...
, who had staged the ''
Jahrhundertring The ''Jahrhundertring'' (''Centenary Ring'') was a production of Richard Wagner's ''Ring'' cycle, ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'', first performed at the Bayreuth Festival in 1976. The production was a centennial celebration of both the festival and ...
'' for the centenary of the
Bayreuth Festival The Bayreuth Festival () is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of stage works by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner are presented. Wagner himself conceived and promoted the idea of a special ...
, that the French team revolutionised the understanding of Wagner in Germany. She has followed the Wagner project in
Minden Minden () is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the largest town in population between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district () of Minden-Lübbecke, situated in the cultural region ...
with the
Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie The Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie (North West German Philharmonic) is a German symphony orchestra based in Herford. Founded in 1950, the orchestra is one of the ''Landesorchester'' of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, along with the ''Philhar ...
. Comparing a production of ''
Tristan und Isolde ''Tristan und Isolde'' (''Tristan and Isolde''), WWV 90, is a music drama in three acts by Richard Wagner set to a German libretto by the composer, loosely based on the medieval 12th-century romance ''Tristan and Iseult'' by Gottfried von Stras ...
'' in 2012 at the small house to international stagings, she noted that it restored sensuality and a dream-like quality to Wagner's work ("Wann haben wir so etwas zum letzten Mal gesehen, wenn nicht im Traum?"). In her review of the 2016 Bayreuth production of the same work, staged by
Katharina Wagner Katharina Wagner (born 21 May 1978 in Bayreuth) is a German opera stage director and is the director of the Bayreuth Festival. She is the daughter of Wolfgang Wagner and Gudrun Wagner (née Armann), great-granddaughter of Richard Wagner, and ...
and conducted by
Christian Thielemann Christian Thielemann (born 1 April 1959) is a German conductor. He is Generalmusikdirektor of the Berlin State Opera (''Staatsoper Unter den Linden'') and chief conductor of the Staatskapelle Berlin. Biography and career Born in West Berlin, ...
, she devoted a long section to an analysis of the mixture of sounds in the Bayreuth Festival Theatre.


Selected works

She published ''Wie Beethoven auf den Sockel kam. Die Entstehung eines musikalischen Mythos.'', exploring how
Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...
arrived at cult status. Talks about classical music with the
baritone A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (; 28 May 1925 – 18 May 2012) was a German lyric baritone and conductor of classical music. One of the most famous Lieder (art song) performers of the post-war period, he is best known as a singer of Franz Schubert's ...
appeared as ''Musik im Gespräch. Streifzüge durch die Klassik.'' in 2003. She was among the authors of two publications by the which also publishes the weekly ''
Die Zeit (, ) is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The first edition of was ...
'', dealing with the life and music of the pianist
Maurizio Pollini Maurizio Pollini (5 January 1942 – 23 March 2024) was an Italian pianist and conductor. He was known for performances of Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, and the Second Viennese School, among others. He championed works by contemporary composers ...
, and with the Alban Berg Quartett. * Elisabeth Eleonore Bauer: ''Wie Beethoven auf den Sockel kam. Die Entstehung eines musikalischen Mythos.'' J. B. Metzler, Stuttgart 1992, *
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (; 28 May 1925 – 18 May 2012) was a German lyric baritone and conductor of classical music. One of the most famous Lieder (art song) performers of the post-war period, he is best known as a singer of Franz Schubert's ...
, Eleonore Büning: ''Musik im Gespräch. Streifzüge durch die Klassik.'' Propyläen, München 2003, * Eleonore Büning, Claus Spahn: ''Maurizio Pollini. Leben und Musik des großen Pianisten.'' Zeitverlag Bucerius, Hamburg 2007 (ZEIT-Klassik Edition 13), * Eleonore Büning, Claus Spahn: ''Alban Berg Quartett. Biografie und Musik des berühmten Ensembles.'' Zeitverlag Bucerius, Hamburg 2007 (ZEIT-Klassik Edition 16), * Eleonore Büning: ''Sprechen wir über Beethoven. Ein Musikverführer''. Benevento Verlag, Salzburg 2018, * Eleonore Büning: ''Wolfgang Rihm. Über die Linie. Die Biografie''. Benevento, Salzburg 2022,


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buning, Eleonore German music journalists German women journalists German newspaper journalists 20th-century German journalists 21st-century German journalists 1952 births Living people Journalists from Frankfurt Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung people 20th-century German women 21st-century German women Beethoven scholars