karlrossmann

Karl Rossmann

Czech pionir of electronic music.

I have an old suitcase which used to belong to Karl Rossmann. His wife was about to throw it out when I saw that the ‘rubbish’ inside was in fact music manuscripts. I intervened, went through the papers and was duly given the suitcase, which I still use. At that time little of his music was recorded or performed, his books were out of print, and his paintings (admittedly the least important part of his output) dispersed and uncatalogued. Karl Rossmann destroyed as much evidence of his existence as he could find.
There is, however, no particular reason to celebrate the life and work of Karl Rossmann today rather than any other day - there is no anniversary or imminent book launch. But I find that few days pass without my thinking of him in some way, partly perhaps because of the suitcase which now occasionally houses my own manuscripts. From 1976 to 1997, his centenary year, I was the ‘official biographer’ and although I wrote a number of pieces on him, arranged exhibitions, and edited some of his unpublished scores

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