Balz Trümpy studied at the Basel Music Academy with majors in piano, music theory and composition.
He was assistant to Luciano Berio from 1975 to 1978 and was also awarded several research com- missions from IRCAM in Paris during the same period. From 1979 until retiring in 2011 he was professor for music theory and composition at Basel’s Hochschule für Musik.
Among other places, his compositions have been performed at festivals in Donaueschingen, the ISCM World Music Days, the Davos Festival and at the Lucerne Festival.
The composer works with artists such as Heinrich Schiff, Kurt Widmer, Hansheinz Schneeberger, Graziella Contratto, the Basler Madrigalisten and the Szymanowski Quartet. Balz Trümpy also appears in recital as a song accompanist and has published works on music theory. In 2015 his CD "Canti Elegiaci" was nominated for "Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik". His works are performed in Europe, Asia and America.
Work list
Three pieces for piano (1965-1966/1986)
Duration: 9' 00" Manuscript
Stück für Streichorchester (1969)
Colourful sound surfaces alternate with melodic and rhythmically stamped passages.
Two contrasting expression possibilities of the piano are set against each other: The brilliant, technically orientated 'figure' and the expressive 'gesture, which ultimately transcends the instrument.
Instrumentation: for chamber orchestra (2.2.2.2/2.2.2.0/pf.cel.hp/str)
An expanded version of 'Gesten, Figuren'. Constructed from the "translation" of specific, pianist-like formulated musical ideas into an orchestral language.
Instrumentation: for high voice (soprano or tenor) and orchestra (3(3pic).2.ca.2.bcl.2.cbn/4.3.3.1/1perc/cel/hp/str)
Texts: Anonymus, Heinrich von Morungen, Walter von der Vogelweide
This three-part work is based on text from a minnelied. The vocal line, which uses various sound modulations, is harmonically, melodically and rhythmically interwoven with the accompaniment.
Texts: Anonymus, Heinrich von Morungen, Walter von der Vogelweide
This three-part work is based on text from a minnelied. The vocal line, which uses various sound modulations, is harmonically, melodically and rhythmically interwoven with the accompaniment.
Duration: 17' 00"
Hug & Co. Musikverlage
Limmatquai 28-30 CH-8001 Zürich
Anima (2. Fassung) (1977/1978)
Instrumentation: for high voice, clarinet, horn, string quartet and piano
Texts: Anonymus, Heinrich von Morungen, Walter von der Vogelweide
This three-part work is based on text from a minnelied. The vocal line, which uses various sound modulations, is harmonically, melodically and rhythmically interwoven with the accompaniment.
Texts: Bibel / Liturgie, altgriechisch, Laotse, Carlos Castaneda, Meister Eckhart, indianisch
Three cycles, which can be performed each separately or in parts. Based on texts from the Mass, from the hymns of Orpheus, from the Oktoëchos, by Laotse, Castaneda, Meister Eckhart, and by the Sioux Indians. 14 Canons (sFr. 68.00) - 7 Motets (sFr. 42.00) - 7 Hymns (sFr. 44.00). Sponsored by the SME Lucerne.
Instrumentation: for deep voice (alto or baritone) and piano
Texts: Erika Burkart
The four poems of this short song cycle are the contribution of Erika Burkart to the 'Waldhandschrift' (Wood Manuscript) - a collection in which Swiss writers express their grief over the destruction of forests.
Instrumentation: for orchestra (2.2.2.2/2.2.0.0/timp.perc/8.6.4.4.2.)
‘Spiralgesang’ presents the route of a melody on its journey through various stages of transformation.
Duration: 12' 00"
Hug & Co. Musikverlage
Limmatquai 28-30 CH-8001 Zürich
Nacht (1988)
Cycle
Instrumentation: for mixed choir, flute, two clarinets and horn
Texts: Joseph von Eichendorff
Night has probably never been praised higher and in so many facets by anyone other than Joseph von Eichendorff. For myself, his poems are equivalent to the music of Schubert and Schumann. A possible discovery of reality on the edge of the concrete, proceeding to point out another reality.
The secondary titles of these three pieces are: 'Eingang und Kanon' (Entrance and Canon), 'Lied' (Song), 'Kanon und Ausgang' (Canon and Exit). Both of the outer movements symmetrically encapsulate a central movement, the whole of which utilises the full dynamic range of the piano and is developed from a paraphrase taken from a short passage from the second movement of Schubert's G Major sonata.
Each of the four movements illuminates one of several aspects of love from the poet to Laura: The glorification, the steady sorrow in loss, the deceptive vision, and the final idolisation.
Instrumentation: for soli (SABar) choir and large orchestra (5.5.5.5.2sx/8.6.4.1/timp.6perc/2hp.cel.pf/14.12.10.12.8)
Texts: Altägyptisch, altgriechisch, indianisch, Thomas Mann
1. Aina 2. Tahesha 3. Mithras 4. Lullaby 5. Nachtgesang 6. Sakil Based on ancient Egyptian text, text from Greek magic papers, texts from the Pawnee, Pima and Laguna Pueblo Indians, middle American Indians and Thomas Mann. The six movements of 'Helios' can also be performed individually.
Manuscript
Gesang der Ferne (1990)
Instrumentation: for instrumental ensemble (fl(afl,pic).cl(bcl)/perc/pf/vn.va.vc)
The ensemble corresponds to that of Schoenberg's ‘Pierrot Lunair’, the only difference here being that the percussion replaces the speaking voice.
Duration: 15' 00"
Hug & Co. Musikverlage
Limmatquai 28-30 CH-8001 Zürich
Four Songs (Eichendorff) (1990)
Instrumentation: for high voice (soprano or tenor) and piano
Texts: Joseph von Eichendorff
The four poems by Eichendorff are arranged so as to outline a day cycle.
1. Interweave
2. Turn around
3. Up and down
4. Spread out
5. Descending
6. Taking turns
These six pieces form an associated cycle, each of them represents the idea of a motion sequence in an imaginary sound room. It is about the tensile progression of movement and its form of expression - reaching from forging ahead to tentative exploration, from calmly flowing to clouded volatility. The sound room itself connects the six pieces in a labyrinthine way. 'Intertwined Paths' has been written on the request of Hansheinz Schneeberger and is dedicated to him.
'Im Labyrinth' is a loose collection of twenty-one pieces for piano and are comparable to the 'Album für die Jugend' by Schumann. Various play and notation techniques of varying difficulty are used throughout.
Instrumentation: for soprano, baritone, horn, two trumpets, trombone, percussion and strings
Texts: Altgriechisch
Sappho and Alkaios from the isle of Lesbos are amongst the most prestigious representatives of Greek lyrics strongly connected with the Orpheus saga. After the heavenly singer has lost his beloved Eurydice to the underworld and, spurned by his endless mourning, he seeks the love of other women. Bacchante tear him to pieces in an angry rage and cast his head into the sea. The tide washes it onto the shores of Lesbos - here his mouth is once again brought to speech by the lyric of the island.
Mythological notions merge with personal experience and sufferance in connection with the erotic. Eros is the 'weirdest God' (Alkaois) whose effect is to rip open the abyss between the highest fulfilment and the degeneration towards death. The elemental force with which he encompasses man awakes in him an orpheic longing for immortality and the desire to overcome the underworld; simultaneously bringing even more painfully the forlornness of his wish to consciousness. While Alkaios attempts to forget in wild drunkenness and sexual indulgence, we eavesdrop on Sappho, and the dark tones of a wish for love in which pain resonates with the transient.
EIS EROTA combines fragments from both poets to produce a dialogue on the subject of love and death.
Instrumentation: for bass and orchestra (2(pic).2.2.(bcl).2(cbn)/2.2.0.0/timp.perc/str)
Texts: John Donne
Orchestral version of the six songs for bass and piano.
In 'A Valediction' I have taken six poems by the Baroque poet John Donne with one prevailing theme: the saying of farewells, the leaving of loved ones. The theme is circumscribed in Donne's picturesque language in a multitude of modes ranging from tender pain to powerful and reckless claims of freedom, and on further to ecstatic delirium in the knowledge that physical separation is revoked by spiritual unification.
In a similar manner to the text, the music circles around a complex nucleus of themes that merge into great lines and trace the various shades of feeling.
'A Valediction' is dedicated to Ute and Susanne Stoecklin.
In 'A Valediction' I have taken six poems by the Baroque poet John Donne with one prevailing theme: the saying of farewells, the leaving of loved ones. The theme is circumscribed in Donne's picturesque language in a multitude of modes ranging from tender pain to powerful and reckless claims of freedom, and on further to ecstatic delirium in the knowledge that physical separation is revoked by spiritual unification.
In a similar manner to the text, the music circles around a complex nucleus of themes that merge into great lines and trace the various shades of feeling.
'A Valediction' is dedicated to Ute and Susanne Stoecklin.
The sixth book of Vergil's 'Aeneid' describes Aeneas' descent into the underworld and his subsequent ascent from Pluto's realm. He is accompanied on his dangerous journey by the Cumean Sibyl. The texts of the piece Oratio Sibyllae for soprano and flute are based on some of her warnings and prophecies. The flute, which guided Gluck's Orpheus into the underworld and also plays the role of protector from the dangers of the "other world" in the Magic Flute, floats above and beside the singing voice, merging into one.
Two poems by the Italian romantic poet Giacomo Leopardi flank a lament on the effects of ageing carved in stone by Michelangelo. In spite of all the despair over vanishing powers and the insight not to have ended one's life successfully at its climax, Michelangelo's work still emanates an unbroken will for life fighting against faith. Leopardi's deep melancholy, however, appears in a tender and ambiguous light, giving space to a slight glimmer of hope.
The two different works were set into music accordingly: The music for Michelangelo's poem is rhythmically firm, while Leopardi's is rhythmically and metrically free and floating.
The title of my piano piece reflects the idea of a landscape that is explored musically in an unrestricted manner, following only a track that is created from moment to moment. The result is a labyrinthine form that is most comparable to Schumann's Fantasie in C major. The reference to an ancient landscape is, however, not to be understood in the sense of the Virgilian pastoral idyll: My Arcadia is a wild, rugged, rocky landscape shaped by storms, where Pan chases nymphs and Dionysian forces fill the sultry-laden air.
Instrumentation: for flute ensemble (12 fl, 6 afl, 2 bfl)
My 'Flötenbuch' (flute book) comprises eleven character pieces for flute ensemble, ranging in formation from four to 20 flutes. In addition to transverse flutes in C, up to six alto and two bass flutes may also be used. The voices can be partly arranged chorally. Any number of pieces can be performed in any order.
Instrumentation: for soprano, baritone, flute and percussion
After texts from 'Oracula Sibyllina' and Vergil's 'Aeneid' (adaptation of CARMEN SIBYLLAE and ORATIO SIBYLLAE).
'Oracula Sibyllae' is the combination of two works that deal with the sibyls: Carmen Sibyllae for baritone and percussion and Oratio Sibyllae for soprano and flute. The ancient books 'Oracula Sibyllina' contain the prophecies of the Sibylla which, engulfed by divine powers, utters her usually unrequested and fatal predictions.
Instrumentation: for vocal ensemble (2.2.2.2) and instruments (1.1.2.0/2.0.2.0/2perc/2.2.2.2.0)
Texts: Eduard Mörike
The music of my piece 'Die Elemente' refers in a simple and immediately understandable way to the text in the poem of the same name by Eduard Mörike. This poem impressed me with its combination of raging elemental force and naive tenderness. Despite the biblical citation that Mörike adds as a motto, I find the essence of his poem more archaic-antique, like a Greek or Germanic myth.
Eight pieces from the piano cycle 'Im Labyrinth' scored for orchestra
Instrumentation: for symphony orchestra (pic.2.2.3.2/4.0.0.0/hp.perc/str)
These eight short pieces are orchestrations from the piano cycle 'Im Labyrinth'. This collection, similar in form to Schumann's Album for the Young, contains 21 piano pieces of varying degrees of dificulty. The titles can be understood as romantic miniatures even though they are written in a contemporary musical language.
Each of the four duets originates in a basic constellation of musical dialogue, which develops in the interplay between the two instruments. The marimba-guitar combination offers a myriad of colour and expressive shades, which are not possible with each instrument alone.
Vier Duette is dedicated to the duo Christina Schorn and Ivan Mancinelli.
For me the recorder represents a basic layer of music - on one hand because it reminds me of my earliest musical practice and on the other hand it is in its refined tonal simplicity THE melodic instrument per se. In my work "Sechs archaischen Melodien" I composed prototypical melodies in the sense of internal flows of energy such as I imagine them to be as a base for my harmonic modalities. The pieces can be played on different instruments of one's own choice, such that a complete performance is possible with a soprano recorder solo or with different instruments (sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor).
Instrumentation: for saxophone (soprano, baritone), trombone and piano
In December 2010, I held a lecture on polyphony in the music of Schumann. This event led me to perform the complete piano works by this composer, who has remained dear to me since childhood. My composing has been influenced on a subliminal level by Schuhmann's sound meshes and quirky-fantastical lines. I became accutely aware of this fact while working on my piece for the trio Weiss-Svoboda-Henneberger. Since the content of the three main pieces ("Rezitativ und Arioso" for trombone and piano, "Lied" for saxophone and piano as well as "Mit Leidenschaft" for the trio) turned out to be rather Schumannian, I decided to dedicate it to the two main characters of the circle of the Davidsbündler (League of David).
These three movements have titles that refer to literary forms or genres: Novelle - Elegie - Ballade.
Novelle, fittingly, is a 'prose form', while Elegie displays a metrical form. Ballade refers not to the romantic narrative poem, but to the medieval dancing song.
These nine pieces set to music texts written about the tarot cards by Niki de Saint Phalle. The texts are 'programme notes' for her sculptures in the "Jardin des Tarots".
Eisblumen - Zephir - Winterblume - Windgesang are based indirectly on Schubert's well-known variations over 'Trockene Blumen' (dried flowers). Two fragments of this song are quoted.
Instrumentation: for three female voices a cappella
Uses the tractus 'Sicut cervus desiderat' from the Graduale Triplex.
This piece, as with 'Missa', is the compositional adaptation of a Gregorian chant.
Instrumentation: for soprano, trombone, cello, percussion and piano
The Ensemble Eunoia's suggestion that I write a piece dealing with the letter 'U' set off in me a chain of associations relating to this vowel. The starting point was the tonal character of the phoneme U: For me its dark, earthy, warm timbre equated to the symbolic image of the Mother ("uterus", "ursprung" (=origin)...). My text selection combines the following excerpts taken from literature and lore that evoke different aspects of the Mother symbol: In the 3rd hymn of the legendary poet and Dionysus priest Orpheus, night is celebrated as the Mother of gods and men. In the second part of Goethe's "Faust", Mephistopheles describes the nocturnal and sinister descent into the obscure realm of the Mothers ("No way! Into the untrodden ..."), where Faust wants to lead Helena back to life. A mother grieving for her son and creation forms the basis of the liturgical "Stabat Mater". And finally, the text of "Tao te Ching" to the "valley spirit" elevates the image of the Mother as the origin of heaven and earth to the spiritual.