music austria – music information centre austria

Guenther Andergassen was born on the 17th of April 1930 in Magreid. 1940 his parents emigrated to Innsbruck. There, he graduated from grammar school and studied in several disciplines with the emphasis on musicology, which he concluded with the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. In 1956 he finally turned to music and went to the Mozarteum, where he studied composition with Cesar Bresgen and additional disciplines. In 1958 he accepted a job as a lecturer for music theory, music history and choral conducting. A short time later he also taught at the Tyrolean Conservatory. Andergassen retained this job until 1991 with an interruption from 1964 to 1971, due to a prison sentence resulting from his commitment to the South Tyrolean autonomy movement. In 1982 he accepted the offer of Professor Walter Salmen as a teacher for counterpoint at the Institute of Musicology at the University of Innsbruck. In 1990 he went to the Feldkirch Conservatory, where he stayed as the director until his retirement in 1995.

Andergassen's first compositions were created in 1945/46. He soon developed a fondness for vocal compositions, and thus a sensitive relationship to the textual presentation. His oeuvre also beholds symphonic and chamber music works and compositions for organ, which gained international visibility, as well as a chamber opera, and the ballet music piece 'Der Gefangene 2464', composed for the Austrian Broadcasting Company, which falls back on autobiographical experiences.