Wendelin Bitzan

Medtner January #1: I had the pleasure of designing a public lecture-recital at Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf, taking place in the framework of the university's piano music festival of this term, curated by my colleague Tobias Koch.

On Saturday, 20 January, 6 pm, we will present a programme of Nikolai Karlovich Medtner's sonatas and vocal music, centered around multiple references to Goethe's poetry in the music. I will be performing and commenting on the Sonata-Elegy from the Sonata Triad, Op. 11, and Sonata-Vocalise, Op. 41 No. 1, with soprano Stefanie Kathrin Fischer. The other performers on stage will be Agnes Konnerth, Giuseppe D'Elia, Sofiia Loboda, and Victoria Lucretia Nava. After that, Latvian pianist Sergejs Osokins will include some more Medtner in his guest recital at 7:30 pm. Everybody is cordially invited!

Veranstaltungen - Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf Die Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf genießt einen internationalen Ruf. Rund 850 Studierende aus mehr als 40 Nationen werden hier ausgebildet. 45 haupt- und nebenberufliche Professoren und mehr als 200 Lehrbeauftragte unterrichten auf höchstem Niveau.

While everybody is sharing their achievements and track records at the end of the year, I thought I'd contribute some contrary experiences as I feel that we far less readily talk about things and endeavours that do not turn out well. So here we go: In the last few months I had two article submissions rejected by prestigious journals, failed in two competitive academic job interviews, and unsuccessfully applied for the board of the Berlin music council. Besides, I didn't compose anything substantial for more than a year.

This is not to imply that I am generally unhappy with my professional career, of course. I am still very content with my current teaching position, pursue some fruitful research and publishing activities, and continually enjoy the musical output and growing proficiency of my adorable children.

What are your recent failures and missed opportunities? Please share and provide some counterpoint to the ubiquitous showing off :)
However, have a great holiday season and lots of success, satisfaction, and rewarding experiences in the coming year!

Some months ago I conducted a fascinating interview with two multimedial music creators from Berlin: the film composer Dascha Dauenhauer and the instrumental and electroacoustic composer Martin Grütter. We talked about their preferred working methods and environments, aesthetic influences, and ways of making their music available and accessible. The interview has now been published in the online magazine niusic.de. Hope you enjoy the read!

niusic.de – Zwischen den Medien Das Onlinebiotop für Klassik und Musikkultur.

A new cultural-political statement has been issued by my professional body of musicians, Deutscher Tonkünstlerverband Berlin. The most important topics are fair payment for freelancers (see our fee guidelines here: www.t.ly/v6r8B) and future challenges for music school administrations as a result of a court decision on the social security of freelance teaching staff that are integrated in the business. We will be in touch with the Berlin Senate administration for that matter. Please continue reading via the link below.

dtkv-berlin.de

I am excited to announce that my digital teaching fellowship at Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf has yielded some results. The public platform Open Music Academy, currently run as a project of Hochschule für Musik und Theater München, now features four new plugins that allow persistent user entries within tutorials, introducing functions such as form fields, file upload, and a customisable whiteboard. These plugins are available and ready for use within virtual learning rooms and collaborative environments, and also include a commentary function for assessment and individual feedback. Please feel free to create an account (see link in the first comment) and give it a try!

It is my hope that these plugins will be applied with benefit for designing modular tutorials, teaching materials, and online assignments. Many thanks to the developers, Andreas Helmberger and Adriana Luchian, for their proficient coding, to Ulrich Kaiser for his most valuable support, and to some of my colleagues from the RSH music theory faculty who supervised and tested the new features.

My professional body of musicians, Deutscher Tonkünstlerverband Berlin, has finally released a set of fee guidelines for gigs, rehearsals, and teaching activities that aim to secure a decent living income. This is the first such publication specifically dedicated to freelance work in Berlin with no public funding involved, addressing various types of artistic and pedagogical activity on the basis of a fair remuneration standard ( ) for autonomous entrepreneurial musicianship, taking into consideration both business expenses and reserves, as well as social insurance and retirement provision. The paper refers to the previously published minimum fee standards of Deutscher Musikrat, DACH Musik Berlin, Koalition der freien Szene Frankfurt, ver.di Musik and some state associations of Deutscher Tonkünstlerverband.

Berlin musicians, please take notice of these guidelines and apply them in your own freelance work and fee negotiations, if at all possible. It might not be convenient to adopt a higher standard immediately, but do at least consider a gradual increase upon consultation with your customers. Your work is worth as much as you can reasonably claim in accordance with your education and qualification. Every professional musician is eligible to take a stand for fair payment, and for the ethical values associated with making a living from music as your dearest passion and profession alike.

dtkv-berlin.de

The results of my diversity survey for music students are now available. From April through September 2023 I conducted an anonymous poll among students from German universities and conservatories, inquiring their opinions and attitudes towards various issues in music business and professional music education. In particular, there were questions regarding the diversity of composers and repertoires, researchers and teachers, academic topics, and conceptions in musicology and music theory. I am sharing an overview of the results here, hoping that these will enable some insights and can maybe encourage to develop ideas and strategies for making curricula and course contents more diverse.

Diversität im Musikleben und in der Musikausbildung Ergebnisse einer anonymen Befragung von April bis September 2023, deren Ziel es war, persönliche Einschätzungen, Meinungen und Erfahrungen von Musikstudierenden zu verschiedenen Aspekten von Diversität in Erfahrung zu bringen und daraus mögliche

I am honoured to chair an online panel discussion as part of the 14th Bundeskonferenz der Lehrbeauftragten an Musikhochschulen, the federal conference of adjunct teachers at German music universities, on Saturday 28 October, 1–3 pm. Speakers will be Christian Fischer (HfM Trossingen), Sebastian Haas (unisono), Andreas Keller (GEW), Uwe Ruß-Obajtek (), Holger Mann (SPD) and Stephan Seiter (FDP). Looking forward to a productive (and perhaps controversial) exchange of thoughts!

Am kommenden Samstag, 28. Oktober, 13–15 Uhr werde ich eine hochschulöffentliche Podiumsdiskussion im Rahmen der 14. bklm moderieren. Das Thema ist »Phantom der Musikhochschulen: Wie kann der Lehrauftrag aus der Unsichtbarkeit geholt werden?« Ich freue mich auf einen produktiven (und möglicherweise kontroversen) Austausch.

I am currently staying in Saarbrücken for a few days, participating in the annual conference of the Gesellschaft für Musikforschung that has a focus on digital humanities and computer-aided research in music. Yesterday I took part in an interesting panel on the role of music theory in undergraduate musicology programmes. The roundtable was convened by Felix Wörner and featured lightning talks by Carmel Raz, Andreas Feilen, Gregor Herzfeld, and myself.

Mein jüngster Artikel über das Lehrauftragsunwesen an Musikhochschulen ist im NOIES Musikszene NRW Magazin erschienen. Der Text umreißt die Wurzeln des Problems und skizziert einige akademische Handlungsoptionen und Denkansätze.

I wrote a few lines again on the subject of precarious working conditions in professional music education. In a recent article for the NOIES Musikszene NRW magazine, I focus on the situation of adjunct teachers at German music universities. This part of faculty manage 40–60 percent of the overall teaching load, mostly ineligible for social welfare schemes, while taking all the entrepreneurial risks of freelancing. After summarising the origins of this academic grievance, I outline some perspectives and possible solutions to the problem.

Brief an Hochschulleitungen und Ministerien: Einige Vorhaltungen über Nachhaltigkeit – Noies Zeitung für neue und experimentelle Musik

Off to Hochschule für Musik Freiburg for a weekend full of encounters, discoveries, and exchanges of thoughts at the annual conference of the Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie. With a focus on artistic research in music, the event will connect both scholarly and practical approaches. By combining diverse formats such as lectures, performances, workshops, and panels on digitialisation and teaching methodology, the programme covers the very essence of current music theory as an academic discipline. I am particularly looking forward to both of my presentations, one of which deals with sources of vocal inspiration in the instrumental works of Amy Beach, while the other addresses diversity issues in professional music education and music business.

Glad to announce that my short composition »Song without Words« has been selected by Verband der Harfenisten in Deutschland as a compulsory piece in their 2024 harp competition for participants aged up to 12 years. The piece is dedicated to my children and exists in three alternative versions for solo harp, guitar, and piano. For everybody interested, the music is freely available online (see comments).

VDH-Kompositionswettbewerb Der erste VDH-Kompositionswettbewerb fand im Laufe des Jahres 2023 statt. 38 Komponistinnen und Komponisten im Alter zwischen 8 und 72 Jahren aus Deutschland, Österreich, den Niederlanden, Großbritannien, Frankreich, der Ukraine und den USA haben insgesamt 65 Solo-Werke für Harfe in den folgenden...

Dear colleagues and everybody involved in academic music education, I would like to share a first draft of my conception for teaching music theory on the basis of digital media, online platforms, and collaborative tools and documents. The strategies outlined here are the product of the past three years, reflecting the attempt to transfer methods and techniques from remote and hybrid teaching to in-person classes wherever convenient, and to develop an integrative model for the benefit of both students and teachers. Please feel free to comment and get in touch if you have any remarks, suggestions, or additions from your own experience.

The Digital Music Theory Classroom In this paper I am going to introduce a conception for teaching music theory classes to undergraduate or graduate students at universities or conservatories, based essentially on the application of digital media, teaching platforms, and collaborative

I have been revisiting my paper from last year's Scriabin @ 150 conference in Reading, hopefully to be published soon in a collective volume alongside other contributions from this event. The article discusses the relationship between the Muscovite composer-pianists Alexander Scriabin and Nikolai Medtner, who are often considered aesthetic antagonists and have rarely been researched in a mutual context. I explore biographical links and examine a couple of musical examples, revealing some latent influences and intercommunities between the two protagonists that merit a closer look. A preliminary version is now available online—please feel free to comment and share your thoughts!

Scriabin and Medtner: Latent Influences and Intercommunities The Russian composer-pianists Aleksandr Nikolayevich Scriabin (1872–1915) and Nikolai Karlovich Medtner (1880–1951) were direct contemporaries at the latest stage of the Russian Empire, both figuring as renowned protagonists in the cultural life of

Scam alert! There are two online music competitions, named Caneres and Amadeus Composition Award, with closing dates due by the end of the month. Both appear to be operated with a questionable business model—it is stated that application is free of charges while participation fees actually apply, and prizes and juries are not announced transparently. Both contests are promoted from Vienna by one and the same person, Anastasia Stefany (or: Stsefanovich), who widely advertises them via social media using pretentious phrases such as »largest classical music competition in the world«, »path to musical greatness«, »celebrating the maestros of composition«, and the likes.

When I commented on the advertisements in a Facebook group, referring to the hidden fees and criticising the improper announcement of the juries (Caneres boasts an oversized board, including false information such as non-existing professoral positions, while Amadeus does not announce a jury at all), the promoter reacted in a highly unprofessional way. She attacked me personally in the group thread, posted derogatory comments to some totally unrelated posts on my profile, and threatened to file a legal complaint against me. To avoid further escalation, I emailed her and offered that I would not further comment on her businesses, provided that she revoked all of her offensive communication, but she would not respond. This behaviour, in combination with the clearly fraudulent practice of both competitions, leads me to the assumption that Caneres and the Amadeus Award are no serious opportunities for performers and composers. I recommend not to apply for either of them, or to withdraw your application before paying any fees.

I wrote a comprehensive portrait of Berufsverband Musik TKV Sachsen, the professional body of musicians and music educators in the German state of Saxonia, for the Kultur Management Network magazine. The nine board members, Stephanie Dathe, Christoph Geibel, Nikolai Kähler, Felicitas Ressel, Anne-Kathrin Ludwig, Christiane Vogel, Sophia Schulz, Victoria Flock, and Christian Scheibler, are doing a great job in cultural administration, political lobbyism, and advocacy of freelancers. See pp. 78–85 of the issue, which also contains a number of other noteworthy contributions, dealing with multiple aspects and challenges of the cultural sector in East Germany. Please have a look!

Ausgabe 173: Ostdeutscher Kulturbetrieb Der Kulturbetrieb in Ostdeutschland ist vielfältig und birgt viele Schätze. Inwieweit es einen ungetrübteren Blick - auch auf die ostdeutsche Vergangenheit - braucht, um die blühenden (Kultur-)Landschaften noch klarer zu sehen und zu nutzen, zeigt diese Magazin-Ausgabe.

I am deeply moved by Friede Merz's strong and courageous statement on abuse of power in German music universities and the jazz scene in particular. Her personal report is disturbing, alarming, and illuminating at the same time. It should be taken as a wake-up call by everybody involved in academic administration and professional music education: www.t.ly/XZjTX

Ich bin tief beeindruckt von Friede Merz' starker und unerschrockener Stellungnahme zu Machtmissbrauch an deutschen Musikhochschulen und insbesondere in der Jazzszene. Ihr persönlicher Bericht ist bestürzend, alarmierend und zugleich erhellend. Er sollte allen, die in Hochschulverwaltungen und in der professionellen Musikausbildung tätig sind, als Weckruf dienen: www.t.ly/R8kDz

Statement_D_ 1 Einleitung — friedemerzmusic Gewalt und Diskriminierung im Deutschen Jazz und an Musikhochschulen ...

My examination of Dmitri Shostakovich's passacaglias of the 1940s, a conference paper from two years ago, has now been published in Vol. 13 of Shostakovich Studies, edited by Bernd Feuchtner. Included are discussions of the passacaglia movements from the Eighth Symphony, Op. 65, Second Piano Trio, Op. 67, Third String Quartet, Op. 73, and First Violin Concerto, Op. 77. See the link in the comments for more information on the volume.

Happy to perform with Vokalsystem Berlin, Johannes David Wolff and Lidia Kalendareva again this weekend! In two concerts celebrating the decennial of the choir, we will present a versatile programme with music by Johannes Brahms, Max Reger, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Ēriks Ešenvalds, as well as a new work by Yannick Wittmann, Lidia's own Vocalise, and the impressive cycle »The Passing of the Year« by Jonathan Dove. If you are around, please join us at Heilig Kreuz Kirche in Berlin-Kreuzberg!

» Friday, 14 July 2023, 8 pm
» Saturday, 15 July 2023, 6 pm
» Tickets available at €12 / €8

Die Komponistinnen-Serie von Arno Lücker im VAN Magazin ist nach nunmehr 250 Folgen abgeschlossen. An diesem enzyklopädischen musikjournalistischen Unterfangen kann man, wenn man will, die Inkonsistenz der Zugänge beanstanden, hier und da mangelnde Detailschärfe und gelegentlich auch fragwürdige historische und analytische Sattelfestigkeit kritisieren. Das ändert aber nichts daran, dass diese Folge von Kurzportraits ein ziemlich beeindruckendes und inspirierendes Gesamtbild abgibt. Gut, dass es Menschen wie Arno gibt, die so etwas machen! Die 250 Artikel erscheinen zum Jahresende als Buchausgabe, und Vorbestellungen sind bereits jetzt möglich: www.t.ly/mQ1rA.

The female composer series by www.facebook.com/arno.lucker for VAN Magazin is now complete. Despite its occasional flaws and inconsistencies: what a remarkable and inspiring achievement! The 250 articles will be available in print and e-book format at the end of the year (see the link above).

Die Mitwirkung an meiner Studie zur Diversität im Musikleben und in der Musikausbildung ist noch bis Ende Juli möglich. Ich freue mich über weitere Teilnahmen und Weiterleitungen an interessierte Studierende! Eine Präsentation der Ergebnisse wird auf dem diesjährigen Kongress der Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie am 22. September 2023 an der Hochschule für Musik Freiburg stattfinden.

» Link: https://forms.gle/YaXtLSRDZKaposoJ8 (gerne weiterleiten)

Diversität im Musikleben und in der Musikausbildung Herzlich willkommen zur Studie zum Thema Diversität im Musikleben und in der Musikausbildung! Das Ziel der Befragung ist, persönliche Einschätzungen, Meinungen und Erfahrungen von Musikstudierenden zu verschiedenen Aspekten von Diversität in Erfahrung zu bringen und daraus mögliche Impulse für...

The probably most popular composition of female authorship, even though this fact evades the attention of many classical musicians, is the song »Bésame mucho« by the Mexican composer-pianist Consuelo Velázquez (c. 1916–2005), written in the mid-1930s, and subsequently becoming a worldwide success through all musical styles and genres. The initial melody is presumably based on the 1911 piece »Quejas, ó la maja y el ruiseñor«, part of the Goyescas piano cycle by Catalan composer Enrique Granados, which he adopted as an aria for the opera of the same name a few years later. Consuelito, as she was called by her friends and family, provided the tune with soulful lyrics and a relaxed bolero rhythm, and transformed it into a regular periodical theme, while maintaining its melancholic mood and Phrygian-inflected harmony.

Just wanted to share some insights from my Amy Beach analysis class, along with a number of listening recommendations. More to experience in my forthcoming lecture at this year's conference of the Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie, 22–24 September in Freiburg!

A core feature of Amy Beach's creative approach is the re-working or re-cycling of vocal music in her instrumental works, such as passages or fragments from her own earlier songs, or by implementation of folk melodies. This goes well beyond similar tendencies in the oeuvres of Schubert, Mendelssohn, Brahms, or Mahler—I tend to say that a significant portion of Beach's instrumental cantilenas are derived from vocal music, being instances of »the song writ large«, as Adrienne Fried Block put it. Take a look, for example, at the slow movements from the Piano Concerto, Op. 45 (a transformation of the song »Twilight«, Op. 2 No. 1) and the Piano Trio, Op. 150 (which is based on the Heine setting »Allein«, Op. 35 No. 2); or check out how she integrates vernacular themes in her »Gaelic Symphony«, Op. 32 (which three of its four movements being based on Irish songs), the Piano Variations on Balkan Themes, Op. 60 (which make use of Serbian and Macedonian melodies), or the single-movement String Quartet, Op. 89 (which is based on Inuit tunes), in order to create a pristine atmosphere and modally-coloured harmony. These are but the most striking examples of a fascinating compositional technique that I intend to further explore in the following weeks.

I am excited to co-organise a panel discussion, jointly hosted by the Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie and Society for Music Analysis, which will be entitled »Essentials or Preliminaries? Perspectives on Pre-University Music Theory«. This will be the first collaboration of the SMA Zoom Colloquium and the GMTH International Music Theory Lectures, featuring Rebekka Albrecht, Esther Cavett, Laura Krämer, James Olsen, Mark Richards, and Kenneth Smith, who will contribute their views as lecturers at secondary schools, music schools, and universities. Really looking forward to this exchange of thoughts—if you are interested as well, please join the session on Thursday, 1 June, 19:30 CEST (18:30 BST). Further information on the speakers and the Zoom details can be found at the link below.

GMTH/SMA International Music Theory Joint Panel with the SMA Zoom Colloquium The GMTH (society of German-language music theory) has launched an international online lecture series comprising music theory/analysis papers and panels with subsequent discussions, to be held abo…

Der Deutscher Tonkünstlerverband Berlin hat eine Stellungnahme zu der kürzlich erschienenen Berufsmusikstudie des Musikinformationszentrums (www.bit.ly/3BshLQx) veröffentlicht. Die Studie scheint für die Gruppe der freischaffenden Musiker*innen nur eingeschränkt repräsentativ zu sein.

The association Deutscher Tonkünstlerverband Berlin has issued a statement on the recently published study of the Musikinformationszentrum, which appears to be of limited significance for the concerns of freelance musicians.

Deutscher Tonkünstlerverband Berlin e. V. | News Der Vorstand des DTKV Berlin hat die am 18.04.2023 vorgestellte Studie Professionelles Musizieren in Deutschland des MIZ mit großem Interesse zur Kenntnis genommen und begrüßt die dadurch bewirkte Verbesserung der Datenlage.

My colleague Heike Michaelis and I have been interviewed for the current Neue Musikzeitung on a number of topics related to advocacy of freelance musicianship, such as fee structures, pension provision, cultural policy, professional development in music, and association work in the Deutscher Tonkünstlerverband. Check the link below to learn about my thoughts and views (on some of which I have already expanded elsewhere), and feel free to comment and share your opinion. This interview also marks the end of my collaboration with the nmz as I am about to turn away to other media outlets.

Alle Verbände sollten an einem Strang ziehen | Ausgabe: 5/23 | nmz - neue musikzeitung Stephanie Schiller: Honorarstandards innerhalb von öffentlich geförderten Institutionen und Projekten sind das eine. Aber wie steht es eurer Einschätzung nach um die Realisierungs-Chancen bundesweit verbindlicher Honorarstandards für Musiker*innen in Konzert und Unterricht – also auf dem freie...