Orchestra: 1 piccolos, 2 oboes (the second doubling on the cornet à l'italienne), 2 clarinets (the second doubling on the bass clarinet) – 4 flutes, 2 oboes, 3 clarinets, 0 bassoons – timpani, percussion, harp, strings

Premiere: 24 October 1990, Bad Reichenhall
Philharmonic Orchestra | Christian Simonis
Duration: 12 minutes
Publisher: Bote & Bock (Boosey & Hawkes)

Rolf Rudin
The good fortune of having found a good compositional mentor during an important phase of development
(published in CLARINO – International Journal of Wind Music – 12/1995)

Looking back, our first meeting seems to me like a stroke of luck. Because back then – in December 1985 – I ‘skipped’ an important choir rehearsal to attend a ‘Composer Portrait: Bertold Hummel’ at the Frankfurt Conservatoire. At that stage in my life, I wanted to leave Frankfurt and was looking for a place to study where I could find not only a good composition teacher but also one for my second subject, conducting. After hearing Bertold Hummel’s orchestral work “Visionen” and sensing the positive and mature aura of his personality, my decision to go to Würzburg was merely a matter of organisational considerations. I was able to arrange an appointment with him, during which he wanted to take a look at my scores. And following the usual admission procedures the following summer, I became a student in his renowned Würzburg composition class.
This class was distinguished above all by the fact that it comprised composers of the most diverse backgrounds. The age range was also very broad, so that the “very young talent” came face to face with the “mature masterclass candidate”, for Hummel seized every opportunity to bring these more or less individualistic characters into contact with one another. He organised gatherings in a more private setting almost regularly. Incidentally, I was able to join one such pleasant summer get-together – naturally with a barbecue and all the trimmings – immediately after my entrance exam; that’s how quickly things could move with Hummel.

In the actual work, too, there was no long “back and forth”: one had to work with focus and speed to meet his expectations. This, however, did not apply solely to the compositional aspect, but also extended to the practical implementation following the completion of a work. Concerts were organised in Würzburg every semester, where we as a class were able to present our work to a sizeable audience, not just within the university. However, Hummel only really intervened hands-on in the organisational running of these events in emergencies. Thus, his ‘protective hand’ was actually more of a safety net in the background, which allowed us to do many things ourselves: with complete freedom, but also with all the often laborious organisational work. He made us feel that this too was part of being a composer and demanded a corresponding level of commitment.

The composition evenings – as far as I experienced them during my studies – always reflected the tolerant pluralism of the composition teacher Bertold Hummel. He always tried to anticipate each individual student’s path and then offer his assistance along it. We clashed on many points, but never for the sake of it, to assert aesthetic dogmas. One often received his encouraging and stimulating acceptance; truly enthusiastic praise, on the other hand, was hard to earn and therefore all the more eagerly awaited. But when it did come, it was expressed with complete honesty and conviction.
I sensed what Hummel sought to convey in terms of compositional technique and craftsmanship right from the very first lesson. I brought him a piano trio I was working on, and after reading the score, I was to play excerpts of it on the piano. He was interested in my personal, expressive approach to my music, particularly as reflected in my own performance. After we had spoken at length about my trio and its planned completion, he quickly jotted down a few notes in a specific interval structure on a scrap of music paper. Using this limited material, I was then to write an English horn solo. This was my first specific composition assignment with him.

This brief account of my first lesson shows how important it was to Hummel to convey the connection between compositional rigour – based on composing from a small core – and a desired expressiveness that also resonates with the listener. This has shaped my work to this day, and for that I am grateful.

Finally, I would like to highlight another aspect that is characteristic of both his own work and his teaching; namely, the question of whether one should, can, or is permitted to write for amateurs. For Hummel, this question did not pose a fundamental problem. For him, the composer – as I understood it – has, alongside the artistic task that is never to be questioned, a duty to reflect his time in some personal way within his work. This is also a sociological and pedagogical obligation. To awaken and further develop this obligation and its satisfying fulfilment in his students as well was a dimension of our time together that should not be underestimated. It is, of course, well known that this attitude has also found its compositional expression in Hummel’s work for wind orchestra.
Naturally, my contact with my teacher has not ceased even after I left the university, which had in many respects become my home, and so I continue to find in him a critically engaged conversation partner and reader of my newly composed pieces. On the occasion of his 70th birthday this year, it was a pleasure and an honour for me to offer interested readers some insight into my ‘teacher-pupil relationship’ with Bertold Hummel.

www.rudin.de