Bertold Hummel’s musical language is virtually tailor-made for dramatic events on stage. Although the number of his stage works is relatively small, they are powerful pieces which – when they are performed – are always perceived as having a strong impact on the audience.

The anti-war ballet *Die letzte Blume* (The Last Flower) , Op. 55a, from 1975 struck a chord at the height of the Cold War: the fear of nuclear catastrophe was ever-present. Listen here to the dictator’s entrance at the start of the ballet and the *Intermezzo mechanico*, in which inventors experiment with deadly machines.

In his Faust Scenes , Op. 72, Hummel set Heinrich Heine’s dance poem to music in six scenes. Here is the opening of the witches’ sabbath, which leads into a jazz-infused version of the Gregorian ‘Dies Irae’.

The work The Emperor’s New Clothes , Op. 10, unfortunately remained his only opera, although Hummel spent his entire life searching for a suitable libretto. Listen here to the entrance of the Court Marshal in the second scene.

With over 110 performances to its name, Hummel’s Concerto for Percussion , Op. 70, is the composer’s best-known work and, moreover, the most successful percussion concerto of its time. Listen here to the opening of the virtuosic final movement, Finale-Vivace.

A relatively late work is the Music for Saxophone and Large Orchestra , Op. 96b, which is also available in alternative versions for clarinet or horn. A seven-part concert piece in a single movement. Listen here to the cadenza and conclusion of the work.

In addition to these concertos with large orchestra, there are eight further solo concertos accompanied by a string orchestra. These include three percussion concertos (Op. 53, Op. 86, Op. 105). His Poem for Cello and Strings , Op. 80, from 1984, based on Hermann Hesse’s famous poem ‘Stufen’, holds a special place. Listen to the beginning of the second movement here.

"In an age of increasing secularisation, the creative – and indeed the post-creative – artist has the task of drawing his fellow human beings’ attention to the transcendent, to the inexplicable and also the unprovable," wrote Bertold Hummel a year before his death. It was in this spirit that he composed numerous works.

His nearly two-hour-long oratorio *Der Schrein der Märtyrer* ( Op. 90 ) can be described as his magnum opus in this genre. With a vast orchestral apparatus, he set ancient Irish texts on the martyrdom of the Apostles of the Franks and biblical texts such as the Sermon on the Mount or Psalm 150 to music. Listen here to the conclusion of the oratorio and the storm at sea, which, with two organs and percussion sections, leaves nothing to be desired in terms of vividness.

For liturgical use, Hummel composed countless organ and choral pieces that are frequently sung and played in Christian churches. He wrote five Latin masses and numerous motets that can also be rehearsed by amateur choirs. The Ave Maria , Op. 97e2, which he wrote on the death of his sister, was particularly close to his heart. Listen here to the beginning of the Ave Maria.

Bertold Hummel, who, alongside his work as a composer, frequently performed as a cellist and chamber musician, composed a wealth of works for strings. In addition to his large-scale Symphony No. 1 for Strings , Op. 20, there are a further seven works for string orchestra (Op. 19b, Op. 43, Op. 50, Op. 62a1, Op. 69a, Op. 95b, Op. 104).
In the first movement of ‘Kontraste’ , Op. 50, we hear at the end of the movement the chord progression typical of Hummel, which can be heard as a kind of signature in most of his works. Here is the introduction.

His Adagio in memoriam Benjamin Britten , Op. 62a1, can be performed as a string trio or as an orchestral work. Listen here to the opening in the string orchestra version.

In the 2nd String Quartet , Op. 46, the sonic possibilities of this ensemble are explored with great subtlety. Here is the beginning of the first movement, entitled ‘Mosaici’.

Hummelregarded the composition of a Suite for Solo Violin , Op. 78 , as a major challenge. Listen to the beginning of the final movement, entitled Metamorphosen, in which he artfully weaves the thematic material of the preceding movements with new elements.

In his early Sonata in F for cello and piano , Op. 2, one can already hear Hummel’s distinctive musical language, despite echoes of Bartók and Hindemith. Listen here to the beginning of the third movement.

In addition to his four percussion concertos, there are around 25 works for 1, 2 (Op. 58), 3 (Op. 88d), 4 (Op. 38) and 5 (Op. 72b) percussionists. Hummel was one of the first composers to use percussion as an instrument of equal standing in chamber music works (e.g. Ludi a tre, Op. 29, and Trio, Op. 82a). In the Duettino , Op. 82b, a piano provides ‘classical’ accompaniment. Listen to the beginning of the second movement, entitled Ostinato.

His Quattro pezzi, Op. 92, are a difficult test for percussionists, which is why they are often chosen as set pieces in competitions. Listen here to the meditative third movement: ‘A la sarabande’.

The work Fresken 70 , Op. 38, has now become a classic in the percussion quartet repertoire. Listen here to the fourth movement, entitled Polymetrie.

Incidentally, his unfortunately unperformed compositional plans also included a symphony intended to be played exclusively by percussion instruments.

Bertold Hummel also composed chamber music for every wind instrument found in the orchestra. In eight solo pieces, he gave instrumentalists the opportunity to explore the full range of their instrument’s sound. The Suite for Solo Oboe , Op. 26b, begins with a fanfare.

Hummel wrote short sonatas with piano accompaniment for the recorder( , Op. 87b), flute (Op. 107a1), trumpet (Op. 1a), tuba (Op. 81a), bassoon (Op. 59b), trombone (Op. 59a) and saxophone (Op. 95a). The Sonatina for Horn and Piano , Op. 75a, is one of his best-known works. Here is the 3rd movement, Finale-Presto.

He wrote several important works for the saxophone. These include the Music for 4 Saxophones, Op. 88f. The third movement is entitled ‘Mixtur’.

A small wind piece, Op. 61 ‘ ’, draws on typical character movements of the 19th century. Thus, a strangely archaic sound blends with contemporary rhythms. Listen to the ‘Intermezzo’ from it.

The march rhythms that dominate the final movement of his Wind Octet, Op. 47, are “not entirely free of satirical elements”, as Hummel himself put it. Listen here to the beginning of the Allegro marciale.

With three large-scale works, Bertold Hummel made his contribution to ensuring that sophisticated symphonic wind music received the recognition it deserved.

In the fourth movement of the Sinfonietta , Op. 39, a melancholic Landsknecht song from the Thirty Years’ War is repeatedly interrupted by menacing marching music. Listen here to the beginning of the Finale concertante.

In the Oregon Symphony , Op. 67, written for a wind music congress in the US state of Oregon, Hummel also quotes a song from days gone by with “Innsbruck ich muss dich lassen”. In the finale of the symphony, he creates a collage of various American folk melodies (here the middle section).

For the town anniversary of his hometown Hüfingen, he composed an entertaining Musica urbana , Op. 81c, for the local town band, in which he incorporated musical impressions from his youth. In the second movement, a locally very popular march motif entitled “Ei, de David, wenn’d ä Brod witt …” is given a treatment that is at times ironic and grotesque. Here is the beginning of the second movement, entitled “March”.

The organ’s rich range of sound possibilities fascinated Bertold Hummel throughout his life, and so, at every stage of his compositional career, he wrote works conceived either for organ alone or in combination with other instruments.

Works such as the Alleluja , Op. 44, and the Three Marian Frescoes, Op. 42, as well as the 25-minute work in memoriam Anton Bruckner , Op. 91a, ‘ ’, are symphonic in structure (in some cases even orchestrated for a full orchestra) and, like his final organ work , ‘Benedicamus domino’, Op. 102, are based on Gregorian themes. Here is the beginning of the ‘ ’ ‘Alleluja’ and the‘Benedicamus Domino’

Among the five major works for organ and instruments (Op. 74 and Op. 98a for percussion, Op. 45 for oboe, Op. 68a and Op. 68b for trumpet and saxophone respectively, Op. 63 for violin) is the frequently performed “in memoriam” Op. 74, of which you can hear the opening of the Toccata here. As a reminiscence of Johann Sebastian Bach’s arias, Hummel composed the Arioso from the Dialogues, Op. 63.

’s Metamorphoses on B-A-C-H, Op. 40, can be described as a kind of organ concerto. In three movements, the famous sequence of notes is heard in a wide variety of sound combinations. Listen here to the beginning of the Toccata.

Hummels’ music for children grew out of his own teaching practice and the experiences he gained whilst making music at home with his six sons. The pieces are easy to play for performers who are just learning the basics of their instrument, and they delight both players and listeners with their cantabile style and rhythmic vitality. The most successful work of this kind is probably the Sonatina for Violin and Piano , Op. 35a, of which you can hear the final movement, Finale-Vivace, here.

The Little String Music, Op. 95b, is a short work designed to encourage young people to play in a string quartet. Here is the Tango from it.

Hummel’s piano pieces for children are collected in three editions (10 Piano Pieces for Children, Op. 56b; Keyboard Games – A Little Piano Album for My Grandchildren, Op. 103d; and Mimi’s Keyboard Fun).

These are little miniatures that delight young players, sometimes cheeky as in‘Budenzauber’, sometimes elegiac as in‘Klagende Nachtigall’. He composed his last piano piece of this kind in May 2002: ‘Gute Laune’.

Bertold Hummel frequently composed works for unusual instrumentations. In his quest for the most diverse combinations of sound, he created pieces that are warmly received by both musicians and listeners.
One notable work is the Fantasia poetica for hammered dulcimer and viola, Op. 101b. It is dedicated to the memory of the poet Wolfgang Borchert and captivates with its expressive musical language. Listen to the opening of the Fantasia poetica here.

Hummel’s exploration of electronic sounds – which he also employed in film and stage music – led him to compose the piece Yume I–IV , Op. 41a. He skilfully utilised the technical possibilities of the time to accompany a live solo flute with distorted or altered flute sounds. Listen here to the opening of Yume I, which can confidently be described as a historical work due to the tape sounds that are now almost impossible to reproduce.

The Sinfonia piccola for 8 double basses , Op. 66 (here the opening of the Burlesque) serves as a touchstone for intonation and ensemble playing for double bass sections worldwide.

At the start of his career as a composer, Bertold Hummel worked as a freelancer for Südwestfunk in Freiburg. Among his duties there was arranging well-known pieces of music for the then-famous Kleine Unterhaltungsorchester, conducted by Willi Stech, as well as composing his own works for light music concerts. He later grouped these pieces together under Opus 13.

In the South African Suite , Op. 13a, he incorporated impressions from his concert tour lasting several months through the former German South West Africa. The then 30-year-old composer cheerfully titled the final movement ‘Heia Safari’.

Hummel wrote short concert pieces for flute, Op. 13d, bassoon, Op. 13e, viola, Op. 13f, and piano , Op. 13g, for the orchestra’s excellent soloists.
Listen here to the opening of Pan 56 for flute and chamber orchestra , Op. 13d.