Ottaway, Hugh
(b London, 27 July 1925; d Malvern, 6 Nov 1979). English writer and lecturer. In 1944 he won an open scholarship to the University of the South-West (now the University of Exeter), where he read history (London BA, 1968). He worked chiefly as a teacher, as a freelance writer and for the BBC, for which he prepared programmes on Walton, Rubbra and Shostakovich. His studies in 20th-century music are mainly concerned with the nature of symphonic thought after Mahler, and his published work, though predominantly on English composers, was not limited by a nationalist outlook; his ability to view English composition in its broader context also made his reviews valuable.
WRITINGS
‘Vaughan Williams: Symphony in D and “The Pilgrim's Progress”’, MT, xciv (1953), 456–8
‘The Piano Music of John Ireland’, MMR, lxxxiv (1954), 258–66
‘Prokofiev’s Seventh Symphony’, MT, xcvi (1955), 74–5
‘Vaughan Williams and the Symphonic Epilogue’, MO, lxxix (1955–6), 145, 147 only
‘Robert Simpson’s First Symphony’, MT, xcvii (1956), 462–5
‘Vaughan Williams’s Eighth Symphony’, ML, xxxviii (1957), 213–25
‘VW5: a New Analysis’, MT, cv (1964), 354–6
‘Carl Nielsen’, ‘Prospect and Perspective’, The Symphony, ed. R. Simpson, ii (Harmondsworth, 1967, 2/1972), 52–79, 268–77
‘The Enlightenment and the Revolution’, The Pelican History of Music, ed. A. Robertson and D. Stevens, iii (Harmondsworth, 1968), 11–96
‘Rubbra’s Symphonies’, MT, cxii (1971), 430–32, 549–52
‘Third Symphony’, Robert Simpson: Essays [on his 50th birthday], ed. E. Johnson (London, 1971), 15–20
Vaughan Williams Symphonies (London, 1972)
‘Walton’s First Symphony: the Completion of the Finale’, MT, cxiii (1972), 254–7; see also MT, cxiv (1973), 998–1001
‘The Symphonies’, Edmund Rubbra, Composer, ed. L. Foreman (Rickmansworth, 1977), 30–42
Shostakovich Symphonies (London, 1978)
Mozart (London, 1979)
Edmund Rubbra: an Appreciation (Croydon, 1981)
DAVID SCOTT/R
Otte, Hans (Günther Franz)
(b Plauen, 3 Dec 1926; d Port Joli, Nova Scotia, 2 Sept 1997). German composer, pianist and radio producer. He attended the Weimar Hochschule für Musik (1946–7), the Stuttgart Musikhochschule (1948–50) and Yale University (1950–51), studying composition with Johann Nepomuk David and Paul Hindemith, the piano with Walter Gieseking and Bronislaw von Pozniak, and the organ with Fernando Germani. During the 1950s, Otte appeared as a soloist with well-known orchestras, including the Berlin PO, and made several recordings. From 1959 to 1984 he was head of the music section of Radio Bremen where his unorthodox programming brought him international recognition as a radio producer. He founded the alternating festivals Pro Musica Nova and Pro Musica Antiqua in 1961.
As a composer, Otte developed a free and open harmonic and rhythmic style, that also incorporates traditional sonorities. His output includes pieces for the theatre, works employing experimental texts, and sound and light installations. His honours include a fellowship from the Villa Massimo, Rome (1959), an honorary professorship from the Bremen Hochschule für Künste and membership in the presidium of the Deutscher Musikrat (1969–72). He was admitted to the Hamburg Freie Akademie der Künste in 1986.
WORKS
(selective list)
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Dramatic: modell – eine Probe aufs Exempel (Lehrstück), actor, 1963–5; nolimetangere, actor, pf, tape, film, 1966–7; drama (Schau- und Hörspiel), str qt, 1970; refrain (Körpertheater), 2 actors, 1971; Die Reise von 1000 Meilen beginnt mit einem Schritt (7 scenes), 1978–9; Im Garten der Klänge, 1992
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Orch: realisationen, pf, orch, 1956; momente, 1958; ensemble, str, 1961; passages, pf, orch, 1965–6; Orch Buch, 1968
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Vocal: schrift, 4 choruses, org, slide projections, loudspkr, 1975; philharmonie, chorus, orch, 1985–6; Das Lied der Welt, 10 choruses, radio link, 1986
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Chbr and solo inst: montaur, brass, perc, 2 pf, 1955; tropismen I, pf, 1959; tropismen II, brass, perc, pf, str, 1959; interplay, 2 pf, 1962; face à face, pf, tape, 1965; Pf Buch, 1968; minimum: maximum, 2 org, 1973; biographie, pf, tape, 1975; das buch der klänge, pf, 1979–82; septuor, ens, 1988; Stundenbuch, pf, 1991–6; sounds, org, 1992
| BIBLIOGRAPHY
H.A. Peters, ed.: Hans Otte: visuelle Musik (Baden-Baden, 1979) [exhibition catalogue]
H. Otte: Wort für Wort (Texte 1975–83) (Berlin, 1983)
MusikTexte, no.17 (1986) [incl. interview, articles by L. Baucke, R. Oehlschlägel, U. Schalz-Laurenze]
STEFAN FRICKE
Otteby, John.
See Hothby, John.
Ottel, Hans.
See Ott, Hans.
Otteman, Nicolas.
See Hotman, Nicolas.
Otten, Kees (Gerrit Cornelis)
(b Amsterdam, 28 Nov 1924). Dutch recorder player and teacher. His musical studies at the Amsterdam Muzieklyceum and Conservatory included the clarinet and recorder. He played the clarinet and alto saxophone in a dance band and the recorder in a cabaret act. His début on the recorder was in 1946 and he won recognition as the first Dutch recorder soloist. He initiated recorder classes at the Muzieklyceum, where his pupils included Frans Brüggen, and he also taught at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. He commissioned works from such composers as Henk Badings. In 1963 he founded the ensemble Syntagma Musicum; the group, of around six performers, received international acclaim in tours of the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Japan and for several recordings of works by little-known Renaissance composers. Otten has made many editions and written extensively on the recorder and early music. In 1998 he formed an ensemble to perform and record 20th-century recorder music by Hindemith, Poulenc, Auric, Walter Leigh and others.
J.M. THOMSON
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