Schönbach, Dieter

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Schönbach, Dieter

Schönbach, Dieter, German composer; b. Stolp-Pommern, Feb. 18, 1931. He studied at the Freiburg im Briesgau Hochschule für Musik with Bialas and Fortner (1949–59). He was music director of the Bochum theater (1959–73). His style of composition is quaquaversal. He wrote the first genuine multimedia opera, Wenn die Kälte in die Hütten tritt, um sich bei den Frierenden zu wärmen, weiss einer “Die Geschichte von einem Feuer’; (Kiel, 1968); his other works include Farben und Klänge, in memory of Kandinsky, for Orch. (1958), Piano Concerto (1958), Canticum Psalmi Resurrectionis (Rome, June 13, 1959), Kammermusik for 14 Instruments (1964), Hoquetus for 8 Wind Instruments (1964), 4 chamber music pieces, each titled Canzona da sonar (1966–67), Atemmusik for Fifes, Whistles, and some other “breath” Instruments (1969), Hymnus 2, multimedia show (Munich, 1972), and Come S. Francesco II, chamber spectacle for Speaker, Dancer, Chamber Orch., and Multivision (1979).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire