Friedrich K. Wanek

About Friedrich K. Wanek

Friedrich K. Wanek was born in Lugoj (Banat/Romania) on 11 November 1929.

From 1948 until 1954 he studied composition with Paul Constantinescu, Martian Negrea, Theodor Rogalsky and Leon Klepper at the Music Academy of Bucharest. From 1954 he was editor of the magazine 'Muzica' in Bucharest and member of the Romanian Composers' Association.

After being barred from pursuing his work and excluded from membership in the Composers' Association in 1958, he emigrated to the West in 1962. First he worked as editor at the publishing house Universal Edition in Vienna; from 1966 until 1991 he was editor of contemporary music at the Schott music publishing house. In addition, he lectured composition at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz from 1980 until 1982, and directed a composition class at the Peter Kornelius Conservatoire in Mainz from 1984 until 1991. From 1982 until 1983 he held a scholarship of the Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Rhineland-Palatinate at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris.

Upon the initiative suggestion of instrumentalists, Wanek created his numerous, varied chamber music works and, in the last years of his life, even orchestral works. The style of his works which are freely tonal for the most part cannot be allocated to a certain trend or movement; contemporary elements are combined with traditional elements. His œuvre is characterized by his concentration on the essential, on clarity and decisiveness, and by a combination of humour, irony and melancholy.

Friedrich K. Wanek died in Mainz on 13 April 1991.