Gruppe Neue Musik Hanns Eisler

Origin| Leipzig, German Democratic Republic
Genres| Contemporary classical
Occupation| Chamber ensemble
Years active| 1970–1993

Musical artist

Gruppe Neue Musik Hanns Eisler was an ensemble of musicians founded in 1970 in Leipzig with a focus on contemporary classical music, which played several world premieres and toured internationally.[1] The ensemble disbanded in 1993.

## History

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The ensemble Gruppe Neue Musik "Hanns Eisler" was founded in Leipzig on 17 December 1970 by composer and trombone player Friedrich Schenker, oboist Burkhard Glaetzner, pianist Gerhard Erber and others, to perform contemporary classical music.[2] Its regular conductors were Max Pommer, Friedrich Goldmann and Christian Münch.[3]

### Repertoire

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The core repertoire of Gruppe Neue Musik Hanns Eisler consisted of works by Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern and Hanns Eisler as well as Stefan Wolpe, Charles Ives and Paul Dessau.[3] The group's mission was to keep the spirit of their namesake alive, which meant that they focused not on performing his work, but on promoting new music.[1] More than 250 first performances by more than 70 composers include Edison Denisov's Trio, Nicolaus A. Huber's Demijour, Luca Lombardi's Einklang, Wolfgang Rihm's Kalt, Goldmann's Konzert für Posaune und 3 Instrumentalgruppen, Luigi Nono's Kolomb,[4] and Alax by Iannis Xenakis.[5] In addition, they played several East German first performances of works by international composers such as John Cage's Piano Concerto, Edison Denisov's Chorale-Variations, Dieter Schnebel's Glossolalie, Stockhausen's Zyklus, Iannis Xenakis's Nomos Alpha, Isang Yun's Piri and Bernd Alois Zimmermann's Intercommunicatione.[3]

### Tours and disbanding

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Gruppe Neue Musik Hanns Eisler was one of the first East German ensembles to tour beyond the Iron Curtain, including several performances throughout Western Europe and Japan.[6] They were often invited to the Steirischer Herbst, the Warsaw Autumn Festival, the Donaueschingen Festival and the Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik among others.[7] It was the most important ensemble for contemporary music in East Germany. Alongside ensemble intercontemporain and Ensemble Modern it was also one of the most respected contemporary chamber music ensembles in Europe. The ensemble disbanded after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1993, considering its mission accomplished.[7]

## Awards

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* Art Prize of the German Democratic Republic (1980)
* Kunstpreis der Stadt Leipzig (1986)
* Schneider-Schott Music Prize (1991)

## Film

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The group played Reiner Bredemeyer's music for the 1980 documentary film Kampuchea – Sterben und Auferstehen [de].

## Recordings

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Recordings by the group were released by Wergo, including:

* Steffen Schleiermacher: Zeremonie
* Helmut Zapf: Zusammenklang II
* Nicolaus Richter de Vroe: Aus weißen Listen
* Reiner Bredemeyer: Septett 80 / Alle Neune
* Jörg Herchet: Kompositionen
* Friedrich Schenker: Die Friedensfeier

## References

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1. ^ a b Frackman, Kyle; Powell, Larson (2015). Classical Music in the German Democratic Republic: Production and Reception. Boydell & Brewer. p. 173\. ISBN 9781571139160.
2. ^ Stefan Amzoll (2011). "Innovationsfreudig und provokant. Vor 40 Jahren wurde die Gruppe Neue Musik "Hanns Eisler" gegründet". Neue Zeitschrift für Musik (in German). 172 (2): 68–70.
3. ^ a b c Schneider, Frank; Dibelius, Ulrich [in German] (1997). "Die Gruppe Neue Musik "Hanns Eisler". Neue Musik im geteilten Deutschland (in German). Vol. 3: Dokumente aus den siebziger Jahren. pp. 224–227\. ISBN 3-89487-248-9.
4. ^ Thomas Schäfer, ed. (1999). Luigi Nono. Aufbruch in Grenzbereiche (in German). Pfau-Verlag: Saarbrücken. pp. 70ff. ISBN 3-89727-079-X.
5. ^ Glaetzner & Kontressowitz 1990, p. 40.
6. ^ Glaetzner & Kontressowitz 1990, p. 8.
7. ^ a b Programme 1975–1999 der Gruppe Neue Musik "Hanns Eisler", burkhard-glaetzner.de

Sources

* Glaetzner, Burkhard; Kontressowitz, Reiner, eds. (1990). Gruppe Neue Musik "Hanns Eisler" 1970–1990 (Festschrift) (in German). Leipzig: Spiel-Horizonte. OCLC 1237356980.

## Further reading

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* Glaetzner, Burkhard (1990). "Ansprache. In eigener Sache". MusikTexte [de]. 37: 61.+[de]&rft.atitle=Ansprache.+In+eigener+Sache&rft.volume=37&rft.pages=61&rft.date=1990&rft.aulast=Glaetzner&rft.aufirst=Burkhard&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Gruppe+Neue+Musik+Hanns+Eisler" class="Z3988">
* Reinhard Krehl; Silke Steets; Jan Wenzel, eds. (July 2005). "1970–1990: Gruppe Neue Musik "Hanns Eisler"". Leipzig Protestatlas: Text Bild Karte (PDF) (in German). Leipzig: General Panel für Experimentale. ISBN 3-00-016642-4.
* Schneider, Frank (1978). "Die Gruppe Neue Musik Hanns Eisler". Musik und Gesellschaft. No. 7\. pp. 422–425.
* Schneider, Frank (1990). "Ein kleines Wunder. Die Gruppe Neue Musik "Hanns Eisler" Leipzig". MusikTexte. 33–34: 109–111.
* Schneider, Frank (2011). "Schöpferische Interpretation. Das Beispiel der Gruppe Neue Musik "Hanns Eisler" Leipzig". In Camilla Bork; Tobias Robert Klein; Burkhard Meischein; Andreas Meyer; Tobias Plebuch (eds.). Ereignis und Exegese. Musikalische Interpretation. Interpretation der Musik. Festschrift für Hermann Danuser zum 65. Geburtstag (in German). Schliengen: Edition Argus. pp. 721–728\. ISBN 978-3-931264-77-2.
* Vetter, Manfred (1996). Kammermusik in der DDR. Frankfurt/Main: Peter Lang. p. 191\. ISBN 3-631-30257-6.

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Schneider-Schott Music Prize

* Detlev Müller-Siemens & Wolfgang von Schweinitz (1986)
* Ensemble Modern (1987)
* Hans-Jürgen von Bose (1988)
* Herbert Henck & Walter Zimmermann (1989)
* Adriana Hölszky (1990)
* Gruppe Neue Musik Hanns Eisler (1991)
* Ulrich Stranz (1992)
* Steffen Schleiermacher & Ensemble Avantgarde (1993)
* Jörg Birkenkötter & Hanspeter Kyburz (1994)
* ensemble recherche (1995)
* Isabel Mundry & Moritz Eggert (1996)
* Nomos-Quartett (1997)
* Helmut Oehring (1998)
* Ensemble 13 (1999)
* Michael Riessler & Mike Svoboda (2000)
* Babette Koblenz (2001)
* Jörg Widmann (2002)
* Salome Kammer & Thomas E. Bauer (2003)
* The Neue Vocalsolisten (2004)
* Enno Poppe (2005)
* Peter Schöne (2006)
* Márton Illés (2008)
* Anna Prohaska (2010)
* Birke J. Bertelsmeier (2012)
* Carolin Widmann (2014)
* Gordon Kampe (2016)
* Dominik Susteck (2018)
* Benjamin Scheuer (2020)
* Ensemble Resonanz (2024)

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