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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gerhard Stäbler (born 1949 in Wilhelmsdorf, Baden-Württemberg) is a German contemporary composer.
In 1968 he enrolled in the composition program at the Nordwestdeutsche Musikakademie in Detmold and continued his education at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen, where he studied with Nicolaus A. Huber (composition) and Gerd Zacher (organ). The "Cornelius Cardew Memorial Prize" (1982) was the first in a series of awards, prizes, commissions and scholarships he received. From the onset of his career until today, Gerhard Stäbler has not only been active as a composer, but also involved in political and organizational arenas. The New Music festival "Aktive Musik" was initiated by Stäbler, who also served as the artistic director of the 1995 World Music Days of the ISCM in the Ruhr Valley. A third vital point of his activities lies in teaching: during workshops and seminars Stäbler has worked with many young international composers. He was a composer-in-residence and visiting professor throughout North and South America as well as in the Middle and Far East. Stäbler's music often transcends the conventional framework (and therefore the audiences expectations), be it through the use of gestures or movement in space, through lighting and olfactory stimulation, or an active integration of the audience- it is very important to him to stimulate the imagination, to sensitize the ears and other perceptory organs towards unexpected perceptoral and thought processes. This is also the origin of his interest in the interaction between composition and improvisation, which feeds off of the unique tension between performers during the pre-formed yet open musical moment - as to be seen in the graphical score Red on black (1986). By the same token his music is always characterized by extremely contemplated development, and contains elaborate constructs that don't impede the direct musical statement. Especially since the 1990s Stäbler has created Work-"groups" that shed a musical light on different aspects of a thematic complex (e.g. the compositions surrounding CassandraComplex). In some cases works that stand autonomously can be performed simultaneously. Stäbler repeatedly causes the listener to critically reflect upon the music, without his music having to be overtly political: the shriek of a crow is musically interpreted in its possible implications (in old myths or as harbinger of doom) in Karas. Krähen (1994/95). The music doesn't just exploit its own symbolism, but always points towards our individual actions in this world we live in.
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