Martin Wistinghausen: Composer and Singer in the Spotlight

composer or singer?

The composer Martin Wistinghausen set texts from the time of the Thirty Years’ War to music under the title “Berange Zeit, vergeh!” The old instruments, the cornetto and shawms are still missing, today the first piano rehearsal for the four pieces for choir and Renaissance instruments is about hairy cluster sounds, which the partly divided voice groups have to intonate as cleanly as possible.

The choir rehearses under the direction of its boss Florian Helgath in the building of the Bochum Art Museum. Martin Wistinghausen sits and listens attentively. Is he listening as a composer or as a singer?

Composition for professionals

In the rehearsal situation, the voices have only meager support from the piano accompaniment. Crazy interval jumps, glissandi and quarter-tone steps have to be mastered. One quickly notices that Wistinghausen’s composition is extremely demanding choral literature, suitable only for voices with a head for heights.

“In these pieces, for example, there are very difficult, sometimes exposed solo passages, which I really composed with a view to knowing which colleagues were sitting there and I was pretty sure they could handle it. Not every choir can do that. And I’ve also composed pieces for amateur choirs, for example, also in my musical language, so I don’t make any aesthetic compromises, but in this case I was of course able to draw from the full.”

Martin Wistinghausen follows the score during the rehearsal, makes notes and when choirmaster Florian Helgath interrupts, he gives hints on interpretation and discusses details with the performers.

Works by Wistinghausen, Brass and Schütz at RheinVokal 2022

Assistance with rehearsals

In this way, this New Music continues to grow during the rehearsals. When the piece leaves the composer’s workshop, it is apparently far from finished.

Ideally, it should be possible to rehearse the score without a composer, says Wistinghausen. But it still happens that an explanation from the composer is necessary, especially in the case of unusual ways of playing or singing.

Composition lessons at the age of 12

Martin Wistinghausen’s double talent was evident early on. When he was still at school, he sang in the children’s choir and then in the boys’ choir. Very early on, however, he also felt the urge to create something of his own, i.e. to compose.

That is why, at the age of twelve, he began taking composition lessons at the Düsseldorf music school. At the same time, his voice broke very early and he began taking singing lessons at the age of 13. He actually had his first much-noticed success as a singer.

Creative breaks in Bayreuth

Martin Wistinghausen is very busy, he composes, likes to sing as a soloist in world premieres, but also early music. He also sings with Chorwerk Ruhr – when there isn’t a composition of his own on the desk. And every year he spends the summer weeks in Bayreuth and sings in the festival choir there. Which job has priority for him?

“I always like to say I am a singing composer and a composing singer. In everyday musical work, that sometimes requires a lot of discipline, so I always have to take care of my voice, even if I’m composing a big piece, I have to take my time every day, it’s a bit like an athlete, you say I always, who also has to keep a muscle working. When composing, it’s more like taking a break from time to time. I’ve finished a big piece and maybe don’t have a new job right now, and then a creative break like that is really good. But with the singer it’s more sporty.”