Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Rihm

Wolfgang Rihm, born in Karlsruhe in 1952, began composing at the age of eleven. While still at school, he took composition lessons with Eugen Werner Velte at the State Academy of Music in Karlsruhe and passed his final exam there in 1972 at the same time as his school graduation. In the same year he went to Cologne for further study with Karlheinz Stockhausen at the Academy of Music. In 1973 he took up composition studies with Klaus Huber and musicology with Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht in Freiburg. According to Rihm himself, the composers who influenced him (and others) most, apart from his teachers, were Feldman, Killmayer, Lachenmann and Nono, to whom he dedicated several compositions.

Rihm’s compositions were soon awarded many prizes, for example the Kranichsteiner Music Award and the Reinhold Schneider Prize of the city of Freiburg in 1978 and the Beethoven Prize of the city of Bonn in 1981. In 1986 he received the Rolf Liebermann Prize for ”Die Hamletmaschine”. In addition, he was awarded scholarships by the Berliner Kunstpreis (1978), the city of Hamburg (1979), the Villa Massimo in Rome (1979/80) and the Cité des Arts in Paris (1983). In 1997 he received the Prix de Composition Musical de la Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco and in 1998 the Jakob Burckhardt prize of the Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Foundation. In 1989 he received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and in 1998 an honorary doctorate was conferred upon him by the Free University of Berlin. In September 2000 he received the Bach Prize of the city of Hamburg, in 2001 the Royal Philharmonic Society Award for his composition ”Jagden und Formen”. In the same year he was proclaimed "Officier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres" by the French foreign office. In 2003 he was awarded the Ernst von Siemens music prize, in 2004 the Service Medal of the state of Baden-Württemberg and in 2011 the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

His extensive teaching activities began at the age of 21, when he became a lecturer at the Academy of Music in Karlsruhe. In 1978 he taught for the first time at the vacation courses in Darmstadt. In 1985 Rihm succeeded his teacher, Velte, as professor of composition at the Academy of Music in Karlsruhe. In 1984/85 he was a Fellow of the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, a member of the presidential committee of the German Music Council, a member of the board of directors of GEMA from 1989, until 1989 co-editor of the music journal ”Melos” and from 1985 musical advisor to the Deutsche Oper Berlin as well as (1990-93) the Centre for Arts and Media Technology in Karlsruhe. Rihm is a member of the Akademie der Künste in Munich, Berlin and Mannheim and one of the curators of the of the Heinrich Strobel Foundation in Baden-Baden.

Rihm’s compositions encompass all forms of instrumental and vocal music, although he has undoubtedly laid particular emphasis on works for music theatre. These include his chamber operas, ”Faust und Yorick” (1976) and ”Jakob Lenz” (1977/78). The opera ”Die Hamletmaschine”, based on a text by Heiner Müller, was composed between 1983 and 1986. In 1986/87 he composed ”Oedipus”, based on texts by Sophocles, Hölderlin, Nietzsche and Heiner Müller, and in 1987/91 ”Die Eroberung von Mexico” to texts by Antonin Artaud. ”Séraphin”, a music theatre piece without text, was written in 1994 and had its first staged performance in Stuttgart in 1996. In 1997 he was composer in residence at the Lucerne International Festival, in 2000 at the Salzburg Festival and the Strasbourg Festival Musica. In 2001/2 many festivals and premieres took place across Europe in celebration of his 50th birthday.

On the 50th anniversary of the Academy of Music ”Hanns Eisler” Berlin in November 2000, for his contribution to the regeneration of musical culture and for his commitment as a member of the structure committee, Wolfgang Rihm was awarded the title of Honorary Senator of the Academy.

November 2011