Bottenberg, Wolfgang (Heinz Otto)

Bottenberg, Wolfgang (Heinz Otto), German-born Canadian composer and teacher; b. Frankfurt am Main, May 9, 1930. He studied theology and philosophy at the Vallender Theologische Hochschule (1952–57), during which time he taught himself music theory and organ performance. In 1958 he emigrated to Canada and in 1964 he became a naturalized Canadian citizen. He studied theory and piano with Robert Stangeland at the Univ. of Alberta (B.Mus., 1961) before completing his training with Huston, Takács, and Cooper at the Univ. of Cincinnati (M.Mus., 1962; D.M.A., 1970). From 1965 to 1973 he taught at the Acadia Univ. in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. In 1973 he joined the faculty of Concordia Univ. in Montreal, where he served as a prof, from 1993 until his retirement in 1997. As a researcher, Bottenberg has worked on a project to evaluate the implications of reading early music from its original mensural notation. In 1993 he issued the first scholarly and complete CD recordings of the compositions of Friedrich Nietzsche. Bottenberg’s music has been significantly influenced by Gregorian chant, Renaissance and Baroque polyphony, and by neo-tonal composers such as Hindemith, but he also makes use of serial, aleatorie, and minimalistic techniques.