
Benjamin Schweitzer
About Benjamin Schweitzer
Lightness – Quickness – Exactitude – Visibility – Multiplicity – Consistency: These terms, headlines of Italo Calvinos "Six Memos for the New Millennium", have become an aesthetic guidance for me, and the principal among them, consistency (which I also read as tenability), results from a juxtaposition of the other five ideas: Art which withstands, endures - one of the important preconditions for modernity in a timeless sense. (Benjamin Schweitzer)
Benjamin Schweitzer was born in Marburg on 26 July 1973. At the age of 16, he began preliminary studies of composition, music theory and piano at the Lübeck Hochschule für Musik which were soon followed by first performances of his works and awards at composition competitions. From 1993 to 2000 Schweitzer studied composition (with Wilfried Krätzschmar), music theory (with Jörg Herchet) and conducting (with Christian Kluttig) at the Dresden Hochschule für Musik and in the master class of Paavo Heininen at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.
Besides his work as composer, Schweitzer has been continuously active as teacher and organizer. During his studies, in 1997, he founded the Dresden-based ensemble courage whose artistic director he was until 2005. In 2016/17, he was general manager and artistic advisor of the Festival "Nordischer Klang" in Greifswald. Schweitzer taught at the Dresden Hochschule für Musik and at the Technical University of Dresden, the Tartu University and the Viljandi Culture Academy (Estonia) and was invited to numerous conferences and workshops. He was composer-in-residence of the chamber music course of the German Music Council and of Jeunesse Moderne and lecturer at the composition workshop for the award-winners of the Federal Competition for Composition in Weikersheim. Schweitzer’s second field of interest is linguistics, which he recently pursued more intensely. Having already worked for many years as a Finnish to German translator specializing in opera libretti as well as musicological and historical non-fiction, from 2015-18 he studied Finnish and Scandinavian languages in Greifswald and Tartu, obtaining a MA degree.
Schweitzer’s output includes a great variety of genres, instrumentations, and compositional techniques – from detailed notation to guided improvisation. Of central importance to the composer are conciseness, density, efficient use of compositional material and almost the entire avoidance of electronics. The main emphasis of Schweitzer's work is in the field of instrumental music with a preference for chamber and ensemble instrumentations. Important compositions in these genres include achteinhalb for ensemble (2007), holzschnitt for 14 strings (2008), Landscape With Deserted House (2010), the string quartet A Portrait of the Artist as an Old Man in a Three-Piece Suit (2015), and Ilmakannel (2021) for accordion and chamber ensemble. Schweitzer also writes solo pieces, such as Drift for cello (2017), or expands the instrumentation to two instruments, as in Kanten.Konturen for carinet and accordion or in Geisterseher for violin and piano (2020). With Introduktion und Lichtspielszene (1999/2006), flekkicht for baroque orchestra (2004), volapük (2011-12), and Xenolith (2022), he has presented conceivably different orchestral works.
Starting with the chamber opera Jakob von Gunten (1996-98) based on a libretto of his own, adapted from Robert Walser, Schweitzer has turned increasingly to music theatre as well. The miniature opera Informationen über Bartleby (2003) and the full-scale operetta Südseetulpen (2012-14) underline his unconventional and daring approach to this genre. Working in collaboration with choreographer Martin Nachbar, he also created nach Hause (2010), a full-evening theatrical work for dance.
Schweitzer has received commissions from the Siemens Arts Program, Konzerthaus Berlin, the Munich Bienniale, the Bavarian State Opera, DeutschlandRadio Berlin and Orchestra Network for Europe, among others. His works have been performed at festivals and concert series such as the Lucerne Festival, Berliner Festspiele, Wien Modern, Nordic Music Days, UltraSchall, Time of Music Viitasaari, Huddersfield Festival. 2007 saw a portrait concert within the series Klangspuren plus of the Munich Bienniale, and in 2009 Schweitzer's ensemble piece achteinhalb was Germany's contribution to the ISCM World Music Days in Sweden. In 2011, the label WERGO produced a portrait CD with some of his most important chamber music pieces.
Among the large number of awards and distinctions Schweitzer has received are residencies at the Cité Internationale des Arts Paris, the German Study Centre in Venice, Künstlerhof Schreyahn, Herrenhaus Edenkoben, Villa Concordia Bamberg and Schloss Wiepersdorf as well as the Wilfried Steinbrenner Prize and artist’s grants of the Senate of Berlin and the Trustee Programme EHF of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.
Schweitzer lives in Berlin, where he works as a freelance composer.
Homepage: www.benjamin-schweitzer.de
Worklist
Gallery




Products
-
(Rue du Sentier, 1778)Composer: Benjamin SchweitzerSeries: Edition Schott
Instrumentation: pianoProduct number: ED 21337Product TypeIn stockAs low as €5.99Incl. Tax -
(Rue du Sentier, 1778)Composer: Benjamin SchweitzerMedia Type: E-score PDFInstrumentation: pianoProduct number: ED 9952 Q41299In stock€1.99Incl. Tax
-
(Dafne-Fragment)Composer: Benjamin SchweitzerEdition: Score and partsSeries: Edition Schott
Instrumentation: 2 sopranos (or soprano and clarinet), violin, viola and percussionProduct number: ED 20028Product TypeIn stockAs low as €37.99Incl. Tax -
für Ensemble ohne SchlagzeugComposer: Benjamin SchweitzerMedia Type: Hire/performance materialEdition: Performance materialInstrumentation: ensemble
-
Composer: Benjamin SchweitzerEdition: Score and partsSeries: Edition Schott
Instrumentation: baritone, flute and pianoProduct number: ED 20499Product TypeIn stockAs low as €9.99Incl. Tax -
für Flöte, Klarinette, Streichtrio und KlavierComposer: Benjamin SchweitzerMedia Type: Hire/performance materialEdition: Performance materialInstrumentation: flute, clarinet, string trio and piano
-
for five instrumentalists and three dancers
-
für Trompete, Posaune, Schlagzeug, Gitarre, Violoncello und KlavierComposer: Benjamin SchweitzerMedia Type: Hire/performance materialEdition: Performance materialInstrumentation: trumpet, trombone, percussion, guitar, cello and piano
-
In stock€0.00Incl. Tax, Excl. Shipping
-
für Orchester mit Trautonium-SoloComposer: Benjamin SchweitzerMedia Type: Hire/performance materialEdition: Performance materialInstrumentation: Trautonium and orchestra
-
Tragikomödie in einem AktComposer: Benjamin SchweitzerMedia Type: Hire/performance materialEdition: Performance materialLanguage: German
-
A collection of new pieces for pianoMedia Type: Sheet musicInstrumentation: pianoLanguage: EnglishProduct number: ED 21470In stock€10.00Incl. Tax, Excl. Shipping
-
(Drum and Dance)Composer: Benjamin SchweitzerMedia Type: E-score PDFEdition: Separate editionSeries: Edition Schott
Instrumentation: pianoProduct number: ED 21461 Q11184In stock€1.99Incl. Tax -
Composer: Benjamin SchweitzerEdition: Performing score, 2 copiesSeries: Edition Schott
Instrumentation: 2 pianosProduct number: ED 9732Product TypeIn stockAs low as €24.99Incl. Tax -
(The Elements in Review)Composer: Benjamin SchweitzerEdition: Separate editionSeries: Edition Schott
Instrumentation: celloProduct number: ED 23237Product TypeIn stockAs low as €10.99Incl. Tax -
Composer: Benjamin SchweitzerEdition: Performing score, 3 performance scoresSeries: Edition Schott
Instrumentation: clarinet (also bassclarinet), violin and celloProduct number: ED 9825Product TypeIn stockAs low as €9.99Incl. Tax -
Composer: Benjamin SchweitzerEdition: Performing score, in CSeries: Edition Schott
Instrumentation: flute/bassflute (or clarinet), oboe and bassoonProduct number: ED 20746Product TypeIn stockAs low as €22.99Incl. Tax -
Composer: Benjamin SchweitzerEdition: Score (also performance score), 4xSeries: Edition Schott
Instrumentation: oboe, trumpet (in Bb and C), cello and pianoProduct number: ED 20387Product TypeIn stockAs low as €37.99Incl. Tax -
für BarockorchesterComposer: Benjamin SchweitzerMedia Type: Hire/performance materialEdition: Performance materialInstrumentation: baroque orchestra
-
Composer: Benjamin SchweitzerEdition: Performing score, 3 performance scoresSeries: Edition Schott
Instrumentation: bassoon, cello and pianoProduct number: ED 9936Product TypeIn stockAs low as €27.99Incl. Tax