Koellreutter

Hans Joachim Koellreutter was born in 1915 in the Black Forest, Germany. He lived with Picasso in Paris, played with Darius Milhaud, studied with Paul Hindemith, Kurt Thomas, Hermann Scherchen and Marcel Moyse. He escaped from the nazi and lived in Brazil, India and Japan. He spoke nine languages and was an expert not only on Western, but also on Indian and Japanese traditional music. Ravi Shankar, Octavio Paz, Tohru Takemitsu, John Cage, Luigi Dallapicolla among many more recognized him as one of the most important masters of music in the 20th century. He was teacher of Luigi Nono, Tom Jobim among many more. As composer he left a large number of important works. As philosopher, he believed that reality is an integrated paradox and advocated the overcoming of Occident and Orient into a new society. Since the 1950s he started working with graphical music scores. Emanuel Pimenta - who collaborated with John Cage and Merce Cunningham, having been composer for Cunningham over about twenty-five years - studied and lived with Koellreutter. Here, he tells about his master, who also was his great friend.