© Ricordi, Foto: Harald Hoffmann | Portrait Enno Poppe
Commissioned work: Feder (2024) for violin solo
A solo piece is difficult to write because there is usually no dialog, but rather a soliloquy. "Feder" (Engl.: Feather), on the other hand, is a kind of quartet: the four strings of the violin are understood as four different instruments that are in conversation with each other. They comment on each other, repeat and vary. The first string is only added halfway through the piece, a diva.
The decisive factor is the violin's unlimited variety of colors. Let's call one color "Fritz Kreisler", another "David Oistrach" and a third "Andrew Manze". A good violinist knows how to play these colors technically by combining vibrato, bow pressure, bow speed and contact point on the string. Such a traditional, but in any case extremely characteristic color is immediately recognizable, even if you only play a single note. The fact that every single element in the piece is very simple - sometimes just one note, sometimes a three-note melodic fragment, sometimes a glissando - allows you to concentrate fully on the color changes and on the different personalities of the four strings. Due to the constant color changes, each note also has a different expression. Is that difficult to hear? I would like it to be as light as a feather.
Enno Poppe, 2024
The decisive factor is the violin's unlimited variety of colors. Let's call one color "Fritz Kreisler", another "David Oistrach" and a third "Andrew Manze". A good violinist knows how to play these colors technically by combining vibrato, bow pressure, bow speed and contact point on the string. Such a traditional, but in any case extremely characteristic color is immediately recognizable, even if you only play a single note. The fact that every single element in the piece is very simple - sometimes just one note, sometimes a three-note melodic fragment, sometimes a glissando - allows you to concentrate fully on the color changes and on the different personalities of the four strings. Due to the constant color changes, each note also has a different expression. Is that difficult to hear? I would like it to be as light as a feather.
Enno Poppe, 2024
Biography
Enno Poppe (*December 30, 1969, in Hemer, Germany) is one of the most important composers in Germany, based in Berlin since 1990.
Poppe studied conducting and composition at the Hochschule der Künste Berlin with Friedrich Goldmann and Gösta Neuwirth, among others. Additionally, he studied sound synthesis and algorithmic composition at the Technische Universität Berlin and at the ZKM Karlsruhe. As a conductor, Enno Poppe regularly performs with Klangforum Wien, Ensemble Musikfabrik and Ensemble Resonanz as well as with international orchestras. Since 1998 he also is member and conductor of ensemble mosaik. Enno Poppe taught composition at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin, at Darmstädter Ferienkursen für Neue Musik and at Impuls Akademie (Graz).
Enno Poppe received commissions from ensembles all over Europe and abroad, Orchestras such as Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, WDR Sinfonieorchester, and festivals such as Donaueschinger Musiktage, Salzburger Festspiele, musica viva (München), Ultraschall Berlin, MaerzMusik (Berlin), Eclat (Stuttgart) and Wittener Tage für Neue Kammermusik.
Enno Poppe’s works have been performed by, among others, quartets such as Arditti Quartet and Kairos Quartet, conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Susanna Mälkki, Emilio Pomárico and Peter Rundel and orchestras such as SWR Sinfonieorchester, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt and Junge Deutsche Philharmonie. Among the ensembles that regularly perform his music are Ensemble intercontemporain, Ensemble Modern, London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Resonanz, Klangforum Wien, ensemble mosaik, Ensemble Contrechamps, Musikfabrik, Ensemble 2e2m, SWR Vokalensemble and Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart.
With “Interzone” (2003-2004), Enno Poppe has created a composition for voices, video and ensemble where writer Marcel Beyer (who also created the librettos for the other music theatre works) paraphrases a text William S. Burroughs dealing with Tanger/Marocco, a melting pot of various cultures. The music theatre “Arbeit Nahrung Wohnung” (2006-2007) is a fragmented Robinson-Cruseo-Story about loneliness – and a protagonist who does not place a lot of value on getting rescued. In “IQ” (2011-2012), Poppe stages an intelligence test setting with various subjects in eight acts, “constantly returning to the beginning to start again”.
Enno Poppe received scholarships, amongst others from Akademie Schloss Solitude and Villa Serpentara in Olevano Romano. Awards include the Busoni-Kompositionspreis of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin (2002), the Förderpreis of the Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung, the Schneider-Schott-Musikpreis (2005), the supporting award of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin (2006) and the Christoph- und Stephan-Kaske-Preis (2009). Enno Poppe also received the "Happy New Ears" prize of the Hans und Gertrud Zender-Stiftung (2011), the Hans-Werner-Henze prize (2013), and the Deutscher Musikautorenpreis 2016.
Enno Poppe is a member of the Akademie der Künste Berlin (since 2008), the Nordrhein-Westfälische Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Künste (since 2009) and the Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste (since 2010).
(Current as of March 2022)
Enno Poppe received commissions from ensembles all over Europe and abroad, Orchestras such as Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, WDR Sinfonieorchester, and festivals such as Donaueschinger Musiktage, Salzburger Festspiele, musica viva (München), Ultraschall Berlin, MaerzMusik (Berlin), Eclat (Stuttgart) and Wittener Tage für Neue Kammermusik.
Enno Poppe’s works have been performed by, among others, quartets such as Arditti Quartet and Kairos Quartet, conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Susanna Mälkki, Emilio Pomárico and Peter Rundel and orchestras such as SWR Sinfonieorchester, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt and Junge Deutsche Philharmonie. Among the ensembles that regularly perform his music are Ensemble intercontemporain, Ensemble Modern, London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Resonanz, Klangforum Wien, ensemble mosaik, Ensemble Contrechamps, Musikfabrik, Ensemble 2e2m, SWR Vokalensemble and Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart.
With “Interzone” (2003-2004), Enno Poppe has created a composition for voices, video and ensemble where writer Marcel Beyer (who also created the librettos for the other music theatre works) paraphrases a text William S. Burroughs dealing with Tanger/Marocco, a melting pot of various cultures. The music theatre “Arbeit Nahrung Wohnung” (2006-2007) is a fragmented Robinson-Cruseo-Story about loneliness – and a protagonist who does not place a lot of value on getting rescued. In “IQ” (2011-2012), Poppe stages an intelligence test setting with various subjects in eight acts, “constantly returning to the beginning to start again”.
Enno Poppe received scholarships, amongst others from Akademie Schloss Solitude and Villa Serpentara in Olevano Romano. Awards include the Busoni-Kompositionspreis of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin (2002), the Förderpreis of the Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung, the Schneider-Schott-Musikpreis (2005), the supporting award of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin (2006) and the Christoph- und Stephan-Kaske-Preis (2009). Enno Poppe also received the "Happy New Ears" prize of the Hans und Gertrud Zender-Stiftung (2011), the Hans-Werner-Henze prize (2013), and the Deutscher Musikautorenpreis 2016.
Enno Poppe is a member of the Akademie der Künste Berlin (since 2008), the Nordrhein-Westfälische Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Künste (since 2009) and the Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste (since 2010).
(Current as of March 2022)