Tagged with 'Aribert Reimann'

Aribert Reimann, one of the most distinguished composers of the post-war generation, has died at the age of 88. He passed away in Berlin on 14 March 2024. It is with great respect that we bid farewell to a great artist whose empathetic sense of humanity will continue to live on in his works.

On 10 February 2024, the Staatstheater Hannover will present Aribert Reimann's Lear, one of the most significant operas of the 20th century. The production will be directed by Joe Hill-Gibbins, and the music will be conducted by Stephan Zilias.

In his substantial compositional output, Aribert Reimann has created a rich collection of compositions which have unquestionably exerted an influence on contemporary music theatre. His unmistakable personal style is characterised by strict logic and highly complex
tonal structures which are finely chiselled down to the smallest detail. At the same time, his music possesses a powerful innate emotionality which directly captures his listeners. This is borne out by his instrumental works and vocal compositions and to a particular degree, his operas, which are considered the most significant of the entire contemporary period.

Reimann primarily selects his plots from world literature and transforms them into unique forms through his own musical language. Schott offers Aribert Reimann its heartfelt congratulations on the occasion of his 85th birthday.

• Aribert Reimann – biography, photos, works and more

photo: Bernd Uhlig

 

With its images of spring and renewal, Aribert Reimann's new song cycle for voice and string quartet will keep the cold at bay this winter. Die schönen Augen der Frühlingsnacht was written for soprano Moja Erdmann and the Kuss Quartett who will give the world premiere on 14 December at the Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam.

Commissioned jointly by the Muziekgebouw and Musik 21 Niedersachsen, Die schönen Augen der Frühlingsnacht is based on songs by the Romantic composer Theodor Kirchner setting six poems by Heinrich Heine. The images of sprouting and growing plants in spring are perfect for lyrical expressions of love, however two of the poems also touch on loneliness and the winter cold of a snowy landscape.

Aribert Reimann – Die schönen Augen der Frühlingsnacht: a connection to the Romantics

Having never been published, Kirchner’s song cycle for voice and piano remains relatively unknown. Reimann intersperses his arrangements of the songs with seven instrumental interludes. This is not the first time Reimann has worked in this way: in his cycle “…oder soll es Tod bedeuten”, he intersperses songs by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy for voice and string quartet with his own six Intermezzi. There are also plans for the seven instrumental sections from Die schönen Augen der Frühlingsnacht to be available as a stand-alone work entitled 7 Bagatelle.

While composing I always have a sound in mind, which I cannot express in words because there are no words for it. Of course I can describe the sound, but it is not the same. For me it is the most complicated and the most important to be able to grasp and organise this sound that I hear within me. – Aribert Reimann

Die schönen Augen der Frühlingsnacht will be given its German premiere on 16 December in Hannover as part of the concert series Musik 21 at NDR, and further performances with Mojca Erdmann and the Kuss Quartett will take place on 18 December in Berlin and 13 May 2018 in Zurich.

• Aribert Reimann - profile


• Die schönen Augen der Frühlingsnacht - work details


• Die schönen Augen der Frühlingsnacht - concert detail