Heinz Holliger

{{short description|Swiss composer, oboist, and conductor (born 1939)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Heinz Holliger

| image = Heinzholliger.jpg

| birth_date = {{birth-date and age|21 May 1939}}

| birth_place = Langenthal, Switzerland

| education = Conservatory of Bern

| occupation = Composer, oboist, and conductor

}}

Heinz Robert Holliger (born 21 May 1939) is a Swiss composer, virtuoso oboist,{{sfn|Burgess|2001|loc="(ii) Repertory and performers."}} and conductor. Celebrated for his versatility and technique, Holliger is among the most prominent oboists of his generation.{{sfn|Burgess|2001|loc="(ii) Repertory and performers."}} His repertoire includes Baroque and Classical pieces, but he has regularly engaged in lesser known pieces of Romantic music, as well as his own compositions.{{sfn|Burgess|2001|loc="(ii) Repertory and performers."}} He often performed contemporary works with his wife, the harpist Ursula Holliger. Many composers have written works for him, including Messiaen, Berio, Carter, Henze, Krenek, Lutosławski, Martin, Penderecki, Stockhausen and Yun. A noted composer himself, Hollinger has written works such as the opera Schneewittchen (1998).

Biography

Holliger was born in Langenthal, Switzerland. An oboist since age eleven, he studied at the conservatory of Bern before taking first prize in oboe at the Geneva International Music Competition in 1959. In 1966, he began teaching at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg.

He has become one of the world's most celebrated oboists. Many composers have written works for him, including Luciano Berio, Elliott Carter, Hans Werner Henze, Ernst Krenek, Witold Lutosławski, Frank Martin, Krzysztof Penderecki, Henri Pousseur, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Sándor Veress and Isang Yun.{{sfn|Kunkel|Stenzl|2003}}

In 1972, Maurice Bourgue (oboe), Klaus Thunemann (bassoon), Christiane Jaccottet (continuo), Holliger, and others recorded Jan Dismas Zelenka's Six Trio Sonatas for oboe and bassoon. This recording is credited for the "Zelenka Renaissance".

He was married to the harpist Ursula Holliger, {{lang|fr|née}} Hänggi (1937–2014).{{cite news |last=Apone |first=Carl |date=16 March 1989 |title=Holliger to debut Soviet oboe work |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52517100/heinz-holliger-apone/ |work=The Pittsburgh Press |location=Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |page=27 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=31 May 2020 |archive-date=1 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801213445/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52517100/heinz-holliger-apone/ |url-status=live }}

Music

Having studied composition with Sándor Veress and Pierre Boulez,{{sfn|Kunkel|Stenzl|2003}} he has composed many works in a variety of genres, and many of his works have been recorded for the ECM label. Holliger was invited by Walter Fink to be the 17th composer featured in the 2007 Komponistenporträt of the Rheingau Musik Festival, where he conducted Claude Debussy's and Robert Schumann's music as well as his own Lieder (which set Georg Trakl poems) and Gesänge der Frühe (which set Friedrich Hölderlin and Schumann texts).

For New Music patron Paul Sacher's 70th birthday, Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich asked twelve composers, Sacher's friends, to write music for solo cello using the Sacher hexachord. (This musical cryptogram is eS, A, C, H, E, and Re, or "Sacher" spelled with German words for the pitch classes.) Holliger contributed a chaconne.{{efn|The other contributions were Conrad Beck's Drei Epigramme, Luciano Berio's Les mots sont allés ..., Pierre Boulez's Messagesquisse, Benjamin Britten's Tema 'Sacher', Henri Dutilleux's 3 Strophes sur le nom de Sacher, Wolfgang Fortner's Thema und Variationen, Alberto Ginastera's Puneña No. 2, Cristobal Halffter's Variation über das Thema eSACHERe, Hans Werner Henze's Cappriccio, Klaus Huber's Transpositio ad infinitum, and Witold Lutosławski's Sacher-Variation.}} Some of the compositions were premiered in Zurich on 2 May 1976. Czech cellist František Brikcius gave the entire "eSACHERe" project its premiere in Prague during May 2011.{{Cite web |url=http://www.brikcius.com/Projects.uk.eSACHERe.html |title=eSACHERe |access-date=10 October 2011 |archive-date=10 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120610072751/http://www.brikcius.com/Projects.uk.eSACHERe.html |url-status=dead }}

Awards

1987: Léonie Sonning Music Prize{{cite web | title=Main prize recipients | website=Léonie Sonnings Musikpris | date=21 March 2021 | url=https://www.sonningmusik.dk/main-prize-recipients/?lang=en | access-date=12 August 2024 | archive-date=9 January 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230109160943/https://www.sonningmusik.dk/main-prize-recipients/?lang=en | url-status=live }}
1991: Ernst von Siemens Music Prize{{cite web | title=HauptpreisträgerInnen Archiv | website=Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung | url=https://www.old.evs-musikstiftung.ch/de/preise/preise/archiv/hauptpreistraegerinnen.html | language=de | access-date=12 August 2024 | archive-date=21 April 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240421145638/https://www.old.evs-musikstiftung.ch/de/preise/preise/archiv/hauptpreistraegerinnen.html | url-status=live }}
1994: The Prince Pierre of Monaco Music Composition Prize for (S)irató{{cite web | last=Pierre | first=Fondation Prince | title=Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco | website=Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco | url=https://www.fondationprincepierre.mc/en/music/prize/the-musical-composition-prize/1994 | access-date=12 August 2024 | archive-date=12 August 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240812101500/https://www.fondationprincepierre.mc/en/music/prize/the-musical-composition-prize/1994 | url-status=live }}
2007: Zürich Festival Prize[https://archive.today/20120629122842/http://www.schott-music.com/news/archiv/show,881.html "Zurich Festival Prize for Heinz Holliger"], Schott Music
2008: Rheingau Musik Preis{{cite web | title=Rheingau Musik Preis | website=Rheingau Musik Festival | url=https://www.rheingau-musik-festival.de/festival/preise-und-auszeichnungen/rheingau-musik-preis | language=de | access-date=12 August 2024}}
2016: Honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences{{cite web | title=Heinz Robert Holliger | website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences | date=1 July 2024 | url=https://www.amacad.org/person/heinz-robert-holliger | access-date=12 August 2024 | archive-date=29 April 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230429194545/https://www.amacad.org/person/heinz-robert-holliger | url-status=live }}
2017: Robert Schumann Prize of the City of Zwickau{{cite web | title=Preisträger | website=Willkommen in der Robert-Schumann-Stadt Zwickau! | url=https://www.schumann-zwickau.de/de/02/02/preistraeger.php | language=de | access-date=12 August 2024 | archive-date=10 May 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190510202827/https://www.schumann-zwickau.de/de/02/02/preistraeger.php | url-status=live }}
2018: Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts{{cite web | title=Holliger | website=ORDEN POUR LE MÉRITE | url=http://www.orden-pourlemerite.de/mitglieder/heinz-holliger | language=de | access-date=12 August 2024 | archive-date=12 August 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240812102245/http://www.orden-pourlemerite.de/mitglieder/heinz-holliger | url-status=live }}
2022: Robert Schumann Prize for Poetry and Music{{cite web | title=Komponist Heinz Holliger erhält Schumann-Preis | website=Deutschlandfunk Kultur | date=26 April 2021 | url=https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/komponist-heinz-holliger-erhaelt-schumann-preis-102.html | language=de | access-date=27 April 2022 | archive-date=26 April 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220426224456/https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/komponist-heinz-holliger-erhaelt-schumann-preis-102.html | url-status=live }}

Selected works

Source:{{cite web | title=Heinz Holliger | website=Schott Music | date=21 May 1939 | url=https://www.schott-music.com/en/person/heinz-holliger#person_worklist | access-date=12 August 2024 | archive-date=12 August 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240812102437/https://www.schott-music.com/en/person/heinz-holliger#person_worklist | url-status=live }}

Sequenzen über Johannes I,32 (1962) for harp
Siebengesang (1966–1967) for solo oboe, orchestra, voices and loudspeaker
String Quartet (1973)
Scardanelli-Zyklus (1975–1991) for solo flute, small orchestra, tape and mixed choir
Come and Go / Va et vient / Kommen und Gehen (1976/1977), opera to a text by Samuel Beckett
Not I (1978–1980) monodrama for soprano and tape
Studie über Mehrklänge (1979) for oboe solo
Lieder ohne Worte (1982–1994), two sets of works for violin and piano
Präludium, Arioso and Passacaglia, for two guitars (1985)
Gesänge der Frühe for choir, orchestra and tape, after Schumann and Hölderlin (1987)
What Where (1988), chamber opera
Alb-Chehr (1991) for speaker, singers and chamber ensemble
(S)irató for orchestra (1992–03)
Fünf Lieder für Altstimme und großes Orchester nach Gedichten von Georg Trakl (1992–2006)
Violin Concerto "Hommage à Louis Soutter" (1993–1995)
Schneewittchen (1998), opera based on a text by Robert Walser
Partita (1999), piano cycle
Puneigä, ten songs with twelve players after Anna Maria Bacher's poems (2000/02)
Ma'mounia for percussion solo and instrumental quintet (2002)
Romancendres for cello and piano (2003)
Induuchlen, four songs for counter-tenor and horn, for Klaus Huber (2004)
Toronto-Exercises for flute (also alto flute), clarinet, violin, harp and marimbaphone (2005)
Lunea (2018), opera based on texts by Nikolaus Lenau

Discography

Jan Dismas Zelenka: Trio Sonatas (ECM, 1997){{cite web | title=Jan Dismas Zelenka: Trio Sonatas | website=ECM Records | date=17 April 2024 | url=https://ecmrecords.com/product/jan-dismas-zelenka-trio-sonatas-heinz-holliger-maurice-bourgue-thomas-zehetmair-kalus-thunemann-klaus-stoll-jonathan-rubin-christiane-jaccottet/ | access-date=12 August 2024 | archive-date=12 August 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240812102637/https://ecmrecords.com/product/jan-dismas-zelenka-trio-sonatas-heinz-holliger-maurice-bourgue-thomas-zehetmair-kalus-thunemann-klaus-stoll-jonathan-rubin-christiane-jaccottet/ | url-status=live }}
Sándor Veress: Passacaglia / Songs / Musica Concertante (ECM, 2000){{cite web | title=Sándor Veress: Passacaglia Concertante / Songs Of The Seasons / Musica Concertante | website=ECM Records | date=12 March 2024 | url=https://ecmrecords.com/product/sandor-veress-passacaglia-concertante-songs-of-the-seasons-musica-concertante-heinz-holliger-camerata-bern-london-voices/ | access-date=12 August 2024 | archive-date=12 August 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240812102729/https://ecmrecords.com/product/sandor-veress-passacaglia-concertante-songs-of-the-seasons-musica-concertante-heinz-holliger-camerata-bern-london-voices/ | url-status=live }}
Beiseit / Alb-Chehr (ECM, 2000){{cite web | title=Heinz Holliger: Beiseit / Alb-Chehr | website=ECM Records | date=29 May 2024 | url=https://ecmrecords.com/product/heinz-holliger-beiseit-alb-chehr-david-james-elmar-schmid-teodoro-anzellotti-johannes-nied-heinz-holliger-franziskus-abgottspon-oberwalliser-spillit/ | access-date=12 August 2024 | archive-date=12 August 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240812102825/https://ecmrecords.com/product/heinz-holliger-beiseit-alb-chehr-david-james-elmar-schmid-teodoro-anzellotti-johannes-nied-heinz-holliger-franziskus-abgottspon-oberwalliser-spillit/ | url-status=live }}
Lauds and Lamentations (ECM, 2003){{cite web | title=Music of Elliott Carter and Isang Yun | website=ECM Records | date=3 June 2024 | url=https://ecmrecords.com/product/lauds-and-lamentations-music-of-elliott-carter-and-isang-yun-heinz-holliger-thomas-zehetmair-ruth-killius-thomas-demenga/ | access-date=12 August 2024 | archive-date=12 August 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240812102935/https://ecmrecords.com/product/lauds-and-lamentations-music-of-elliott-carter-and-isang-yun-heinz-holliger-thomas-zehetmair-ruth-killius-thomas-demenga/ | url-status=live }}

References

=Notes=

=Citations=

{{reflist

| refs =

{{Cite journal

| last = Blyth

| first = Alan

| author-link = Alan Blyth

| url = https://www.gramophone.co.uk/feature/an-interview-with-heinz-holliger

| title = An interview with Heinz Holliger

| journal = Gramophone

| date = November 1972

| access-date = 30 May 2018

| archive-date = 24 October 2018

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181024090909/https://www.gramophone.co.uk/feature/an-interview-with-heinz-holliger

| url-status = live

}}

{{cite news

| last = Davis

| first = Peter G.

| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/10/arts/heinz-holliger-refutes-thesis-that-the-oboe-is-an-ill-wind.html

| title = Heinz Holliger Refutes Thesis That the Oboe Is an Ill Wind

| work = The New York Times

| year = 1981

| access-date = 30 May 2018

| archive-date = 26 February 2018

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180226181609/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/10/arts/heinz-holliger-refutes-thesis-that-the-oboe-is-an-ill-wind.html

| url-status = live

}}

{{cite web

| url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/artists/cd5a15f3-8937-49da-9719-d3790136802c

| title = Heinz Holliger

| publisher = BBC

| access-date = 30 May 2018

| archive-date = 4 June 2018

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180604162839/https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/artists/cd5a15f3-8937-49da-9719-d3790136802c

| url-status = live

}}

=Bibliography=

{{cite encyclopedia |last=Burgess |first=Geoffrey |year=2001 |encyclopedia=Grove Music Online |title=Oboe |section=II. The European treble oboe |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.40450 |isbn=978-1-56159-263-0 |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000040450 }} {{Grove Music subscription}}
{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Kunkel |first1=Michael |last2=Stenzl |first2=Jürg |author-link2=Jürg Stenzl |year=2003 |orig-year=2001 |encyclopedia=Grove Music Online |title=Holliger, Heinz |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.13230 |isbn=978-1-56159-263-0 |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000013230 |access-date=9 August 2021 |archive-date=9 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210809173858/https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000013230 |url-status=live }} {{Grove Music subscription}}

External links

[https://en.schott-music.com/shop/autoren/heinz-holliger Heinz Holliger] Schott Music
[https://www.ecmrecords.com/artists/1435046184/heinz-holliger Heinz Holliger] ECM Records
{{discogs artist}}
{{cite web

|url=http://finanzblog.kaywa.com/files/Bachelorarbeit.pdf

|title=Heinz Holliger – Leben und Werk

|access-date=22 May 2008

|author=Katharina Jing An Gebauer

|date=March 2008

|format=PDF (18MB)

|work=BA (Composition) Thesis

|language=de

|url-status=dead

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080528100243/http://finanzblog.kaywa.com/files/Bachelorarbeit.pdf

|archive-date=28 May 2008

}}

[http://classicalmusicianstoza.blogspot.ca/2014/06/heinz-holliger-swiss-oboist.html Heinz Holliger on 1969 tour of Southern Africa], organised by Hans Adler
[http://www.cdmc.asso.fr/en/ressources/compositeurs/biographies/holliger-heinz-1939 Holliger Heinz (1939)] Cdmc website
Sound recordings of works of the composer from the archives of SRG SSR on [https://neo.mx3.ch/heinzholliger Neo.Mx3]

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Category:1939 births

Category:Living people

Category:People from Oberaargau District

Category:20th-century Swiss classical composers

Category:Swiss opera composers

Category:Swiss male opera composers

Category:Swiss classical oboists

Category:Male oboists