Jörg Herchet


Jörg Herchet is a German composer.

Life

Born in Dresden, Herchet grew up as the son of a driver and a worker in modest circumstances. As a pupil he received recorder and cello lessons, later piano and singing lessons. Already at that time he composed his first smaller compositions.
From 1962 to 1965 he studied musical composition at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber in Dresden with Johannes Paul Thilman and Manfred Weiss, cello with Clemens Dillner and piano with Ilse Brähmer. The use of a Franz Kafka text in his composition Interfragmentarium zum werke von franz k. für klavier und alt led to distortions with the Hochschule, whereupon Herchet continued his composition studies at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" in East-Berlin with Rudolf Wagner-Régeny from 1967 to 1969. His diploma thesis on The importance of music-theoretical writings by Schönberg and Hindemith for the development of a compositional theory was rejected on the grounds that a compositional theory "must lead to Hanns Eisler and not to Pierre Boulez". He also studied musicology at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
After Herchet first worked as an assistant in the book trade and received organ lessons from Gerald Stier and Herbert Collum from 1969 to 1970, he became a master student of Paul Dessau from 1970 to 1974. In 1974, Herchet moved back to Dresden and lived there as a freelance composer. With works whose instrumentation Herchet gradually enlarged, he gradually became known. The orchestral composition komposition für flöte und orchester from 1976 was his first great success. His komposition für trombone, bariton und orchester was premiered during the 1980 Donaueschinger Musiktage.
From 1981 he received teaching positions for composition and composition at the Hochschule für Musik "Carl Maria von Weber". In 1992 he was appointed professor for composition and analysis. His students included Michael Flade, Lydia Weißgerber, Thuon Burtevitz, Reiko Füting,, Theodor Schubach, Johannes Korndörfer, Bernhard Schneyer and Karoline Schulz. Herchet retired in 2009 and now lives in Weinböhla.

Awards