RIHM Wolfgang (1952-2024)

A German composer born March 13, 1952 in Karlsruhe who died July 27, 2024 in Ettlingen (Germany).

The pupil notably of Eugen Werner Velte, Wolfgang Fortner, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Klaus Huber, Wolfgang Rihm studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe then in Cologne and Fribourg-in-Brisgau. He also attended the summer school in Darmstadt and completed his apprenticeship with studies in musicology with Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht. He is one of the representatives of ‘New simplicity’, a movement in young German music that sought to renew its ties with lyricism, melody and expressivity in the 1980s. The composer of more than 350 works of vocal and/or instrumental music, he is thoroughly imbued with his practice of choral singing and is fascinated by everything related to ritual. Drawing inspiration from literature and the arts in general, he finds sustenance in the music of Morton Feldman, Anton Webern, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Helmut Lachenmann and Luigi Nono. His works include a chamber opera Jakob Lenz (1978), Die Hamletmaschine (1983), Pol-Kolchis-Nucleus (1996), Et Lux (2009), Dyade (2011), as well as the series of works Chiffre-Zyklus (1982-1988), Fetzen (1999-2004) and Verwandlung (2002-2008).