Donaueschingen Festival

[[File:Boulez2008.jpg|thumb|Pierre Boulez at the Donaueschingen Festival in 2008]] The '''Donaueschingen Festival''' (in German: '''Donaueschinger Musiktage''') is a festival for new music that takes place every October in the small town of [[Donaueschingen]]. Founded in 1921, it is the oldest festival for [[contemporary music]] in the world, and among the best-known and most prestigious. ==History== In 1913, the ''Donaueschingen Society of Friends of Music'' was founded under the auspices of the House of [[House of Fürstenberg|Fuerstenberg]]. The idea soon arose to establish a small festival for presenting young and promising artists. A committee of distinguished musicians, among them [[Ferruccio Busoni]], [[Hans Pfitzner]], [[Arthur Nikisch]] and [[Richard Strauss]], met in 1921 to discuss possible formats for the event. The first concert was presented just a few months later. On 31 July 1921 the ''Donaueschingen Chamber Music Performances for the advancement of contemporary music'' gave world premiere performances of music by [[Alois Hába]], [[Ernst Krenek]] and [[Paul Hindemith]]. Three years later, guest composers included [[Arnold Schoenberg]], [[Anton Webern]], and [[Josef Matthias Hauer]], who were among the main representatives of the Viennese [[twelve-tone technique]]. In 1925, the festival's scope expanded from presenting only chamber music to include choral works; one year later, the offerings included music for wind orchestra. With experimental forms of music and art such as [[Oskar Schlemmer]]'s 'Triadic Ballet', the festival encompassed an increasingly wide range of activities and became more and more attractive to [[avant-garde]] composers and performers alike. In 1927, the festival relocated to [[Baden-Baden]]. During the years 1931-1933, 1935, 1940-1945, and 1948-1949, all concerts were cancelled due to the [[Causes of World War II|overall national and international political situation]]. Instead of the original chamber music series, the [[Nazi Party|National-Socialist party]] organized its own concerts from 1933 to 1935, called 'Donaueschingen Musical Celebration' or 'Old and new chamber-music from the Swabian-Alemannic region'. After the war, the Society of Friends of Music was able to re-establish the festival under the name ''Donaueschingen Festival of Contemporary Music''. A cooperative agreement between the [[Südwestrundfunk|South-West German Radio Baden-Baden]] and its [[Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra|orchestra]] shifted the program emphasis to larger orchestral works. In 1951, [[Olivier Messiaen]] and his student [[Pierre Boulez]] offered new compositions, along with older works by Hindemith and [[Béla Bartók]]. In 1972, the Karl Sczuka Prize for Hörspiel (radio play) was awarded for the first time during the festival. Since 1993, every festival has its own theme. ==List of selected composers== 1921: [[Alban Berg]], [[Alois Hába]], [[Ernst Krenek]], [[Philipp Jarnach]], [[Anton Webern]], [[Arnold Schönberg]], [[Josef Matthias Hauer]], [[Paul Hindemith]] 1925: [[Hanns Eisler]], [[Paul Dessau]], [[Igor Strawinsky]] 1926: [[Paul Hindemith]], [[Ernst Toch]] 1927: [[Kurt Weill]], [[Darius Milhaud]], [[George Antheil]] 1951-1960: [[Pierre Boulez]], [[Olivier Messiaen]], [[Hans Werner Henze]], [[Karlheinz Stockhausen]], [[Bernd Alois Zimmermann]], [[Luigi Nono]], [[Earle Brown]], [[John Cage]], [[Henri Pousseur]], [[Iannis Xenakis]], [[Luciano Berio]], [[Elliott Carter]], [[Mauricio Kagel]], [[Edgard Varèse]], [[Krzysztof Penderecki]], [[Wilhelm Killmayer]] 1961-1980: [[György Ligeti]], [[Heinz Holliger]], [[Alfred Schnittke]], [[Dieter Schnebel]], [[Wolfgang Rihm]], [[Helmut Lachenmann]], [[Hans Zender]], [[Brian Ferneyhough]], [[Peter Eötvös]], [[Younghi Pagh-Paan]] Since 1981: [[Peter Ablinger]], [[Mark Andre]], [[Antoine Beuger]], [[Julio Estrada]], [[Dror Feiler]], [[Silvia Fómina]], [[Klaus Huber]], [[Benedict Mason]], [[Diego Minciacchi]], [[Misato Mochizuki]], [[Olga Neuwirth]], [[Frederic Rzewski]], [[Marc Sabat]], [[Elliott Sharp]], [[Mathias Spahlinger]], [[Jörg Widmann]] ==Sources== *Josef Häusler: ''Spiegel der Neuen Musik: Donaueschingen. Chronik – Tendenzen – Werkbesprechungen''. Kassel (19969 – ISBN 3-7618-1232-9 *Bennwitz, Hanspeter: ''Donaueschingen und die Neue Musik 1921-1955''. Donaueschingen (1955). ==External links== *[http://www.swr.de/swr2/donaueschingen Official website of the Donaueschingen Festival at SWR radio] {{coord missing|Germany}}