German Contemporary Music Composer Wolfgang Rihm Dies At 72

Wolfgang Rihm, Germany’s most-performed contemporary music composer, died last week of unspecified causes. Rihm composed over 500 works of classical music.

The update: Last week, the music publisher Universal Editions announced the death of the German composer and scholar Wolfgang Rihm at the age of 72. Rihm’s death was also immediately announced on social media by the Berlin Philharmonic, for whom Rihm was the 2024/2025 composer-in-residence. The cause of Rihm’s death remains unreported at this time, although he had been treated for cancer since 2017.

Catch-up: Wolfgang Rihm was born in Karlsruhe in 1952. An important voice in Germany following WWII, Rihm’s work gravitated towards historical allusion and emotional expressionism. He differentiated himself from the pre-War, Second Viennese School composers that explored structuralist concerns.

Wolfgang Rihm has been described as one of the most prolific voices in classical music and composed over 500 works. His recent prizes included the 2014 Robert Schumann Prize for Poetry and Music, a lifetime achievement award from the Venice Biennale, and the 2003 Ernest von Siemens Music Prize.

Never heard Rihm? Check out his riveting settings of Shakespeare’s Ophelia’s songs or Anne-Sofie Mutter and the Chicago Symphony playing his “Gesungene Zeit.”

Author
Recent Posts

Sara Schabas

Sara Schabas is a Dora-nominated soprano, writer and yoga teacher. She has performed and created leading roles with companies including Vancouver Opera, Pacific Opera Victoria, the Dayton Opera, and Aspen Opera, and is a former member of Barbara Hannigan’s Equilibrium Young Artists. Currently based in Montreal, she is a doctoral student at McGill University — where she recently received the Wirth Vocal Prize — and editor of Art Song Canada magazine.