Obituary: Wolfgang Rihm, Composer, 72

On Saturday (7/27), an unsigned article from DPA, the German wire service (German Press Agency), published on Yahoo! News, stated that “Wolfgang Rihm, one of the most influential German composers of the post-World War II generation, died on Friday at the age of 72…. Rihm was one of the most frequently performed contemporary composers in Europe. He leaves behind an oeuvre of well over 500 works, including operas and large orchestral pieces, chamber music and music theatre…. Rihm made his first attempts at composing at the age of 11. He later studied composition at the Karlsruhe University of Music (HfM) under Eugen Werner Velte and intensively poured over the music of early 20th century greats Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern. He went to Cologne to study with composer Karlheinz Stockhausen. In 1985, he succeeded his former teacher Velte as professor of composition at the HfM in Karlsruhe…. Rihm’s most significant works also include the operas ‘Die Eroberung von Mexico’ (The Conquest of Mexico), ‘Die Hamletmaschine’ (The Hamletmachine), ‘Dionysos,’ ‘Jakob Lenz’ and ‘Proserpina,’ as well as works from his orchestral repertoire.”