For Wolfgang Rihm

The celebrated, unclassifiable, immensely prolific German composer Wolfgang Rihm has died at the age of seventy-two. He will be remembered not only for his vast, variegated output, which ranges from pure Romantic strains to dissonant chaos, but also for his generous, catholic spirit, which countered the often dogmatic mentality of the German new-music scene in the postwar era. The Wandelweiser composers, among others, were grateful for his support at a time when reactionaries were questioning whether their work should be considered "composition" at all. His music ran toward dark, turbulent spheres, but the man himself exuded a certain joie-de-vivre or Lebenslust. Famously, he communicated with the press by way of a fax machine, which kept interruptions to a minimum.