Klosterbruders Höhenrausch (2022)

Burkhard Mohr (b. 1955) — Klosterbruders Höhenrausch (2022) for organ

“Klosterbruders Höhenrausch”
Anmerkung zu Kaspar Mohrs (1575–1625) Flugversuch in Schussenried

“The Monk’s High Exhilaration”
Commentary on Kaspar Mohr’s (1575–1625) flight test in Schussenried

The composer writes: “This piece came about because on September 3, 2022, it was the 40th anniversary of the premiere of my church opera ‘Turmbau zu Babel/The Tower of Babel’ in Frankfurt-Höchst. My inquiry about a commemorative organ concert on that day was well-received. When it came to choose the program, searching online revealed a coincidence of a Premonstratensian monk named Mohr who worked on building a flying machine in Schussenried. Perhaps surprisingly, Kaspar Mohr did not die in a crash, but later during a spa stay in Jebenhausen. Thus I had the idea to write an organ piece inspired by this history and also the timbres of the 1975 Ahrend organ at the Ev. Kirche in Frankfurt-Höchst. The premiere took place as planned on September 3, 2022.”

German composer Burkhard Mohr (b. 1955) was born in Gambach/Oberhessen and was educated in Frankfurt where he studied music and theology. He also attended the Darmstadt new music courses with Stockhausen, Kagel, Ligeti, and Xenakis. He has worked as a church musician in Frankfurt-Höchst and Wiesbaden and also taught music for many years at the technical university in Frankfurt. Mohr has composed numerous musical works in many genres, including several operas and orchestral works along with much chamber music and music for choir and organ. Mohr’s music usually concerns itself with the blurry boundaries and connections between atonal (12-tone) and tonal (triadic) materials and with the unexpected (or traditionally extended) formal designs that can result from teasing out these connections.