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First name: Rainer
Last name: Bischof
Dates: 1947
Category: Quartet
Nationality: Austrian
Opus name: Klavierquartett Aus dem nebel in das Licht
Publisher: Doblinger
Peculiarities: http://www.boosey.com/shop/prod/Bischof-Rainer-Aus-dem-Nebel-in-das-Licht-violin-viola-cello-and-piano/2133093; http://www.doblinger-musikverlag.at/dyn/kataloge/Doblinger_A-Z_2010.pdf
Information: In Rainer Bischof we are confronted with one of the most versatile of Austria's composer personalities. After the early years of tuition at the Vienna Academy of Music in Vienna, he became a private pupil in 1967 under Hans Erich Apostel. He started studies in law, and went on in philosophy, art history and pedagogy after 1969 at Vienna University. He graduated to doctor of philosophy in 1973 with a dissertation concerned with the fundamental philosophic aesthetic. Bischof worked with an international transport agency and was company secretary for a travel agency group. From 1978-1983 he directed the artistic business office of the Vienna Konzerthaus Association. From 1984-1988 he was the director of the theatrical department of the City of Vienna Department of Culture, and from 1986 he was director of the musical department and the "Vienna Music Summer." From 1984-86 Bischof was president of the Austrian Composers' Association. He has been general secretary of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra since 1988. Rainer Bischof is a founder member of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, and since 1991 he has been president of the International Gustav Mahler Association, and vice-president of the Alban Berg Foundation. Bischof was active as a teacher at colleges in Vienna and with the Alpbach European Forum. He has had a teaching position at the University of Music in Vienna since 1987 for philosophy and aesthetic. He assumed responsibility for a composition class at the City of Vienna Conservatory in 1996. He is, moreover, a dog handler with the Austrian Dog-Rescue Brigade. As an academic, he is the author of numerous works to the aesthetics of music and philosophy. Among his book publications is his volume of aphorisms of 1998, and Vom Europäischen Geist (Löcklerverlag). He composed around 60 works with the most varied arrangements, which were successfully performed world-wide, including orchestral works, instrumental concertos, an opera, chamber music and lieder. As a pupil of Hans Erich Apostel - and thus a descendant of the "2nd Vienna School" - Rainer Bischof designs his complete works according to a strict dodecaphonic principle. Contrary to the prevalent view that dodecaphony (twelve-tone technique) has led into a cul-de-sac, and is passé today, this technique is used, as before, by many contemporary composers (often hidden), and still presents one of the best systems for the ordering of the chromatic all - the use of which could be heard in Bach, even before. © Heinz Moser/Doblinger