Becker, Günther (Hugo)

Becker, Günther (Hugo), German composer; b. Forbach, Baden, April 1, 1924. He studied conducting with G. Nestler at the Badische Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe (1946–49), composition with W. Former in Heidelberg, and at the North-West German Academy of Music (1948–56), where he also studied choral conducting with K. Thomas (1953–55). He taught music at the Greek National School Anavryta in Athens (1956–58), and also taught at the Goethe Inst. and the Dorpfeld Gymnasium there (1957–68). He then returned to Germany, where he founded the live electronic group Mega-Hertz (1969), and taught at the summer courses for new music in Darmstadt. He became a lecturer at the Musikhochschule Rheinland of the Robert Schumann Inst. in Dusseldorf (1973) and prof of composition and live electronics at the Dusseldorf Hochschule für Musik (1974). In 1989 he retired. Becker’s works, at first influenced by his sojourn in Greece, eventually gave way to a unique and uncompromising style utilizing all the resources of contemporary compositional processes.