Erhard Karkoschka

Who was Erhard Karkoschka?

Erhard Karkoschka, is a German composer, scholar and conductor. Karkoschka was born in the German linguistic enclave of Moravská Ostrava, Czechoslovakia, and subsequent to World War II became a violinist for the Bayreuth Symphony Orchestra, whereupon he studied composition, musicology and conducting at the Musikhochschule in Stuttgart and the University of Tübingen, Germany. His doctoral thesis was an analysis of the compositional techniques in the early works of Anton Webern.

Commencing in 1948, he directed the Choir and Orchestra at the University of Hohenheim, the former Agricultural College, also the "Hohenheimer Schloßkonzerte". In 1958, he taught at the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart. Then in 1962, he founded his Ensemble for New Musik, which eventually broke away from the school in 1976 and was renamed the Contac-Ensemble. In 1973, he became the director of the Studio for Electronic Music in the Stuttgart Hochschule until his retirement in 1987.

Erhard Karkoschka authored a landmark book on musical notation, published in German, English and Japanese; "Das Schriftbild der neuen Musik", 1965. {English trans.: "Notation in New Music", London/New York 1972; Japanese: ZEN-ON Music Company Ltd., Tokyo 1978; Chinese translation 1999}. The extent of his compositions includes works for orchestra, chamber music and scenic music for various instruments, organ works, works for electronic instruments, cantatas, motets, psalms and songs, as well as "instructions" for group improvisation, and "music for musicians and audience". He died in Stuttgart in 2009.